Good transport links contributed to the expansion of the town. In the later eighteenth century the extension of the Bridgwater Canal, the first artificial navigation in England, passed through the environs of Altrincham on its route from Manchester to Runcorn, giving easy access to the sea lanes of the west coast. From the mid-nineteenth century the steam railway with its terminals in Manchester and Altrincham linked the industrial cotton mills with the more rural market town. The steam trains were replaced in the 1930s by the electrified railway, an other first of the area, and latterly by the Metro, continuing the transport link between Altrincham and Manchester.
Since the 1960s there have been far-reaching changes in Altrincham: old buildings have disappeared, new ones have been built, and in some cases street layouts have altered. This book shows how Altrincham used to look and documents the changes.
THE AUTHOR
This book was conceived and written by Patricia Southern the Senior Assistant at Trafford Local Studies Centre, where the local history library houses the basic tools that facilitate the study of the local past, such as maps, photographs, street directories and archives. Patricia Southern is a native of North Cheshire, which was incorporated into Trafford after the Local Government boundary changes of 1974.
She was educated at Altrincham County Grammar School for Girls, and qualified as a Librarian at what was then the Polytechnic of Newcastle upon Tyne.
235 x 165 mm | paperback | 96 pages | 200 illustrations
