Manchester‘s new ‘sky park’ on Castlefield Viaduct is reopening next weekend after being closed for maintenance over the winter.
The New York-inspired elevated urban park on the giant Grade II-listed 330-metre steel viaduct opened to the public as part of a pilot project to gauge opinion back in July 2022, but has been closed since December to allow time for the team of National Trust gardeners, volunteers, and community partners to prune, plant, and create new and exciting areas.
Over 10,000 visitors got to explore part of the structure and find out more about the viaduct’s heritage and the city’s long relationship with plants and trees when it opened last summer.
But closing the attraction was necessary to the tie up the finishing touches.
Manchester’s new ‘sky park’ on Castlefield Viaduct is reopening to the public next weekend / Credit: National Trust
On top of National Trust gardeners and volunteers working to add a variety of seasonal planting displays created by, four plots on the viaduct have also been handed over to local community groups and partner organisations to create their own unique gardens for visitors to enjoy.
Hulme Community Garden Centre and Sow the City are two of the groups who will be revealing their gardens when the viaduct reopens to the public on Saturday 18 February.
According to the National Trust, Hulme Community Garden Centre have created an urban forest garden to inspire viaduct visitors to create ‘layered’ planting that optimises precious growing areas.
The garden is aiming to both benefit personal wellbeing and the local environment.
Sow the City, on the other hand, has been working with Hubbub to bring a sensory nature garden complete with a pond – which is a first for the industrial viaduct.
Featuring wildlife habitats and bee-friendly planting, Sow the City’s ‘In Our Nature Garden’ is hoping to encourage a connection between people and nature, with design drawing inspiration from the latest research in environmental psychology that indicates that the closer a person’s relationship is with nature, the more likely they are to care for wildlife and the wider environment.
The group says the aim of the garden is to give those living in Manchester city centre the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle through tranquil sights, earthy smells, and an immersive audio recording that can be downloaded as part of the nature experience.
These two new areas of the viaduct will join the existing ‘partner plots’ by City of Trees and Castlefield Forum.
The New York-inspired elevated urban park has been closed for maintenance over the winter / Credit: National Trust
Officially reopening on Saturday 18 February, entry onto the structure will remain free while the National Trust team test a new way to welcome visitors.
A booking system will stay in place for guided walk visits between 11am to 12:30pm, but unlike last time it was open, those wanting to explore the viaduct at their own pace after 1pm can now just turn up on the day without needing to book.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming visitors back onto the viaduct to see what we and our partners have been up to,” Rebecca Alexander, Visitor Operations and Experience Manager at Castlefield Viaduct said ahead of the park’s opening next weekend.
“In our first four months of opening, the viaduct proved very popular and many of our time slots to visit were fully booked.
“By introducing a new way for visitors to explore the viaduct at their own leisure, we hope that even more people will benefit from this green space in the heart of Manchester and support us in shaping its future.”
The National Trust says there are also plans to host events throughout the spring and summer – including new family tours both on and off the viaduct, yoga, planting events, lunch-hour talks on weekdays, and community-led plays.
Aitch is playing a huge hometown set at The Warehouse Project
Danny Jones
Aitch has booked another massive hometown slot as the Moston-born rapper will be playing none other than the home of clubbing here in Manchester: The Warehouse Project.
Joining the WHP25 programme, which is already stacked right up until New Year’s Eve, the 25-year-old is the latest rapper to take on the famous club venue, following the likes of Little Simz and Loyle Carner, who played the event series back in October.
Aitch‘s new album, 4 – which denotes the number of studio LPs he’s made to date and acts as a nod to the M4 postcode – was released on June 20 and has already proved popular with fans.
Having just played Parklife as well as a secret set at Glastonbury this year, he’s already performed most of his biggest slots for the year, but the ever-rising local rapper thought he’d given Manchester another big gig and one more chance to see him live in 2025.
As an increasingly popular main event act across the UK, a headline show at Warehouse Project is nothing short of a massive deal for any artist, let alone a Manc.
The date itself will see him see him performing songs from the new record, which is his second to hit the top 10, as well as a selection of multiple platinum-selling hits.
Sharing details of early access tickets on Instagram stories shortly after the announcement, the UK hip-hop and grime star reminded fans: “This is the only chance to see me shut this sh*t down this year!!!”
It’s actually his only major domestic show in full stop, so if you’re a die-hard fan of Harrison Armstrong and his music, you really don’t want to miss this one.
He’s not the only big name coming to Mayfield this season either.
WHP25 /// FISHER – TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Don’t miss out on what’s set to be an unmissable night – packed with infectious energy from beginning to end – as he takes over Depot Mayfield alongside a lineup coming very soon.
Featured Images — Jahnay Tennai (supplied)/Aitch (via TikTok)
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‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
Emily Sergeant -
10th February 2023 
