The absurd IRA Bomb cliché, henges, urban swans and tours linkedin.com/pulse/absurd-ir… via @LinkedIn

This is what guests are saying about the tours programme around Manchester. These are from both private and public tours. Here are three examples: more in the link below. Thank you Jonathan Schofield for a fantastic tour and a brilliant afternoon of stories, history and hidden gems. Ghost tour next time though yeah. Naomi Shaw, Clancy Consulting, June 2026 Jonathan. This is just a quick note to say yet another very big THANK YOU for your time on Sunday evening. Despite the unseasonal Mancunian rain (the rest of our trip was in bright sunshine), your tour was once again a highlight of our three days 'up north'. It is always good for our pupils to get a broad introduction to Manchester and a number of them commented afterwards about some of the information and tales that you told. It certainly sets up the ensuing days so that they can appreciate some of the history behind some of the places in the city centre. Trevor Kidson, Bradfield College, June 2026 Thank you so much for the tour, the whole family loved it and in particular in meant a great deal to Sue and Paul to reminisce and be able to share their memories alongside your tour. We’ll certainly back for the music tour, my brother in law is already looking at dates for a visit. Jonathan Mills, May 2026 jonathanschofieldtours.com/g…

Should a left footed player wish to take a corner then he would have to run down the slope of the Neolithic earthwork straight through the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans and so on, passing through the Industrial Revolution and into the 21st century before planting his foot upon the ball and trying to steer it onto the head of a hero from the Hope Valley Amateur League. That must surely be the longest corner run up in history. It’s 4,000 years long. Not far off to the North West is the cricket pitch. If you can connect well you can hit that ball for six and 4,000 years. @peakdistrict linkedin.com/pulse/4000-year…

The Secrets of Angel Meadow and the Irk Valley (Sweet Air, Scuttlers, Lost Churches & Hidden Stories or The Improbable Bridge and the Impossible Hill) 10am ​Saturday 13 June 2026 ​£20 Angel Meadow is one of the UK’s most fascinating city areas. Its history moves from elegant suburb to becoming one of the country’s most notorious urban districts famous for its crime and degradation. This is followed by a hollowing out as the population leaves and now, reinvention as one of Manchester city centre’s more characterful residential areas. The wheel has come full circle. Now a new masterplan for Angel Meadow and the Irk Valley looks set to reinforce that change of direction. This large scale regeneration joint venture between Manchester City Council and FEC are transforming the area, boosting its position within the city and the region and bringing it greater attention. The role of Angel Meadow will be underlined, once more, as the emblematic inner suburb of Manchester: a district which sums in one the shifting fortunes of city districts. Lowry will have to be mentioned alongside the strange tale of lots of naked people turning up in 2010. This tour takes a comprehensive look at the area and combines story-telling, a cast of fascinating characters, and loads of humour to bring to life the dramatic story of Angel Meadow and the Irk Valley and their bright future. Meet outside One Angel Square, the Cooperative Headquarters building, on Miller Street, M60 0AG, five to ten minutes before the tour. We'll finish back at Angel Meadow. Duration: most tours last between ninety minutes and two hours Fully accessible Totally fascinating Book here: jonathanschofieldtours.com/s… @BBCRadioManc @FECUK @MENNewsDeskList @TheMarbleArch @Angelmeadow @MeadowAngels

Fruity times in the bed and a weird place in which to eat molluscs confidentials.com/manchester…

Newsletter: NT viaduct closed, St Catherine's Wood park, fifteen mins from Victoria Station for late summer, selling a wife and tours linkedin.com/feed/update/urn…

The Secrets of Altrincham 10am Saturday 6 June 2026 £20, under 12s free A fascinating, factual and humorous tour around the historic market town of Altrincham. The tour will allow those who know Altrincham well to learn something new about the town and give visitors the opportunity to explore the rich history of the town. Stories are  woven together with wit and humour to provide an entertaining picture of the past, present and future of Altrincham. There’s vote rigging tales, parties that went too far, ghost stories and stories of sacrifice and heroism with the ‘bravest little street in England’. There’s the weird story about the man who tried to sell his wife in the nineteenth century. We also encounter the somewhat contradictory William Cunliffe Brooks. There’s music on the tour as well, featuring The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Kennedy Street Enterprises. The picture here shows a tour group enjoying Altrincham. This tour is open to walk-ups who want to pay on the day as well. ​​ Meet: Outside Altrincham Town Hall, 25 Market Street, Altrincham. WA14 1PG  Finish: We return to the start location. Duration: most tours last between ninety minutes and two hours Fully accessible Totally fascinating @ilovealtrincham @VisitAltrincham @OneTrafford @BBCRadioManc This is the route google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1…

