City of Salford

Kersal Cell, built in the 16th century, was a manor house built on the site of a Cluniac priory.

Former Salford Town Hall, Bexley Square

Although the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford was a 20th-century creation, the area has a long history of human activity, extending back to the Stone Age. Neolithic flint arrow-heads and tools, and evidence of Bronze Age activity has been discovered in Salford.[5] The northerly section of Watling Street, a Roman road from Manchester (Mamucium) via Bury to Ribchester (Bremetennacum), passes through the city;[6] a hoard of over 550 bronze Roman coins dating between 259 AD and 278 AD was discovered in Boothstown;[7] and a Romano-British bog body, Worsley Man, was discovered in the Chat Moss peat bog.[8]

In 1142, a monastic cell (small monastic house) dedicated to St. Leonard was established in Kersal.[6] The 12th century hundred of Salford was created as Salfordshire in the historic county of Lancashire and survived until the 19th century,[9] when it was replaced by one of the first county boroughs in the country. Salford became a free borough in about 1230,[10] when it was granted a charter as a free borough by the Earl Ranulph of Chester.[11] The cell in Kersal was sold in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.[6] A 16th-century manor house, called Kersal Cell, was built on the site of the priory.[12] In the English Civil War between King Charles I and parliament, Salford was Royalist.[13] Salford was also noted as Jacobite territory; its inhabitants supported Charles Edward Stuart's claim to the Kingdom of Great Britain and hosted him when he rode through the area during the Jacobite rising of 1745.[13]

The Barton Swing Aqueduct in the closed position.

During the Industrial Revolution, Salford grew as a result of the textile industry.[14] Although Salford experienced an increase in population, it was overshadowed by the dominance of Manchester and did not evolve as a commercial centre in the same way.[15] On 15 September 1830, Eccles was site of the world's first railway accident.[16] During a stop in Eccles to take on water, William Huskisson, Member of Parliament for Liverpool, had his leg crushed by Stephenson's Rocket; at the time he was in conversation with the Duke of Wellington, who was opening the railway, and did not get out of the way of the train in time. Although Huskisson was taken to Eccles for treatment he died of his injuries.[17] The six-foot-tall Oglala Sioux tribesman, "Surrounded By the Enemy", died here from a bronchial infection at age twenty-two in 1887 during a tour of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was buried at Brompton Cemetery.[18] In 1894, the Manchester Ship Canal was opened, running from the River Mersey to Salford Quays; when it was complete it was the largest navigation canal in the world.[19] Along the route of the canal, it was necessary to create an aqueduct carrying the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal. The Barton Swing Aqueduct, designed by Sir Edward Leader Williams,[20] is 100 metres (330 ft) long and weighs 1,450 metric tons (1,427 long tons; 1,598 short tons).[21][22]

At the start of the 20th century, Salford began to decline due to competition from outside the UK. A survey in 1931 concluded that parts of Salford were amongst the worst slums in the country.[23] Salford was granted city status in 1926.[24] During World War II, Salford Docks were regularly bombed.[25]

In the decades following the Second World War there was a significant economic and population decline in Salford.[26] In 1961 a small part of Eccles was added to the city. On 1 April 1974, the City and County Borough of Salford was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, and was replaced by the metropolitan borough of City of Salford, one of ten local government districts in the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.[9][27] The city status of the new district was confirmed by additional letters patent issued on the same day.[28] Since the early 1990s, the decline has slowed.[26]

Prior to the metropolitan borough's creation, the name Salford for the new local government district courted controversy. Salford was "thought second-class by those in Eccles", who preferred the new name "Irwell" for the district (with reference to the River Irwell).[29] A councillor for the then City and County Borough of Salford objected to this suggestion, stating this label was nothing but "a dirty stinking river".[29] The name Irwell won 8 votes to Salford's 7, but a private protest and deliberation favoured Salford as the name for the new city, citing that the River Irwell would pass through two other Greater Manchester districts, and that it "doesn't touch Worsley".[29]

