Manchester
Not too long ago, I spent several posts talking about some of the sites in London and made a few quips about London accommodation. I said then not to let that London hotel go until I said, and then I forget to tell you to check out when we moved on. Oops. Sorry. We’re headed back to England today, but instead of finding accommodation in London, we’ll be booking ourselves into Manchester hotels.
So, what’s in Manchester? So glad you asked!! Manchester is about 160 miles from London, and was once the global center of the cotton trade, and the area suffered greatly during the American Civil War. Remember that the American South, where much cotton was grown, was not heavily industrialized, and the cotton mills in Manchester relied on a steady stream of cotton from that region to keep their spinning and weaving machines humming along productively. After the South was prevented from shipping it’s cotton out, textile mills all over Europe faced shortages. However, even those hardest hit by the cotton shortage would not aid the South because they did not want to be seen as supporting slavery. And this is why, in addition to all those lovely English statues and landmarks, you will also find an rather jarring exhibit in Manchester: a statue of Abraham Lincoln, given to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Phelps Taft, residents of Ohio.
photo from the public domain
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