MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Hello and welcome to the National Trust
podcast. I'm Michelle Douglass podcast producer at the National
Trust.
Today, we're heading to Manchester, a metropolis famous
for its football, music and industrial history. But you
might not know that in the centre of the city lies a very
unusual green oasis because to find this hidden garden, you've
got to look up.
DYMPNA GOULD: This is really unusual. This garden is in the
heart of one of the busiest cities in the country.
It's on 19th century viaduct. I've described this as secret
gardens in the sky.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: With around 2.8 million people living here.
Manchester is currently the UK's second most populated urban area
after London and right in the heart of this north-western
metropolis, rising up out of centuries of construction is a
green cloud above the city.
The Castlefield Viaduct Garden is one of the newest sites in
Manchester's skyline. This contemporary urban park reveals
a hidden story of British history, industrial innovation
and community.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: Where we are is where Manchester began. So
the Romans come here in AD79.
This is a pretty significant date in its own right because
that's when Vesuvius blew up and killed Pompeii and Herculaneum.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Historical tour guide and writer, Jonathan
Schofield has been showing people around Manchester for
nearly 30 years. Today he's starting at the beginning of the
story at the site of the ancient Roman fort'Mamucium'.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: The Roman Fort disappeared largely through
industrialization. So there's very little left.
There's this one tiny bit of genuine, genuine Roman fort.
What you can see here was a reconstruction of the north gate
of the Roman fort. It would have been a fort that was military
then outside it grew a town.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: The neighbouring settlement known as
a Vicus, meaning village serves as a home for the soldiers and
their families. And it attracts merchants from all corners of
the Roman Empire.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: I mean they have furnaces, workshops. One of
the earliest evidence of Christian worship found here.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Centuries later, the city of Manchester
earned its place in history once more. In the 1760s, it opens a
new transport network that would change British industry, the
canal system.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: So you get to the lower end of Castlefield
to where you have the canals because the problem was the
roads were terrible.
That one connected us to the west coast. This one went over
the hills and connected to the navigable river system of
Yorkshire and took you to the east coast.
They would be carrying everything, food, stuffs, raw
materials, to manufacture, stuff, everything you can.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: The next century brings an even more
powerful age of transport with Manchester, right at the
forefront.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: But something else happened here
first, which is the Liverpool To Manchester Railway.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: On September the 15th, 1830, the Liverpool To
Manchester Railway opens for the first time to great excitement.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: On the opening day, it begins with
blood, William Huskisson from Liverpool, he doesn't understand
trains and how quickly they move. And unfortunately, he
can't get out of the way quick enough and he runs over his leg
and he dies.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Despite tragedy. On the first day, the
new railway system is a huge success for the first time,
goods and people can travel between two major cities en
masse and at speeds of up to 35 miles or 56 kilometers per hour.
In the following years, railway engineers construct a network of
viaducts across the city.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: You've got these ludicrously massive steel
and iron bridges, huge columns.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: And in 1891 construction commences on a
magnificent 17m high, 330m long, steel viaduct built by the same
engineers behind the iconic Blackpool Tower.
This bridge would become known as the Castlefield Viaduct.
Through the 19th and into the 20th century, Manchester's
industry grows and its population swells.
One former resident who grew up in the city's railway workers
houses in the 1950s remembers what life was like in the close
community.
BEVERLEY SMEE: I came off a family of eight children, plus
my mother's sister.
I'm Beverley Smee. I was born in Dean's Gate. I believe it's
called Castlefield now. And I have very fond memories of the
place.
The house that we lived in only had gas light and that was
downstairs and candle light on the rest of the roof.
There's no such thing as television. So consequently, we
kept ourselves entertained on the street.
Games like hopscotch, hide and seek, tig or draw a snake across
your back. I don't know if you heard that?
My elder siblings would come home and say that they'd been to
the wharf, jumping from barge to barge and I always wanted to go
because I thought, oh, that sounds like a wondrous place.
However, we did jump from cart to cart on the horses and carts
which were parked up at the goods yard.
My father worked for the railway and he drove a horse and cart
and his horse was called Mary and we love that horse.
I remember one time it tried coming up the lobby, it was
pulling a cart at the time, they tried to get into the house and
it frightened the life out.
All I could see this massive head around this door.
My mother forever complaining that they were slum houses and
she was so sorry when we did get moved out of that house that it
was a very, very close knit community.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: In the 1960s, the viaduct railway system
closes down for good and the Castlefield Viaduct lies
abandoned for 60 years.
For years residents imagined what this hulking derelict
railway viaduct looked after by the Department Of Transport
might be repurposed into to benefit the city.
