Hulme: Difference between revisions

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Hulme today is a suburb of the city of Manchester in England but it was not always so. It gets its name from the Danish expression for a small island surrounded by water or marshland which, in fact, it probably was when it was first settled by the Norse invaders from Scandinavia

Until the 18th century it remained a mainly farming area and pictures from the time show an idyllic scene of crops, sunshine and the country life.

The Industrial Revolution brought many factories (known locally as mills) and the railway to Hulme, soon followed by thousands of people. Housing had to be built rapidly and space was limited. The mills, the railway and the myriad of smoking chimneys soon poisoned the air and blocked out the sun. The number of people living in Hulme went up 50-fold in the first half of the 19th century and the rapid building of housing for them meant the living conditions were dreadful, the sanitation non-existent and deadly diseases were rampant

By 1844 the situation had grown so serious that Manchester Borough Council (now Manchester City Council) had to pass a law banning further building. However, those that were already built continued to be lived in and many were still in use in the 20th century

In 1904 Henry Royce and Charles Stewart Rolls met and decided to start to build cars - and chose Hulme for their first Rolls-Royce factory though moving to Derby shortly afterwards. Many street names echo this period, such as Royce Road and Rolls Crescent.

By the start of the 1960's England had begun to remove many of the 19th century slums and consequently most of Hulme was demolished. The style of the 1960's was for high rise living in tower blocks and curved rows of low-rise flats (the notorious 'crescents') where motor vehicles remained on ground level with pedestrians on concrete walkways overhead. The buildings were generally so ugly and inhuman that they soon became as much despised as the slums which they replaced. And the dark crescents bred crime and a gang culture.

They had also had one other significant drawback - the neighbourliness of the slums had been shattered and any sense of community with it. Those who could afford to do so, moved out leaving poverty, crime and drugs to fill the gap. Soon the area became a lawless concrete jungle, the many walkways, alleyways and dark corners making policing virtually impossible. The area also attracted a big bohemian squatting community and was the powerhouse behind the Manchester music and arts scene of the eighties.

Thus, in the early 1990's, Hulme started it's third incarnation when the 1960's architectural disasters were demolished and replaced by conventional two-storey houses with gardens and small two or three storey blocks of managed apartments. Some of these were built by Housing Associations to provide social housing and others by private developers for owner-occupation or private landlords. Government and European Community grants have helped to rejuvenate Hulme and property prices have increased rapidly out of reach of most of the origonal community- typical of the 'yuppification' of new millenium Britain as it has returned to being a desirable place to live.

Changing Hulme's reputation, gained in the 1970's and 1980's, is a long process. New light industries and offices are coming into the area to bring employment back again and shopping facilities, led by Asda, have also returned. There is a sports complex, a medical centre, pubs and bars, improved public transport and, whilst there is still some gang violence and drug dealing, this is much reduced and now is no worse than most other inner city areas.

Hulme is only 20 minutes walk from the main financial and shopping areas of Manchester so it is ideal for the new generation of city dwellers to live. It is also a similar distance from the main University of Manchester campus so it is a popular place for students to live and to stay for entertainment. It is a very diverse place both ethnically (the main groups being white and Afro-Caribbean), in age spread and lifestyle. Re-building and expansion is still taking place (2004)

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 By the start of the 1960's England had begun to remove many of the 19th century [[slums]] and consequently most of Hulme was demolished. The style of the 1960's was for high rise living in tower blocks and curved rows of low-rise flats (the notorious 'crescents') where motor vehicles remained on ground level with pedestrians on concrete walkways overhead. The buildings were generally so ugly and inhuman that they soon became as much despised as the slums which they replaced. And the dark crescents bred crime and a gang culture.
-They had also had one other significant drawback - the neighbourliness of the slums had been shattered and any sense of community with it. Those who could afford to do so, moved out leaving poverty, crime and drugs to fill the gap. Soon the area became a lawless concrete jungle, the many walkways, alleyways and dark corners making policing virtually impossible. The area also attracted a big bohemian squatting community and was the powerhouse behind the Manchester music and arts scene of the eighties and was a great place to live.
+They had also had one other significant drawback - the neighbourliness of the slums had been shattered and any sense of community with it. Those who could afford to do so, moved out leaving poverty, crime and drugs to fill the gap. Soon the area became a lawless concrete jungle, the many walkways, alleyways and dark corners making policing virtually impossible. The area also attracted a big bohemian squatting community and was the powerhouse behind the Manchester music and arts scene of the eighties.
 Thus, in the early 1990's, Hulme started it's third incarnation when the 1960's architectural disasters were demolished and replaced by conventional two-storey houses with gardens and small two or three storey blocks of managed apartments. Some of these were built by [[housing association|Housing Associations]] to provide social housing and others by private developers for owner-occupation or private landlords. Government and [[European Community]] grants have helped to rejuvenate Hulme and property prices have increased rapidly out of reach of most of the origonal community- typical of the 'yuppification' of new millenium Britain as it has returned to being a desirable place to live.