Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe is an area of Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately, Wythenshawe became the largest council estate in Europe.
Wythenshawe includes the areas of Baguley, Benchill, Peel Hall, Newall Green, Woodhouse Park, [|Moss Nook], Northern Moor, Northenden and Sharston.
History
The name Wythenshawe seems to come from the Old English wiðign = "withy tree" and sceaga = "wood". The three ancient townships of Northenden, Baguley, and Northen Etchells formally became the present-day Wythenshawe when they were merged with Manchester in 1931. Until then, the name was only used to refer to Wythenshawe Hall and its grounds.Due to spending cuts, the hall was temporarily closed to the public in 2010. One proposition was that Manchester City Council could sell the building to the National Trust.
A Friends Group was formed to support monthly open days and events at the hall. In March 2016, the hall's roof, one of its upper floors and its clock tower were severely damaged by a fire in an arson attack.
Immediately south of Wythenshawe is Manchester Airport, formerly called Ringway Airport. Before Ringway Airport was laid out, three farm fields between Rackhouse Road and Wythenshawe Road in Northern Moor, in what is now the north edge of Wythenshawe, were used as Manchester Aerodrome. This was the UK's first municipal airfield, operating between April 1929 and early 1930. A barn was converted to act as the hangar and a farmhouse as the administration building. Temporary fuel pumps were installed. The last recorded flight from Wythenshawe Airport was on 19 June 1930.
Wythenshawe was in the Church of England Diocese of Chester until 1933, when it was transferred to the neighbouring Diocese of Manchester.
Wythenshawe Bus Garage was built of reinforced concrete during 1939–42, designed by the Manchester City Architect, G. Noel Hill. It was taken over by the Ministry of Aircraft Production and A. V. Roe & Co. Ltd. used it for building Lancaster aircraft during the Second World War. The building was Grade II* listed in 2001.
Housing and social history
Wythenshawe is Manchester's largest district. The massive housing estate that was built there in the 1920s was intended as a "garden city", where people could be rehoused away from industrial Manchester. In 1920, town planner Patrick Abercrombie identified the area as the most suitable undeveloped land for a housing estate close to the city, and of land was purchased.Part of Benchill and some areas in the north were built before World War II and called the Wythenshawe Ward of the City of Manchester. The rest was built after the Second World War, starting in the late 1940s as wartime building restrictions were relaxed. Parts of Baguley were still semi-rural in the 1960s, but there is now very little open country left.
The estate was initially built without many shops, amenities or services, and there was very little employment available in the area. Although Northenden already had a shopping area on Palatine Road, the earliest new shops were built in the 1930s and included parades on Hollyhedge Road, and on Altrincham Road in Sharston. There were smaller local shops, such as a grocers—selling general household provisions, at Minsterly Parade and Haveley Circle. However, it took decades for some areas of Wythenshawe to get their own neighbourhood shops, which meant residents had to travel or visit a mobile shop van when it visited their area. Various residents' associations were set up to address those problems, but progress was very slow.
Following the Second World War, Wythenshawe eventually expanded, with several further shops being built and businesses were attracted to the area with the expansion of the Sharston Industrial Estate and, later, the Moss Nook and Roundthorn industrial complexes. Wythenshawe gradually acquired all the amenities and facilities that the original planners had neglected to include with the building of several new schools, shops, pubs, and churches. The area also got its own hospital, and Wythenshawe Hospital grew out of the earlier Baguley Hospital in 1948. The largest shopping area was built in the 1960s in the town centre, known as the Wythenshawe Civic Centre, which has been expanded further since it was first built. In 1971, the Wythenshawe Forum was opened there, which included a library, a swimming pool, a restaurant, a bar, and a theatre.
From the 1990s to the 2000s, the houses that were built and owned by the council were transferred to the control of local housing associations, such as Willow Park in east Wythenshawe and Parkway Green in west Wythenshawe. Both associations merged in 2013 to form the Wythenshawe Community Housing Group which is now responsible for around 14,000 homes in Wythenshawe.
In 2007, The New York Times described the housing estates in Wythenshawe as representing an "extreme pocket of social deprivation and alienation".
Most of the farm buildings in the Wythenshawe area were demolished when the estate was built. Some of them, like Hollyhedge Farm and Floats Hall, were left among the houses but suffered from vandalism and had to be demolished later. Some of the present housing estates were named after former farms.
Peel Hall Farm survived for over 20 years as its occupant lived on the proceeds of selling his land, but soon after he left, the property was vandalised and had to be demolished.
Newall Green Farm survived on the edge of the Newall Green housing estate area and was still occupied and run as a farm until the early 21st century when its last occupant died, when it was abandoned and fenced off. The buildings are listed. In 2006, a firm bought Newall Green Farm's buildings from Manchester Corporation. On 21 June 2014, vandals set fire to Newall Green Farm, and its roof was destroyed, but there are plans to turn the buildings into a care home for adults with learning disabilities, a working farm and a horse-riding centre.
