Exploring Manchester’s unlikely inner-city beauty spots

Published 01/01/2023 · Updated 01/01/2023

Here in Greater Manchester we’re very lucky to be surrounded on pretty much all sides by some of the UK’s most stunning countryside. But if you know where to look there’s plenty of places much closer to home where it’s just as easy to get away from it all. They may not have the majesty of Helvellyn or the sweeping views of Kinder Scout, but the rugged edges of Greater Manchester tell a unique story about our city all of their own.

And in our eyes at least they’re all the better for it. Read more: The new rooftop restaurant with panoramic views of Manchester Here’s five of our favourite, unlikely inner-city beauty spots in Greater Manchester…

(Clockwise from top left) The M60 flyover; swans on the Manchester Ship Canal; demolition work at the old five-a-side centre and Barton Road swing bridge

Holding your nose on the Trafford Centre canal loop

Admittedly a stroll past one of the largest sewage works in Europe, a stone’s throw away from the Trafford Centre, doesn’t sound – or smell – that enticing.

But give it a chance and it’s a fascinating and surprisingly peaceful way to spend half an hour or so. Starting out by the Travelodge opposite the exacavators demolishing the old five-a-side centre, this walk takes in two boroughs and more than 100 years of industrial engineering. With the muted din of the M60 viaduct keeping me company I set out along banks of the Manchester Ship Canal.

A swan glides along the surface of the water, while gulls and a plane from the nearby Barton airport soar overhead. A quick diversion through a building site brings me out at the frost-covered headstones in the graveyard of St Catherine’s Church on Old Barton Road. From there it’s short walk along an overgrown boardwalk to the rusting hulk of the Grade II-listed Barton Swing Bridge, which takes me over into Salford.

After cutting through the housing estate opposite the handsome Rock House pub, we’re back at the water’s edge And this is where – if the wind’s unkind – it could start to get a bit pongy. With the motorway ahead in the distance and the canal on my left, I pick up the pace as, to my right, the Davyhulme sewage works goes about its vital, but unsavoury, business.

Thankfully I’m soon past the worse and finding my attention drawn upwards as hundreds of cars and trucks roar past on the motorway 100ft above my head. Re-crossing the canal on the swing bridge’s 21st century sibling – the Salford Western Gateway, I’m back at my starting point. You might have to hold your nose at points, but everywhere you look there’s nature and imposing reminders of Manchester’s industrial past and shopping and leisure-based future.

And if you’re anything like me, even the stink of 1.2m people’s waste is preferable to a schlepping round the Trafford Centre.

Kersal Wetlands was created after the devastating 2015 Boxing Day floods

Kersal wetlands

Created as part of a GBP10m flood defence scheme, put in place after the devastating 2015 Boxing Day floods, Kersal Wetlands, is a sprawling oasis in the heart of inner-city Salford. But if you didn’t know it was there – as many don’t – it’s easy to miss. The 10 hectare nature reserve on the inside of a bend in the RIver Irwell was once home to the old Manchester racecourse at Castle Irwell.

But now it plays host to rare bird species like the little egret and little ringed plover and a stunning wildflower meadow. Footpaths on top of dykes ring the huge basin, which engineers say can hold the equivalent of 250 Olympic size swimming pools-worth of water. If the Irwell bursts it banks, as it did in 2015, that will help protect around 2,000 properties in Lower Kersal and Lower Broughton.

But thankfully most days the only drama it sees is if a kid falls off his bike, or a dog gets off the lead.

(Clockwise from top left) St Catherine’s Steps, said to be the inspiration for Lowry’s The Footbridge; Peachstone Henge in Sandhills park; a concrete sculpture at the derelict Eastford Square shopping parade and the view towards Manchester city centre from the Lowry bridge

Following in Lowry’s footsteps in Collyhurst

In the 1840s Frederick Engels described the Red Bank slum as ‘utterly uninhabitable’. I wonder what he’d make of it now? In a city in a state of near constant upheaval, arguably nowhere will witness as many changes in the coming years as the area developers are now branding ‘Victoria North’.

Where once Eastern European Jewish immigrants settled in the cramped, squalid warren of terraced houses, now it’s a Hong Kong investment firm ploughing millions into glass-fronted high rises. Some 15,000 new homes, a tram stop, park and school are being built, effectively creating a brand new town between Angel Meadows and Collyhurst. So right now is fascinating time to explore.