The River Irwell marks the border between Salford & Manchester

The City of Salford is bounded to the north by the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton and Metropolitan Borough of Bury. To the south by the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford and to the west by the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. Manchester lies directly across the river from Salford. The natural mossland of Chat Moss lies in the south western corner of the city; it covers an area of about 10.6 square miles (27.5 km²), accounting for about 30% of the city's area,[30] and lies 75 feet (23 m) above sea level.[31] The moss makes up the largest area of prime farmland in Greater Manchester.[30] Kersal Moor is an area of moorland spanning 8 hectares (20 acres) in Kersal; it is a local nature reserve and a Site of Biological Importance.[32][33] Greenspace accounts for 55.7% of the City of Salford's total area, domestic buildings and gardens comprise 20.0%, and the rest is made up of roads and non-domestic buildings.[34]

To the south of Salford are the docks of Salford Quays, now home to the MediaCityUK. MediaCityUK is a large area that crosses the boundary into Trafford Park, Trafford. Although Salford Quays is in the City of Salford and has created job opportunities and more housing since the 2010s when it was built.

The River Irwell runs south east through Kearsley, Clifton and Agecroft then meanders around Lower Broughton and Kersal, Salford Crescent and the centre of Manchester, joining the rivers Irk and Medlock. Turning west, it meets the Mersey south of Irlam, where the route of the river was altered in the late 19th century to form part of the course of the Manchester Ship Canal. The ship canal, opened in 1894, forms part of Salford's southern boundaries with Trafford.[35] The city's climate is generally temperate, like the rest of Greater Manchester. The nearest weather station is 10 miles (16 km) away at Ringway, in Manchester; the mean highest and lowest temperatures (13.2 °C (55.8 °F) and 6.4 °C (43.5 °F)) are slightly above the national average, while the annual rainfall (806.6 millimetres (31.76 in)) and average hours of sunshine (1394.5 hours) are respectively above and below the national averages.[36][37]

At the 2011 UK census, the City of Salford had a total population of 233,933.[91] Of the 103,556 households in Salford, 25.4% were married or same-sex civil partnership couples living together, 36.4% were one-person households, 11.2% were co-habiting couples and 13.5% were lone parents. The figures for lone parent households were above the national average of 10.6%, and the percentage of married couples was also below the national average of 33.2%; the proportion of one person households was higher than the national average of 30.3%.[92]

The population density was 24.1 persons per hectare (Salford covers 9,719 hectares), 117,151 (50.1%) female, and 116,782 (49.9%) male.[93] Of those aged 16–74 in Salford, 27.1% had no academic qualifications, significantly higher than 22.5% in all of England.[94] 11.8% of Salford's residents were born outside the United Kingdom, lower than the national average of 13.8%.[95] The largest minority group was recorded as Asian, at 4.1% of the population.[96]

The number of theft from a vehicle offences and theft of a vehicle per 1,000 of the population was 21.3 and 7.9 compared to the English national average of 7.6 and 2.9 respectively.[97] The number of sexual offences was 1.1 compared to the average of 0.9.[97] The national average of violence against another person was 16.7 compared to the Salford average of 27.2.[97] The figures for crime statistics were all recorded during the 2006/7 financial year.[98] Although all were above the averages for England, Salford's crime rate was lower than Manchester's.[99]

Population change

Salford tower blocks in 2001. Tower blocks were mostly built between the 1950s and 1970s.

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the City of Salford has existed as a metropolitan borough since 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the city.

Population growth in City of Salford since 1801

Year Population ±% 1801 29,495 —     1811 38,460 +30.4% 1821 49,114 +27.7% 1831 68,744 +40.0% 1841 91,361 +32.9% 1851 108,699 +19.0% 1861 148,740 +36.8% 1871 188,781 +26.9%	Year Population ±% 1881 228,822 +21.2% 1891 265,000 +15.8% 1901 296,210 +11.8% 1911 331,098 +11.8% 1921 333,031 +0.6% 1931 334,989 +0.6% 1941 318,152 −5.0% 1951 302,160 −5.0%	Year Population ±% 1961 291,240 −3.6% 1971 280,739 −3.6% 1981 241,532 −14.0% 1991 230,726 −4.5% 2001 216,103 −6.3% 2011 233,900 +8.2%
Source: Vision of Britain[100]

Religion

Aerial photo of Salford Cathedral, one of the oldest and most prominent landmarks in the City of Salford. Also the home of the Diocese and Bishop of Salford.