Puppies and red plastic sign and bollards plus Edward Walters’ former Congregational Chapel from 1856. He was also overseeing his beautiful design for the Free Trade Hall now the Edwardian Hotel which opened in the same year. Through the eighties and nineties the basement of the redundant church hosted Pete Waterman’s recording studio. jonathanschofieldtours.com

Greater Manchester tours Saturday 30 May NEW 10am The secrets of Rochdale with a visit to the magnificent Town Hall With its esplanade and its superb Town Hall, plus a splendid parish church and the Pioneers' Museum Rochdale has an incredible story to tell. 1pm The Manchester Music Tour. The best tunes, the best stories. Sunday 31 May EXCLUSIVE 3pm Exclusive: Ruined St Luke’s Church, Cheetham Hill, a very special tour for 2026 Imagine this as a tour. A ruined church, an overgrown graveyard, a gloomy crypt. There will be music and projections. This will be special, this will be spectacular. jonathanschofieldtours.com

George and Fanny would be disgusted. One designed it and the other wrote about it. The Liverpool to Manchester Railway opened in 1830 and took under four years to build. The engineer’s were inventing things as they went along such as how to cross the bogs of Chat Moss. The construction was all human labour, muscle and bone. The success of the railway was globally significant. Meanwhile, passing through Birmingham in 2026 I saw hanging in the sunshine the betrayed promises of HS2, monumental sculptures to incompetence. There may be a railway working there by 2039.

I thought my new city centre councillor, Sarah Wakefield, was elected to represent the ward. But now she's off to fight for Makerfield - a bit soon I think after less than three weeks. She won't win, so she'll likely be representing my ward a while longer but it shows her ambition to jump into bigger things before starting her work here. But if she returns that’s fine, as long as she does her job. Her statement about Makerfield is typical of the Green Party though. Their claim that other parties are divisive is very hollow. In Denton and Gorton they played on division to win the by-election, anger not hope to reverse her statement. The Greens pretend to be pure and distinct from normal politics, but they use the same tactics of identity politics and division as Reform.

Upon reflection…. Late last night, we crossed the footbridge next to Aviva Studios and looked at the reflection in the River Irwell of one of the most important bridges or viaducts in the world. This is Stephenson’s viaduct from 1830 on the first inter-city railway line on the planet. The reflections look solid as though one could just step into the water and walk that entrancing reverse curve. What are we seeing in Manchester here? Two broad but sweet segmental arches (these are arches less than a full half-circle) leaping the river and made from big beefy squared off and smoothed sandstone blocks. At the edges the stone has weathered, softening the structure, making us aware of the years that have passed since construction: telling us, literally, that a lot of water has passed under the bridge. The design is efficient, smart, and because of that simple fitness for purpose, beautiful in how it looks and what it does. It’s cleverly slewed at an angle across the river too. In these views the bridge/viaduct lives up to its position as one of most significant in human history. jonathanschofieldtours.com @visit_mcr @BBCRadioManc @MENNewsDeskList

RT @JonathSchofield: Upon reflection…. Late last night, we crossed the footbridge next to Aviva Studios and looked at the reflection in th…

Newsletter: metal beauty, new park, inspiring youth, surprising restaurant survivals, tours linkedin.com/pulse/newslette… via @LinkedIn

Manchester weather explained in three pictures. St Peter's Cross in St Peter's Square was designed by Temple Moore and erected in 1908. The material chosen was Portland Stone: an unfortunate choice. The stone is relatively soft meaning the sculptural detail on the south west side has been worn away taking with it much of the decorative detail and the inscription. On the other side the words and details are still crystal clear. Proof indeed that most of our weather comes from, ultimately, the Atlantic with cyclones spinning anti-clockwise across the ocean to Britain from the south west. @visit_mcr jonathanschofieldtours.com/

Here's my latest article: Agricola, the Goddess of Fortune, early Christianity and a ragged ruin: Roman Manchester linkedin.com/pulse/agricola-… via @LinkedIn