The church situated on Angel St was dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels.
The area was quite rural and the congregation was quite"well to do ",arriving in carriages so the church was known as a "carriage church".
Angel St. houses were quite substantial and of a fair size but as the area declined they were split into multiple occupancy or lodging houses.
Arkwright built a mill near Crown Square at the end of Angel St and that is probably when the many back to back houses were built ,to house the workers. Incidentally "back to back " means just that ie no back doors , the houses shared an internal wall which meant there was no back exit, just a front door.
People confuse terraced houses which do have back exits with back to back houses.
A lovely book "Sunrise to Sunset" by Mary Bertenshaw is a vivid account of the area.
Probably only available at The central Library local history section.
The graveyard of St. Michael`s adjoins the flagged area where 40,000 people were buried, sadly the York stone flags have gone and all is grassed over.A few gravestones from St. Michael`s remain near the end of Angel St. two gateposts mark the entrance to the church yard near Crown Square.
An absolutely fascinating area and it bugs me that my family was from just out of the area, how interesting if they had been. they were from Worth St, Copper St,Montague St and Hancock St.
Lots of photographs on Manchester Council Photographic archives.
There was an episode of "Time Team" but sadly they concentrated on the larger houses on angel St and completely missed out the crowded courts where there was no running water (except down the walls!)two or three toilets for many many people . and pigs dwelling there too.
Nineteen people lived in a house in John St , which had a cellar, one ground floor room ,one bedroom and an attic . No water or sanitation.John St was practically under the viaduct of the Lancs and Yorks railway after the lines were added to. Not all were of one family. Viktoria.