Moss Side

Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, Whalley Range to the south, and Old Trafford to the west. As well as Whitworth Park and Alexandra Park, Moss Side is close to Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities. Manchester City played at Maine Road in Moss Side between 1923 and 2003. History of Manchester Historically part of Lancashire, Moss Side was a rural township and chapelry within the parish of Manchester and hundred of Salford. Thought to be named after a great moss which stretched from Rusholme to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, the earliest mention of the area is in 1533 when it contained part of the estates of Trafford. Moss Side is described in the opening chapter of Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton as a rural idyll with a 'deep clear pool' and an old black and white timber-framed farmhouse, later identified as Pepperhill Farm. Following the Industrial Revolution there was a process of unplanned urbanisation and a rapid increase in population size. The population in 1801 was 151 but by 1901 this had increased to 26,677. The industrial growth of the area resulted in a densely populated area, so much so, that a part of the township of Moss Side was amalgamated into the expanding city of Manchester in 1885, with the rest joining in 1904. Mass development in Moss Side occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when large numbers of red brick terraced houses were built, and soon attracted numerous Irish immigrants and other working people. Manchester City F.C. moved to a new stadium on Maine Road on 25 August 1923, having moved from Hyde Road, Ardwick; on its opening it was one of the most capacious sports stadiums in the United Kingdom, capable of holding up to 85,000 spectators. The club would play there for the next 80 years. During the Manchester Blitz in the Second World War many of the terraced houses were damaged by German bombing on the night of 22/23 December 1940.