Manchester Culture.

Our plans have had to change! We had thought to head off down the Bridgewater Canal to the Trent and Mersey and then down the Anderton Boat lift for a time on the Weaver Navigation before heading out of Weston March Lock and round to Ellesmere Port via the Manchester Ship Canal. My first call was to C&RT to sort out the pen down from the Weaver. The girl said they had just had a message that Weston Marsh Lock had been badly damaged over the weekend and would be out of commission for the foreseeable future! I'm glad I called them first!!

We decided to try to organise a return to the Manchester Ship Canal for a trip down to Ellesmere Port and I set about making the relevant calls as time was of the essence due to everybody needing at least 48 hours notice.

Once things had been set in train we decided to walk in to town for a bit of sight seeing. We decided to walk up the Rochdale Canal tow path. This is looking back to the last of the Rochdale 9, Dukes Lock and just before the Deansgate Tunnel. I noted there were bollards here and a little short arm for winding in case all moorings were full down below the lock. There were a few police wandering about and it seems another bloke has been found dead in the canal. I hope that this doesn't mean that the canals here will be even more 'fenced off' than they are currently.

We were heading for the Police Museum that is only open to the public on Tuesday's, but can be booked for tours by groups. We spent a great couple of hours there as it was very interesting. It is in an old police station so there are the police cells and charge office as well as exhibitions. Upstairs is a rebuilt Magistrates court from the era that was from Denton, just up the road. The volunteers were friendly and very interesting too. Well worth a visit.

We then walked on to the Manchester Art gallery. It reminded us of the Preston Gallery, but larger. I think we missed the galleries at the back but what we saw was quite nicely hung and well lit, but there wasn't much variety to my eye.

We then went to St. Mary's Catholic Church that is known as the 'Hidden Gem'. The inscription in Latin means 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and 'Praise Him in His Holy places'. A Law passed in 1791 allowed Catholic churches to be built following centuries of repression. St. Mary's was started in 1792 and was opened in 1794. It was built in the very poorest area of the town.

The High Altar was commissioned in 1869 and is surrounded by a reredos of Caen stone. At the top are 14 angels. The life size statues are of saints above a tabernacle of Jesus with the Sacred Heart.

Our next stop was the John Ryland Library. Enriqueta Ryland was John's third wife. He had started with nothing and became the first multimillionaire in Manchester and when he died in 1888, aged 87 he left over £2.5 million, which today would be around £263 million. The next year his wife purchased the plot of land and commissioned Basil Champneys to design it. It is mainly Victorian Gothic as the book collection was intended to be mainly religious and the building would have the feel of a church, or a larger University College library.

Champney submitted a design with in a week of getting the commission but their relationship became a little tetchy with Enriqueta over ruling him in decorative features, statues and  window glass etc. The statue is of John Ryland.

There have been four extensions to the library with some of it featuring Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts too. She also bought a library that had been built up by the 2nd Earl Spencer. The Ryland Libary has amalgamated with the University of Manchester.

It had been a long day and it was great to get back for a sit on the boat in the sun with this lovely view, and Macy in Manchester.