Parks
Wythenshawe has twelve parks and 18 woodland areas including Wythenshawe Park, which was designated a Local Nature Reserve in 2011. It covers over of green space and is home to Manchester's only community farm, Wythenshawe community farm. At the centre of the park is the historic Wythenshawe Hall with its Civil War and Tatton heritage. The park also has riding stables, a horticulture centre, children's play area, athletics track, football pitches, tennis courts, bowls, and golfing facilities.In 2023, Lewis Capaldi was scheduled to perform at Wythenshawe Park as part of the park’s first-ever major concert series. Noel Gallagher also announced a homecoming concert with his band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The show also featured support from Primal Scream. In 2024, it was announced that Wythenshawe Park would host another major concert over the August bank holiday weekend. The event featured Manchester band New Order, joined by special guest Johnny Marr, performing on the first day. The following day, indie pop band Blossoms headlined, continuing the park’s growing reputation as a prominent outdoor live music venue. In 2025, two shows were once again announced, with performances by Fontaines D.C., Kneecap and Sam Fender
Other parks include Hollyhedge Park, Peel Hall Park, Painswick Park, and Baguley Park. Northenden's Riverside Park is the first new park to be established in the city in the 21st century.
Governance
The district is under the authority of Manchester City Council.Manchester Wythenshawe parliamentary constituency was created in 1950 and represented by Alf Morris of the Labour Party between 1964 and 1997. Before the 1997 election, the boundaries were redrawn and part of the neighbouring area of Sale was included in a new constituency, Wythenshawe and Sale East. Alf Morris was replaced by Paul Goggins. It is still considered a safe Labour seat, with Labour securing over 50% of the vote in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections. Labour kept the seat in the 2010 elections, though their share of the vote decreased to 44.1%. In early 2014, following the death of Paul Goggins, a by-election was held. Labour candidate Mike Kane won the seat with 55.3% of the vote, although voter turnout was low. The 2017 general election saw the largest vote share for Labour in the history of both the current and former Wythenshawe seat with 62.2% of the vote and a 15,000 majority, although the 2019 election saw this fall back to previous levels with a majority of 10,396 and a 53.3% share of the vote.
At the 2001 UK Census, Wythenshawe was divided into six local government wards: Baguley, Benchill, Northenden, Sharston, Woodhouse Park and Brooklands. Each ward was represented by three local councillors, giving Wythenshawe 21 of the 99 seats on Manchester City Council. Following a review by the Boundary Committee for England published in 2003, the ward of Benchill was abolished, and its former territory was divided between the wards of Northenden, Sharston, and Woodhouse Park.
Wythenshawe typically returns all Labour councillors in local elections, although in the 2008 elections the Liberal Democrats gained a seat in Northenden and a second seat in the 2010 elections. Labour regained these seats in the 2012 and 2014 elections. The Green Party have gained councillors in the Woodhouse Park ward in the 2021, 2022, and 2023
elections.
Geography
Wythenshawe is south of Manchester city centre and is the southernmost district of the city. Altrincham and Hale lie to the south-west, Sale to the north-west, Gatley and Heald Green to the east, and Manchester Airport to the south.Shadow Moss is an area south of Ringway Road in the southeast corner of Wythenshawe. On this old map of Wythenshawe it is roughly the rectangular area between three country lanes with Heyhead at its northwest corner. On modern maps, its north edge is the southern branch of Ringway Road. It was partly in Northen Etchells township and partly in Styal parish. For many centuries it was a peat bog which was dug for peat fuel, locally called "turf"; local manorial law said that after digging peat the top living plant layer had to be lodged back to let more peat form afterwards. Each man's allocated part of the Moss was called his "moss room".
In the 19th century, manorial control was lost over what people used their moss rooms for, and an 1839 tithe map of Northen Etchells shows Northen Etchells's part of Shadow Moss as about 2/3 arable, about 1/3 meadow, one field as pasture, and one field as "uncultivated moors".
Later, the fertile lowland peat soil led to the area being much used for market gardening, with large areas under greenhouses. Of the people who worked there, many lived in Heyhead.
Around 1970, Heyhead was a small settlement at the south end of Woodhouse Lane and the nearby part of Ringway Road. It comprised several terrace houses, a small shop, two or more old cottages, a chapel, and the Ringway Haulage Company. Manchester Airport's ground-level car parking has been displaced from other areas and car parks have been formed to the north and south of the runways and under the approach path. The Heyhead area has been progressively replaced by level car parks, and by 2011 all of Heyhead's buildings had vanished.
Some greenhouses remain at the far east of the Shadow Moss area, but are used by private car parking operators. The last market gardener there, who grew tomatoes, closed in 2011 due to competition from highly mechanized greenhouse establishments elsewhere.