Collyhurst sandstone.html



Coordinates: 53°29′48″N 2°13′04″W / 53.496703, -2.217846

Collyhurst
High rises at Collyhurst
Collyhurst shown within Greater Manchester
OS grid reference	SD855000
Metropolitan borough	Manchester
Metropolitan county	Greater Manchester
Region	North West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MANCHESTER
Postcode district	M40
Dialling code	0161
Police	Greater Manchester
Fire	Greater Manchester
Ambulance	North West
European Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Manchester Blackley
List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester

Collyhurst is an area of the Manchester, a city in North West England. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northeast of Manchester City Centre, on Rochdale Road and Oldham Road. The River Irk passes through the area.

Prominent buildings in Collyhurst could be said to include its local police station, Billy Greens pub which featured on the T V show " Toughest pubs in the U K " two Catholic churches St Patrick's and St Malachys.

For a brief period in the mid 1970s, The Electric Circus, a run down venue on Collyhurst st was formally The Palladium varitey club found itself at the centre of Manchester's punk rock scene. It played host to bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Jam, Joy Division—then known as Warsaw— the Buzzcocks, Slaughter and the dogs and The Clash's "White Riot tour" before its closure in 1977. It has now been demolished.

Collyhurst sandstone and quarry

Sandstone at Collyhurst quarry

Entrance to Sandhills

Much of the red sandstone used for building in Manchester and the surrounding area, including the stone for the Roman fort at Castlefield, St Ann's Church, the roof of the Collegiate Church and the original buildings of Chetham's Hospital, came from Collyhurst Quarry.¹ Geologists use the term Collyhurst Sandstone for this type of soft red sandstone, which is found across the north-west and other regions of the UK.² It is a fine to medium grained sedimentary rock, created from desert sands blown into dune formations during the Early Permian period, when the area which now constitutes the British Isles occupied a location within the desert belts to the north of the equator. The rock is not very resistant to weathering and erosion and disintegrates relatively quickly. The quarry was mentioned by John Leland in the description of Manchester in his book. The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535 to 1543, saying that there was " a goodly quarre hard by the towne".³ The stone was transported the short distance into Manchester by river on barges or rafts.¹ The quarry is now disused and the area around it has been turned into a park called "Sandhills"⁴ as part of Manchester City Council's Irk Valley Project.⁵⁶

War memorial

There is a memorial on Rochdale Road next to what used to be Collyhurst Flats, erected by public subscription and unveiled by the Rt. Hon. Earl of Derby KG (Secretary of State for war) on 23 May 1923 to remember the men who fell in the First World War.

Collyhurst war memorial

Notable people

Although the area is one of the poorest in the city, it has been home to a number of sport stars and entertainers, which include:

• Johnny King former British and Empire Bantamweight champion.
• Jackie Brown - Former world champion Flyweight boxer
• Michael Gomez - Irish born super featherweight boxer
• Pat Barret - Former British and European Light welterweight boxer ⁷
• Brian Kidd - Former England and Manchester United footballer
• Nobby Stiles - Former Manchester United and World Cup winning footballer
• Stan Bowles - Former England and QPR footballer
• Jack Smethurst - Actor
• Bruce Jones - Actor
• Les Dawson - Comedian
• Billy Hopkins - Author (Our Kid)
• Brian Hughes MBE - Sports biographer
• Colin Blaney - Author (Grafters)
• Clare Rooney - Artist and writer (Once Uponse a Time)
• Jim Allen - Playwright (The Spongers)
• Carlo Sartori - Former Manchester United footballer

References