Welcome to New Manchester - the 'forgotten village' whose streets copy Manchester could be swallowed up
I'm walking along Shudehill, heading towards 'The City'. But underneath my feet there's a dirt track, not the pavements of the city centre.
Its unusual name came after the miners who moved here from Manchester in the early 19th Century to work in the Duke of Bridgewater's collieries named the streets and pits after places from back home. Hence the village, which amounts to not much more than a few of farms and a row of terrace houses, is still known by its nickname 'The City'.
"Including farms and smallholdings, the village comprised some 70 houses," he wrote. "I suspect that the isolation of the village and its people played a large part in developing the close community spirit that undoubtedly existed. The pits are long gone, as are the village's two corner shops, while the old Methodist chapel was knocked down and replaced by a children's nursery. But Eddie Smethurst, who has lived in New Manchester for 32 years, says its distinct identity remains.
"Because of all the coal mining the water table's quite low, so all the fields flood and get really boggy. The water runs downs this street like a river. And the winds whip off the field towards the houses." The property giant says the £155m project will see improved transport links and bring around 200 jobs to the area. In a statement earlier this year the developer said the 'distinctive neighbourhoods' would be 'embedded into the area's natural landscape of woodlands, watercourses and moss land'.