St Peters' Church, Swinton and Pendlebury.

Religion in the City of Salford
2011 UK Census	City of Salford	North West England	England
Population	233,933	6,729,764	49,138,831
Christian	64.2%	67.3%	59.4%
Jewish	3.3%	0.4%	0.5%
Muslim	2.6%	5.1%	5.0%
Hindu	0.6%	0.5%	1.5%
Buddhist	0.4%	0.3%	0.5%
Sikh	0.1%	0.1%	0.8%

At the 2011 UK census, 64.2% of Salford's residents were Christian, 3.3% Jewish, 2.6% Muslim, 0.6% Hindu, 0.4% Buddhist, and 0.1% Sikh. 22.3% had no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 6.2% did not state their religion.[92]

Salford is covered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford,[101] and the Church of England Diocese of Manchester.[102] During the mid-19th century, there was an influx of Irish people into the Salford area, partly due to The Great Hunger in Ireland.[103] In 1848, Salford Roman Catholic Cathedral was consecrated, reflecting Salford's large Irish-born community at the time.[104]

Of Salford's six Grade I listed buildings, three are churches. St Augustine's Church, in Pendlebury, was built in 1874 by George Frederick Bodley.[105] The Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Eccles, was originally built in the 13th century but was expanded in the 15th. A church has been on the site since at least the 12th century.[105][106] St Mark's Church, in Worsley, was built in 1846 by George Gilbert Scott.[105] The six Grade II* listed churches are the Church of St Andrew in Eccles,[105][107] the Cathedral Church of St John,[108] the Church of St Luke in Pendleton,[109] Monton Unitarian Church in Monton,[110] the Church of St Philip in Salford,[111] and the United Reformed Church.[105]

Salford Quays

Salford Docks (also called Manchester Docks) were opened by Queen Victoria in 1894, providing docks in Manchester and Salford for the Manchester Ship Canal which linked Manchester to the sea.[112] During the 1970s, the docks fell into decline as they proved too small for new, larger ships,[112] and when they were abandoned in 1982 over 3,000 people lost their jobs.[112] Salford City Council purchased the docks in 1984 and since then they underwent regeneration as a centre of tourism in Salford, which included the construction of the Lowry Centre.[112] More than 10,000 people are employed in the Quays in jobs such as retail, construction, and e-commerce.[113] In 2007, it was confirmed that the BBC would be moving five of its departments to a new development on Pier 9 of Salford Quays, called MediaCityUK.[114] The move was completed in 2011.

Finance and professional services, tourism and culture, and computer and internet based services have been identified as growth industries in Greater Manchester and are concentrated in Manchester and Salford.[116] Average house prices in the City of Salford are sixth out of all the metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester, 7.6% lower than the average for the county.[117] There are, however, areas of considerable affluence, within the city, such as Broughton Park, parts of Kersal, Ellesmere Park, Worsley, parts of Swinton and Pendlebury and the ultra-modern Salford Quays.

At the 2011 UK census, Salford had 173,117 residents aged 16 to 74. 4.7% of these people were students with jobs, 4.1% looking after home or family, 6.9% permanently sick or disabled and 2.9% economically inactive for other reasons. The City of Salford has a high rate of people who are permanently sick and disabled, 70% higher than the national average of 4.0%.[115]

In 2011, of 106,904 residents of the City of Salford in employment, the industry of employment was: 17.8% retail and wholesale; 7.6% manufacturing;13.7% health and social work; 8.7% education; 7.2% construction; 5.2% transport and storage; 6.6% accommodation and food service; 6.2% administrative and support services; 6.0% professional, scientific and technical; 5.1% public administration and defence; 4.4% financial and insurance; 3.4% information and communication; 1.6% real estate; 0.9% water supply and waste management; 0.6% energy supply; 0.1% agriculture, forestry and fishing; 0.1% mining and quarrying; and 4.7% other. This was roughly in line with national figures, except for the proportion of jobs in agriculture which is less than half the national average, reflecting the city's suburban nature and its proximity to the centre of Manchester.[118]

JCDecaux UK has its Manchester office in the Metroplex Business Park in Salford.[119]

Established in 1967, the University of Salford is one of four universities in Greater Manchester and has approximately 19,000 students.

