Then & Now; Deansgate, Manchester
‹ Return to Air raids & bomb sites
Then & Now; Deansgate, Manchester
This is an old black and white long exposure photo taken on Deansgate during the air raid on Manchester on June 2nd 1941. I have edited it somewhat. The streaks of light are sparks flying through the air.
It was a devastating attack, lasting from 0040 till 0310. Bombs fell in Manchester City Centre, Cheetham Hill, Strangeways, Salford and Stretford. There were hundreds of casualties, including 14 nurses killed while on duty at the Salford Royal Hospital.
The photos below are of the Manchester City Mission Headquarters on the corner of Lloyd Street and Deansgate, just a little way along the road from where the photo above was taken. Below that is the same corner as it looks now.
I have a copy of an excellent book by Mr Peter J C Smith called Luftwaffe over Manchester, published in 2003 by Neil Richardson. It has had me driving all over Manchester looking for traces of the war. The book reference is ISBN 978 1 85216 151 4. I think it is out of print*, though it’s the sort of publication you often find in local libraries.
*it’s not out of print, see comments below for details.
Deansgate, Manchester after the air raid of June 2nd 1941.
How it looked in 2010.
Superb set Ian and interesting history….very nicely done
wow – very interesting!
That is amazing – you can see the water hoses. I wonder if the ground floor was created to look like the original or in fact if it is part of the original
Great shot and set of shots Ian..
Interesting stuff Ian , I can recall the heaps of bricks and wastelands with odd rows of houses still standing in them in the sixties on the way into Manchester , never really knew if it was from the bombing or demolition but from the locations you give for the bombing it must have been that .
The road looks in better nick then than now 🙂
Am looking forward to seeing some more examples of then and now .
Excellent piece of documented history!
BTW, the book is available at waterstones according to a useful book finding website
thanks all.
so it is Rob, cheers.
Here’s a link to Watertones. Thought waterstones just went thru Amazon where it came up as unavailable. years since i bothered searching for waterstones.
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/peter+j-c-+sm...
http://www.bookkoob.co.uk/
Fab set – and great info.
I can feel the heat, exraordinarily moving interpretation!
Incredible image !
Not an easy task I imagine to take photos in such conditions.
………………….this is truly OUTSTANDING Ian!!!
Janwillem
Wow! Fascinating stuff.
Very interesting story to accompany some amazing pictures. Proving that really no one ever wins in wars – and innocent people, like nurses pay the price – a price far too high.
Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Unusual Photoshop , and we’d love to have this added to the group!
thank you for the invite!