Starting out where the Irwell emerges at Scotland Street, named in honour of Manchester’s links with the Jacobite Rebellion, follow the river up along Dantzic Street into Collyhurst Road past the derelict travellers site. This stretch was heavily once industrialised. In the 1850s it was home to several corn mills, while over the river there was a tannery, piggery and a brewery.

Some remnants of that past can still be seen today, but now it’s the building industry that dominates with the rumble of cranes and trucks working on the first tower blocks.

The Footbridge by LS Lowry is thought to have been inspired by St Catherine’s Steps off Collyhurst Road

At this point it’s worth a little detour off Collyhurst Road to take in the views back over the city centre from St Catherine’s Steps, thought to be the inspiration for Lowry’s 1938 painting The Footbridge. From there it’s up another flight of steps to Sandhills, a park built on reclaimed land that was once Collyhurst quarry. At the top of the hill you’re greeted by Peachstone Henge, a sculpture created by artist Andrew McKeown to mark the millennium, and Eastford Square, a ghost town shopping parade that stands as yet another reminder of the working class roots that will soon be swept away.

(Clockwise from top left) A graffiti covered tunnel on the canal towpath in Ancoats, the view towards Victoria Mill in Miles Platting; new build flats overlook the water on the edge of Ancoats and the old Central Retail Park viewed through security fencing

Ancoats’ backside

One of the many reasons I like walking along Manchester’s canals is, to borrow a line from Iggy Pop, you get to see the city’s backside.

And while Ancoats might now be a fixture in annual ‘Coolest places on earth’ list, you don’t have to go very far along the Rochdale Canal to get a glimpse of what the world’s first industrial suburb looked like before gentrification kicked in. The towpath is a well-worn route for City fans heading to the Etihad, but on non-match days it’s also the perfect place for a quiet stroll. Heading north past Royal and Brunswick mills and the balconies of the many new-build flats, you’re soon out in the estates of the inner-city.

Here the waterside cafes give way to derelict pubs and fenced off wasteland. Up ahead I can see the gasometer at Beswick. And as I reach Miles Platting a discarded yoga ball floats in the water, as a gaggle of geese fight for the noodles a couple have just put out for them on the banking.

Coincidentally another sculpture by Andrew McKeown also sits here in Victoria Mill Park, named after yet another handsome old cotton mill. From here you could follow the canal all the way through Middleton, Rochdale and Littleborough into Yorkshire. But if you’re not feeling that adventurous have a pint in the New Crown Inn at Newton Heath and jump on a tram back into town.

(Clockwise from top left) Brookfield Lower Meadow and the cottages of Far Lane; Sunny Brow Park; dilapidated Gorton House, which was built in Debdale Park in the 1790s by wealthy textile merchant Robert Grimshaw and Tan Yard Brow, where a Tannery was situated on the banks of Gore Brook

Parrot spotting in Gorton

Parrot spotting in east Manchester.

It’s not Alan Partridge’s latest idea for a new games show, but something you can actually do in Gorton, of all places. A family of ring-necked parakeets have made their home in Debdale Park, just a few yards from the roar of the M60. It’s just one of many surprises in this overlooked corner of the city.

Gore Brook Valley – from which Gorton takes its name – is also home to a butterfly garden, historic pubs, grand old parks, a grade-II listed church, a watersports centre, 200-year-old cottages and handsome Victorian terraces. The best way to explore the area is via the two mile long Gorton Heritage Trail just off Hyde Road. Running from Debdale Park to Sunny Brow Park, notable landmarks include Maiden’s Bridge, built in 1737 and so-called because it saved local women from raising their skirts as their crossed the brook on stepping stones.

There’s also the Grade II-listed Brookfield Unitarian Church, built in 1869 by industrialist Richard Peacock, Liberal MP for Gorton and one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer, Peacock and Company. Several 18th Century cottages line Far Lane, which is thought to be one of the oldest roads in Manchester, while handsome Victorian terraces overlook the weeping willows of Sunny Brow Park. And if you work up a thirst, tucked away just off the remains of the Old Salt Road, an ancient route going north from the salt mines of Northwich, lies the 400-year-old Vale Cottage Inn, known as the ‘country pub in the city’.

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