Overall, Salford was ranked 75th out of all the Local Education Authorities (LEAs) – and seventh in Greater Manchester – in National Curriculum assessment performance in 2007.[143] Unauthorised absences and authorised absences from Salford secondary schools in 2006–07 were 2.0% and 7.0% respectively, both higher than the national average (1.4% and 6.4%).[144] In 2007, the Salford LEA was ranked 127th out of 149 in the country – and ninth in Greater Manchester – based on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*–C grades at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) including maths and English (37.8% compared with the national average of 46.7%).[145] In 2007, Beis Yaakov High School was the most successful school in Salford at GCSE, with 90% of the pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at A*–C grade including maths and English. Bridgewater School was the most successful at A–level.[146]

The University of Salford is one of four universities in Greater Manchester and was ranked 81st by The Times. It has over 19,000 students[147] and a 69.7% level of student satisfaction. In 2007, the university received nearly 17,000 applications for 3,660 places.[148] The university is undergoing £150M of redevelopment through investment in new facilities, including a £10M law school and a £22M building for health and social care which were opened in 2006.[148] In 2007, the drop out rate from the university was 25%. Of the students graduating, 50% gained first class or 2:1 degrees,[148] which is below the national average of about 55%.[149]

Eccles tram stop

The city of Salford is served by nine railway stations on four routes. Eccles and Patricroft are on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line, while Irlam, in the southwest of the borough, is on the southern route. Clifton is on the line to Bolton and Preston; Swinton, Moorside and Walkden are on the Manchester to Southport Line via Wigan; and Salford Central and Salford Crescent are served by both routes. A station at Pendleton was closed in 1998 after suffering fire damage and a loss of patronage in favour of nearby Salford Crescent, opened a few years earlier.[150] All train services are provided by Northern,[151] though First transpennine offer occasional services during peak hours.

The Eccles line of the Manchester Metrolink runs through the City of Salford, with stations at Exchange Quay, Salford Quays, Anchorage, Harbour City, Broadway, Langworthy, Weaste, Ladywell and Eccles. The line was opened in two stages, in 1999 and 2000, as Phase 2 of the system's development.[152] In 2010 a new tram stop was opened at MediaCityUK, a 1 stop spur off the main Eccles line. Trams operate from here to Ethiad Campus, sharing most of the route with the Eccles to Ashton line. Some Eccles and Ashton bound services also stop here, especially during peak hours. These lines provide good access for Eccles and the Quays to the rest of Greater Manchester.

There are bus stations at Pendleton and Eccles. Buses run to destinations throughout the city, across Greater Manchester and further afield: Pendleton is served by a route to Preston,[153] Eccles Interchange is next to the Metrolink stop.

The council is responsible for the administration and maintenance of public roads and footpaths in the city.[154]

Since 2020, electric scooters have been available for public hire in central Salford, Salford Quays, Ordsall, Pendleton and at the University of Salford. The e-scooter hire service is operated by shared micromobility company Lime.[155]

• Mark E. Smith (1957-2018), leader of post-punk band The Fall
• Harry Williams (born 1929), footballer

The City of Salford has formal twinning arrangements with four European places and one in Canada.[156] Each was originally twinned with a place within the city prior to its creation in 1974.

• Clermont-Ferrand, France (originally twinned with County Borough of Salford in 1966)[157]
• Lünen, Germany (Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury, 1966)
• Narbonne, France (Municipal Borough of Eccles, 1957)[157]
• Saint-Ouen, France (Worsley Urban District, 1961)[157]
• Oattessel, Canada (Jaques Urban District, 1977)[157]

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Salford.

• 2006 Salford Council election
• Salford local elections
• Mayor of Salford

• Media related to City of Salford at Wikimedia Commons
• www.salford.gov.uk, Salford City Council
• www.visitsalford.info, Visit Salford
• www.tvsalford.com, TVSalford, Salford's Community TV Channel
• www.salfordonline.com, Video news and features about the City of Salford