|
In 1830 Levenshulme had a population of 768.[5]
Levenshulme has an Irish population of approximately 7.0% which is twice the Manchester average,[6] and as a consequence it is sometimes called 'County Levenshulme' in reference to the County structure in Ireland. Irish produce, including soda bread, red lemonade and Irish newspapers, can be bought in Levenshulme's shops, whilst local cafes serve up boiled bacon and cabbage, a traditional Irish dish. The demographics within the district are changing with increasing numbers of (mostly Muslim) people of South Asian origin and a growing number of Africans, settling in Levenshulme. Over a third of the population belong to an ethnic minority. Many students also rent accommodation in the area.
In the 2001 Census, the ethnic make up of Levenshulme was:[7]
Home of ALL FM radio station
| Ethnic Group |
Person count |
Percentage |
| White: British |
8625 |
65.12 |
| Asian/Asian-British: Pakistani |
1714 |
13.51 |
| White: Irish |
884 |
6.97 |
| White: Other |
301 |
2.37 |
| Black/Black-British: Caribbean |
300 |
2.36 |
| Asian/Asian-British: Indian |
185 |
1.46 |
| Asian/Asian-British: Other Asian |
161 |
1.27 |
| Mixed: White & Black Caribbean |
149 |
1.17 |
| Asian/Asian-British: Bangladeshi |
139 |
1.10 |
| Black/Black-British: African |
135 |
1.06 |
| Chinese |
110 |
0.87 |
| Mixed: White & Asian |
94 |
0.74 |
| Mixed: White & Black African |
77 |
0.61 |
| Other Ethnic Groups |
77 |
0.61 |
| Mixed: Other |
61 |
0.48 |
| Black/Black-British: Other Black |
39 |
0.31 |
[edit] Culture
Levenshulme is evolving into an area typical of South Manchester, i.e. a mix of pubs, bars, restaurants, takeaways, cybercafés and terraced housing. In fact, Levy's cyberculture is rapidly growing and demonstrates that the area is embracing a 21st century lifestyle in a thriving mixed-culture environment. Despite these traits, the modern Levenshulme is still considered to be one of the most deprived areas of Manchester, and regeneration efforts are underway to address this problem. Local residents have recently formed the "Friends of Levenshulme" association in order to highlight some of the more acute socio-economic and environmental concerns that Levenshulme faces including the lack of a basic supermarket due to the nationwide closure campaign of late by discount supermarket, Kwik Save.[8]
There is a well organised, annual "Levenshulme Festival" which usually features 120+ multi-cultural events from firework displays to music concerts. The festival has been running since 1998.[9]
The community radio station All FM is based in Levenshulme.
[edit] Religion
- See also: List of churches in Greater Manchester
[edit] Statistics
Levenshulme has a varied ethnic mix. According to the 2001 Census the break down by religion is:[10]
| Religion |
Person count |
Percentage |
| Christian |
7196
|
56.7
|
| Muslim |
2126
|
16.74
|
| No religion |
2061
|
16.24
|
| Religion not stated |
1051
|
8.28
|
| Hindu |
101
|
0.80
|
| Other religions |
49
|
0.39
|
| Buddhist |
44
|
0.35
|
| Sikh |
37
|
0.29
|
| Jewish |
26
|
0.20
|
| Total |
12691
|
100
|
[edit] Places of worship
| Name |
Address |
Religion |
Year built/Established |
| St Aiden's Church |
Clare Road |
English Language Orthodox |
|
| St Andrew's Church |
Broom Avenue |
|
|
| Levenshulme Baptist Church |
Elmsworth Avenue |
Baptist |
|
| Levenshulme Methodist Church |
Stockport Road |
Methodist |
13 May 1865 |
|
Methodism in Levenshulme has a history dating back to 1766 (based on financial records of The Methodist Society). In that time there have been five Methodist churches. Levenshulme Methodist Church (formerly Levenshulme New Wesleyan Chapel) is the only one to survive.[11]
|
| Levenshulme United Reform Church |
Grange Avenue |
URC |
|
| Currently Levenshulme United Reform Church is closed and virtually derelict. As of September 2007 there are plans to convert the building into shops. |
| Madina Mosque & UK Islamic Mission |
Barlow Road |
Muslim |
Islamic Centre opened c.1986 |
|
The Islamic Centre is housed in the building which was originally St Peter's School built in 1854 and closed in 1982.[12]
|
| St Mark's Church |
Barlow Road |
Church of England |
Built 1908 |
|
St Mark's was declared a Grade II listed building on 6 June 1994.[13]
|
| St Mary of the Angels & St. Clare RC Church |
Elbow Street |
Roman Catholic |
|
| St Peters Church |
Stockport Road |
Church of England |
Consecrated in 1860 |
|
In 1852 a donation of 1445 square yards of land and £500 was made to Levenshulme to build a church. The donation came from a member of a family known for generous donations for churches, Charles Carill-Worsley. St Peter's School (directly behind the church) was built in 1854 and was used initially as a temporary place for the congregation to worship.[12]
|
|
|
Madina Mosque & UK Islamic Mission
|
|
[edit] Recreation and leisure
Sign on the old track bed between Reddish and Levenshulme
A small pond in the middle of
Highfield Country Park
Levenshulme Swimming Baths
Levenshulme Public Library
Levenshulme doesn't have much by way of publicly funded recreation facilities. But what it does have:
[edit] Green Bank Fields
This park is a green area stretching between Manor Road in the north, Mount Road in the east and Barlow Road in the south and west. It is primarily open grass land but also houses an open-air, enclosed 5-a-side football pitch adjacent to the Mount Road exit.
