The Greater Manchester Portal
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Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester.
The county has an area of 493 sq mi (1,277 km2) and is highly urbanised, with a population of 2.8 million. The majority of the county's settlements are part of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which extends into Cheshire and Merseyside and is the second most populous urban area in the UK. The city of Manchester is the largest settlement. Other large settlements are Bolton, Rochdale, Sale, Salford, Stockport and Wigan. Greater Manchester contains ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan, the councils of which collaborate through Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The county was created on 1 April 1974 from parts of north-east Cheshire, south-east Lancashire, and a small part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The centre and south-west of Greater Manchester are lowlands, similar to the West Lancashire Coastal Plain to the north-west and the Cheshire Plain to the south-west. The north and east are part of the Pennines: the West Pennine Moors in the northwest, the South Pennines in the northeast and the Peak District in the east. Most of the county's rivers rise in the Pennines and are tributaries of the Mersey and Irwell, the latter of which is itself a tributary of the Mersey. The county is connected to the Mersey Estuary by the Manchester Ship Canal, which for its entire length within Greater Manchester consists of canalised sections of the Mersey and Irwell. (Full article...)
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The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road is 107 miles (172 km) long. The motorway, first proposed in the 1930s, was built between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor and finishing in Tarbock. The motorway also absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, the motorway cost approximately £765 million to build.
Since the Stretford-Eccles bypass was opened, the motorway's history beyond construction has included a coach bombing and a rail crash. The motorway is additionally memorable for Stott Hall Farm, a farm in the Pennines situated between the carriageways which has become one of the most known sights in West Yorkshire.
The road passes the cities of Salford, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds. Between Liverpool and Manchester, the terrain of the road is relatively flat, while between Manchester and Leeds, the road crosses the hilly Pennines to its highest point on Windy Hill near Saddleworth Moor, which is also the highest point of any motorway in the United Kingdom, at 1,221 feet (372 m) above sea level.
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Hannah Beswick (1688 – February 1758), of Birchin Bower, Hollinwood, England, was a woman with a pathological fear of premature burial. Following her death in 1758 her body was embalmed and kept above ground, to be periodically checked for signs of life. Beswick's mummified body was eventually bequeathed to the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society, where she was put on display and acquired the soubriquet of the Manchester Mummy, or the Mummy of Birchin Bower.
The museum was subsequently transferred to Manchester University, when it was decided, with the permission of the Bishop of Manchester, that Beswick should finally be buried. Her burial took place at Harpurhey cemetery on 22 July 1868; her grave is unmarked.
Did you know?
- ...that the Albert Medal was one of the awards given to Mark Addy for rescuing more than 50 people from the highly polluted River Irwell, Manchester, in the 19th Century?
- ...that the Port of Runcorn in Cheshire, England, was an independent customs port for two separate periods before becoming part of the Port of Manchester in 1894?
- ...that a word square found in Mamucium (pictured), a Roman fort in Manchester, may be one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain?
- ...that the women's scratch race at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships was held in Manchester and was won by Ellen van Dijk?
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WikiProject Greater Manchester
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Featured articles: Altrincham • Bert Trautmann • Chat Moss • City of Manchester Stadium • Duncan Edwards • Emmeline Pankhurst • Greater Manchester • Joy Division • M62 motorway • Manchester • Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal • Manchester City F.C. • Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine • Peterloo Massacre • Oldham • Scout Moor Wind Farm • Shaw and Crompton • Stretford • Trafford
Featured lists: Castles in Greater Manchester • Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester • List of Manchester City F.C. managers • List of Manchester United F.C. managers • List of Manchester United F.C. records and statistics • List of Manchester United F.C. seasons • List of Manchester United F.C. players • List of Manchester United F.C. players (25–99 appearances) • List of Manchester United F.C. players (fewer than 25 appearances) • List of railway stations in Greater Manchester • List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater Manchester • List of tallest buildings and structures in Manchester • List of tallest buildings and structures in Salford • Manchester City F.C. seasons
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Good articles: 1990 Strangeways Prison riot • Alan Turing • Ashton-under-Lyne • B of the Bang • Bank Street (stadium) • Bridgewater Canal • Buckton Castle • Castleshaw Roman fort • Chadderton • Cine City, Withington • City of Salford • Controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man • David Beckham • Didsbury • Dunham Massey • Hale Barns • Henry Taylor (swimmer) • Hugh Mason • Hulme Arch Bridge • Hyde Road • Mamucium • Manchester and Bolton Railway • Manchester Liners • Manchester Mummy • Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine • Manchester United F.C. • Milnrow • Murrays' Mills • Nico Ditch • Noel Gallagher • North Road (stadium) • Ordsall Hall • Old Trafford • Oasis (band) • Radcliffe, Greater Manchester • River Irwell • Ronnie Wallwork • Royton • Sale, Greater Manchester • Tameside • Trafford Park • Upper Brook Street Chapel, Manchester • Urmston • Warburton, Greater Manchester
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