Walks and Tours

There's no better way to appreciate all that happened in Manchester than by exploring it yourself. The Historic City of Manchester is just outside the Town Hall's front door and throughout the day we'll be running a series of guided walks covering everything and everyone from John Dalton to Joy Division. With the help of expert guides, you'll discover surprising stories in familiar locations around the city centre. Don't forget that all walks are FREE to attend!

Pre-booking for walks has now ended, but don't forget that there will still be a supply of tickets (over 600 in total) available for all of the talks and most of walks on "a first come first serve" basis on March 21st

Update - 12th March - Because they have proved so popular, we've managed to find some more walks for you to go on!

City Walks
Five Minutes and Out...
Mural Tours

City Walks

Each City Walk explores a different theme of Manchester's History. Starting at the Town Hall, you'll be taken around different historic locations around the city centre - some familiar, some not! Each talk will last for around an hour unless otherwise stated.

10:45 - John Dalton's Manchester
Chemist and physicist John Dalton created the modern atomic theory and inspired the scientific culture of nineteenth-century Manchester. This walk around the city centre explores the life and work of Dalton and those who knew him.

11:15 - Non-Conformity in Manchester
Nonconformists played a considerable role in the social and cultural history of Manchester. This intriguing walk unravels these aspects through an examination of their religious architecture in city centre Manchester (45 minutes)

11:30 - NEW WALK Crime and Punishment II
Take a walk on the sinister side with this gruesome tour of life and death on the wrong side of the law in historic Manchester.

11:45 - Castlefield Walk
There's a lot more to Castlefield than just trendy apartments and bars, as you'll discover on this tour of the castles, studios and canals, railways and storehouses that make up the UK's first Urban Heritage Park.

12:30 - NEW WALK Peterloo II
The 19th Century was a time of political turmoil in Great Britain. In 1819 a crowd of 60,000 peaceful pro-reform supporters gathered on Peter's Fields to call for reform, but the panicked authorities ordered a cavalry charge... Relive the bloody events of the Peterloo Massacre in this walk.

12:45 - Peterloo
The 19th Century was a time of political turmoil in Great Britain. In 1819 a crowd of 60,000 peaceful pro-reform supporters gathered on Peter's Fields to call for reform, but the panicked authorities ordered a cavalry charge... Relive the bloody events of the Peterloo Massacre in this walk.

1:15 - After the Cloud
In 1996 an IRA bomb devastated the centre of Manchester, ripping the heart out of the city. This tour explores the destruction and subsequent redevelopment of Manchester's city centre in the years following the bomb.

1:30 - NEW WALK Victorian Manchester II
If any city embodied the Victorian age it was Manchester, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the age. Learn more about the people, ideas and events that made this key time in the making of Manchester.

1:45 - Manchester Personalities
See Manchester through the eyes of people who lived or worked here - Sir Charles Halle, Annie Horniman, LS Lowry and Enriqueta Rylands come to life before your very eyes during this walk

2:15 - Crime and Punishment
Take a walk on the sinister side with this gruesome tour of life and death on the wrong side of the law in historic Manchester.

2:30 - NEW WALK Manchester Personalities II
See Manchester through the eyes of people who lived or worked here - Sir Charles Halle, Annie Horniman, LS Lowry and Enriqueta Rylands come to life before your very eyes during this walk.

2:45 - Architecture Walk
From grand civic buildings to the squalor of slums, from 60's monstrosities to the shimmering towers of the 21st century, explore Manchester's strikingly diverse range of buildings.

3:15 - Victorian Manchester
If any city embodied the Victorian age it was Manchester, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the age. Learn more about the people, ideas and events that made this key time in the making of Manchester.

3:45 - Factory Records
Joy Division, Happy Mondays, A Certain Ratio... From the late 1970s to the early 1990s Factory Records were a key part of the Manchester Music Scene, discover the stories behind FAC51 on this tour of Manchester's iconic record label.

Five Minutes and Out...

For those of you who would rather not venture too far from all the attractions of the Town Hall, noted historian of Manchester Terry Wyke will be leading a selection of 5-10 minute talks exploring some of the more interesting curiosities in and around the Town Hall.

10:15 - Oliver Cromwell and the making of Manchester Town Hall

11:15 - When a spade is not a spade: Commemorative trowels in the Town Hall

12:15 - Policing the Town Hall. Sherlock Holmes meets the Suffragettes.

1:15 - Peterloo: A sacred space in need of a memorial

2:15 - St Peter is very cross

3:15 - Honest Abe in Manchester (by chance)

Mural Tours

Within the Town Hall, Jennifer McKellar, curator of the Town Hall Collections, will offering guided tours of the Manchester Murals. Begun by Victorian Painter Ford Madox Brown in 1879 and completed shortly before his death in 1893, this series of 12 magnificant murals dominates the Great Hall and celebrates scenes from the history of Manchester. Yet there is much more to the images than initially meets the eye... Learn more about the Murals and the story behind them on this 30 minute tour.

10:30 - Mural Tour

11:30 - Mural Tour

1:30 - Mural Tour

2:30 - Mural Tour

All Images Copyright Manchester Library & Information Service Local Image Collection http://www.images.manchester.gov.uk/