Up until c.1920 the land that Green Bank Fields was on held a dairy farm called Green Bank Farm (Wolfenden's) and a small house called Botany Bay cottage. The entrance to the farm was originally where the main entrance to the park is now on Barlow Road adjacent to Byrom Parade shops.[12]
Manchester City Council fomented a local controversy by selling off part of Mellands (GMPTE) Playing Fields, Gorton to Dappa Homes to build 149 houses. Dappa is obliged to replace the land they are using to build the homes. In May 2004 Dappa Homes submitted plans to build 3 football pitches, a clubhouse and surround the park with a 3 metre fence on Green Bank Fields. This would have the effect of reducing the versatile open-space into a restricted use site.[14]
[edit] Highfield Country Park
Highfield Country Park is a 70 acre area of open land that stretches to the east of Broom Avenue across to the back of Reddish Golf Course and over to the junction of Longford Road and Nelstrop Road.
In the 1970s it was designated as a country park by the council, but at the time it wasn't much more than a landfill site that was formerly the site of a tripe factory, Jackson's brickworks, Levenshulme Dye and Bleach works and High Field Farm. The claypit formed by the extracted clay for the brickworks was much used by local children as a play area, known as "The Brickie".
Up until 2004 the park was jointly maintained by Manchester City Council and a group of volunteers called The Friends of Highfield Park. In July 2004 the park came to the attention of the Prudential Grass Roots campaign (run by the BTCV conservation charity). Over a 12 month period the park was transformed from a dreary, vandalised wasteland into a pleasant country park with a picnic area and mapped out country walks.[15]
[edit] Swimming
Levenshulme Swimming Baths was built in the late 1800s and was formerly called "Levenshulme Public Baths and Washhouse" as it also housed the public washhouse at the rear.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s Levenshulme Baths was used as a training pool for Longsight resident Sunny Lowry, who, in 1933, was the first British woman to swim the English Channel (from France to England).[16]
[edit] Community
[edit] Library
Levenshulme library is what is known as a "Carnegie library" as it was gifted to the people of Levenshulme by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The ceremonial laying of the first brick (in reality an engraved stone plaque) took place on 5 December 1903. The stone was laid by George Paulson in his role as Chairman of The Free Library Committee. The library actually opened its doors to the public in 1904. At the time the money was gifted there was a minor local furore as some Levenshulme residents expressed the opinion that it was "immoral" for the then Urban District Council to accept the money from Carnegie as they believed the money to be "tainted". This was allegedly due to Carnegie's suppression of trade unions in the United States.[12]
[edit] Education
[edit] Tourism
[edit] "The street with no name"
Levenshulme Railway Station
Levenshulme is not the place one would regard as a centre of tourism but due to several reports in both local and national newspapers and on several internet blogs there now seems to be a trickle of tourists making visits to Levenshulme railway station since the 'news' broke of "The Street with No Name".[17]
The street the railway station is located on is 160 years old and 70 metres long yet has no official name and never has had one. In May of 2007 as a benefit of a £5000 grant awarded to 'The Friends of Levenshulme Station' by the Awards For All lottery grants scheme, an unofficial road sign was erected at the entrance to the street. The sign gave the name of the street as "The Street With No Name". According to local residents the street had been informally called this for years and it seemed appropriate that it now had a sign so people could find it. The first sign was fitted approximately three feet from the floor and was stolen a short time later. The replacement was refitted twelve feet above the road so as to discourage would-be thieves.
Officials from Manchester City Council were reported to be investigating the option of the council adopting the street and giving it official status.
[edit] Notable people
[edit] See also
ALL FM
[edit] References
- , Neighbourhood Statistics: Levenshulme (Ward): Key Statistics. National Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- , Neighbourhood Statistics: Levenshulme. The Office for National Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
- , a b c Levenshulme Local History: Levenshulme High School Diamond Jubilee publication, 1989 ISBN E000043855
- , Manchester City Council: Alleys and alleygating
- , Historical and Genealogical Information for the Region Anciently Known as the Salford Hundred
- , National Statistics - Neighbourhood Statistics for Levenshulme ward
- , Neighbourhood Statistics: Levenshulme (Ward) by Ethnicity. National Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- , New Inspector for community policing in Gorton and Levenshulme. Greater Manchester Police (2006). Retrieved on July 8, 2006.
- , Levenshulme Festival 2007 web page
- , Neighbourhood Statistics: Levenshulme (Ward) by Religion. National Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
- , Armitage, Rita (1997). Methodism in Levenshulme: The first 200 years. John Malam & Hilary Malam, p20.
- , a b c d Sussex, Gay; Peter Helm, Andrew Brown (1987). Looking Back at Levenshulme & Burnage, Looking Back at.... Willow Publishing. ISBN 0946361223.
- , A-Z of Listed Buildings in Manchester. Manchester City Council web pages. Manchester City Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
- , Planning application for Green Bank Fields revised layout. GMC Public Access website (2006-04-12). Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- , Case Study: Highfield Country Park, Manchester (PDF). BTCV Grass Roots (2005-09-07). Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- , Kate Stirrup. "Bath to the future", column, South Manchester Reporter, 2003-01-16. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- , Nick Towle (2007-05-17). Move over Clint, it’s... The Street With No Name. column. South Manchester Reporter. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- , Norman Foster - the man behind the 'glass egg'. BBC (2005). Retrieved on July 8, 2006.
[edit] External links
(Source: Wikipedia) |