Angel Meadow: tangible timeline

Illustration of Angel Meadow from 1800s

 

I have been researching an area of Manchester called Angel Meadow. It is North East of the city centre close to where my parents grew up. I originally started researching Angel Meadow as a possible CCS dissertation idea. I soon realised it would work better as a major project piece. The research kept me captivated and it involves all my areas of interest, social history, archeology, found objects, misery and hardship!

I love the research stage and this project has a rhizome research style with many entry and exit points and non-hierarchical connections. The area is known by Mancunians although there isn't a huge amount online. Best known as 'Hell on Earth' as reported by Engels in 1845 (see below). The history and the timeline that the area has moved through is fascinating, plus the influence and connections on society, art and culture is extraordinary too.

Starting with a mind map (which is how I start most of my projects), I added to the mind map as I researched, read and dug out new information. I linked and connected the facts and fiction.

I wanted to show the time line of Angel Meadows and I felt it would be great to show the history and passing of time using tangible objects. 

Here is the basic timeline:

Angel Meadow pre 1820 - grassland in gentrified area of Manchester 

Industrial Revolution 1820 - turns Manchester into 'Cottonopolis' the city grows and Angel Meadow becomes hemmed in by industry.

French author and social commentator Alexis de Tocqueville visits Manchester and includes it in his book 'Journeys around England and Ireland' (1835) - the poverty seen is first ac

Engels, author and Mill owners son reports on the poor and squalor conditions people in Angel Meadows experienced. His book 'Conditions of the Working Classes (1845) was ground breaking.

Karl Marx, socialist and a friend of Engels worked together on the Communist Manifesto (1848) as a direct result of the Angel Meadows findings.

Elizabeth Gaskill wrote 'Mary Barton' book about a fictional character living her life in Angel Meadow (1848).

Charles Dickens based his 'Hard Times' book (1854) on Angel Meadow.

The people of Angel Meadow were so poor the average age of death was 20.

This resulted in the grass land next to the church being turned into a mass grave. 40,000 bodies are buried there (1888)

The mass grave soon filled up and it was paved over with flagstones to stop locals selling the earth as fertilizer.

The paved area becomes a playground and the Ragged School opens in 1861.

Mass grave turned into children's paved playground knows as St Micheal's flags.

The artist LS Lowery painted the steps leading up to the paved area/playground in his work named 'The Steps, Irk Place' (1928)

'The Steps, Irk Place' (1928) LS Lowery

Lowery painted the playground in 1943 in his painting 'Britain at Play'.

During redevelopment of the area 75 dwellings were found by archeologists in 2009. Everyday items like bottles, signs, a pram and shoes were found in the dig.

Found objects from Angel Meadow

Archeological dig found foundations of 75 dwellings in 2009

Many bodies were found during the replacing of the steps, each time the body was moved to a holy ground and given a burial.

Re-development complete, the area, including the mass grave is now back to grassland surrounded by apartments and coffee shops.

Angel Meadow as it stands now

Rather long explanation! I plan to use a two picture shelves to display my 'finding'. These items I have sourced, collected and made to recreate a time line in objects. I plan to start and end the time line with a sod of grass. Using books, pictures, bottles, cotton reels and more to show Angel Meadow's history. I will wrap each item in cotton to represent the cotton industry and connect each together. 

The wrapping, using cotton connects with my sculpture about Gorton called 'For the Mothers of Gorton' (2020) see October 2021 post. I tied the child's hand to the cotton shuttle with thread. I want to use this process to wrap and connect more items (see a later post about teeth!).

Mind map to record research on the subject

Sketched plan of artwork