JONATHAN SCHOFIELD: And then, well, I was part of a campaign
in 2007 where I suggested why don't use it as a garden and it
took a while but seems to be on the way now.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: In 2020 after months of negotiations,
fundraising and paperwork, the National Trust confirms a year
long pilot project that will transform the viaduct into a
free access urban garden.
Here's Duncan Laird Head of Urban Places at the National
Trust.
DUNCAN LAIRD: We drew a little bit of inspiration from other
projects around the globe that have turned redundant heritage
into spaces that people can visit and have a moment of joy.
New York High Line is perhaps one of the biggest projects in
the world that is similar to Castlefield viaduct.
It's an elevated walkway and park within the heart of New
York.
Welcomes millions of tourists a year as well as serving the
local community. So that one I think is a real diamond in terms
of these type of projects.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: But as the team would find out a big idea
like the Castlefield Viaduct brings big challenges. Here's
National Trust Program Manager, Dympna Gould.
DYMPNA GOULD: This is one of the most ambitious projects for the
National Trust.
In November 2021, all the permissions were in place and
then it was ok, let's go.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: The work is accelerated by the urgent need
for urban green spaces highlighted in lockdown.
A date is set, July 2022 and in spring work begins.
DYMPNA GOULD: In March, Manchester and Cheshire
Construction came on site and they had literally four months
to take it from the abandoned disused railway viaduct to the
wonderful secret gardens. [
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Background chatter] As work begins,
Castlefield Viaduct holds a press day inviting people to
walk on the structure for the first time.
The old railway has been taken over by Buddleia plants. A few
empty bottles are scattered around. The strong lattice
ironwork is rusting and flaking. But it's possible to see the
potential of what this site could be.
National Highways manages the UK's disused rail network
tracks. But few of these retired railways get a chance of a new
lease of life. Here's director Richard Marshall
RICHARD MARSHALL: From our point of view of National Highways,
we've got over 3000 structures in our portfolio with the
historical Railways estate.
But this is going to be a signature item, to preserve this
sort of industrial heritage is so important.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: One resident who's been eagerly anticipating
the opening of the viaduct is Lou Pullan, Vice Chair of
Residents Group Castlefield Forum.
LOU PULLAN: And we've been gazing up towards this structure
for about 10 years hoping that someday something would happen.
This is actually the second time I came on to the viaduct. I must
add that the first time I cried! Happy tears!
Clearly, there's a lot of ground work to be done. But, you know,
everyone loves a challenge.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: But not all the locals are so enthusiastic
about having a park in the sky.
GENERIC: No, I wouldn't visit it. Better things to do just,
you know, enjoy myself, play on my Xbox, something like that
rather than look at plants on an old bridge.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: There's a lot to do between now and July to
give this old bridge a full makeover. Here's Dympna Gould.
DYMPNA GOULD: We had to create a whole new walkway. We couldn't
bring heavy machinery onto the viaduct.
So we had to crane up the event building and these huge
structures which would contain the wonderful planting.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: And for a Victorian age viaduct, a little
thoughts needed to get it ready for the 21st century.
DYMPNA GOULD: He had these real practicalities, getting
broadband up here, electrical supplies.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: And then there's the staff to consider.
DYMPNA GOULD: People who could take tours, who could talk about
the history, fundraisers, gardeners!
The gardeners didn't get on site till eight weeks before we
opened. I think you'd be looking at two years easily to develop
it.
AMY WATSON: It was black rubble, diggers, kind of a wasteland.
I'm Amy Watson and I'm the gardener at Castlefield Viaduct.
It was pretty much a building site that we had to get ready
incredibly quickly because the first stage is the pilot
project.
It's more of a kind of show garden planting. So it's all
very instant. Wow!
We also had all of our partner gardens move in.
Oh, we've had so many existential crises up here!
Growing a container garden on a bridge in 40 degree heat with no
water source was a real challenge.
We were schlepping 100L containers of water up and down
the bridge to try and keep these trees alive.
We planted 7000 bulbs with our volunteers. I was so excited to
garden somewhere that didn't have rabbits or squirrels or any
of the usual pests but rats ransacked our plantings. There
have been interesting urban gardening learns for sure.
DYMPNA GOULD: In the middle of all that, it landed in the
press, but it landed so well.
Manchester Evening News were on it from the start, The Guardian,
The Telegraph. It just caught people's imagination.
But then you have the pressure of that audience from the
Metrolink almost on a daily basis going, "They're wrong I
can see some things happening." So we felt the weight of
expectancy on us.
We opened our bookings to the public a couple of weeks before
the end of July opening.
All the tickets were free. You didn't have to be a National
Trust member and the booking system virtually blew up.
If we've had any complaints, that was probably the point we
got them because we do have limitations in terms of how many
people we can have on the site at any one time.
AMY WATSON: Up to the very last moment. It was nerve wracking.
It had been very, very up to the wire.
You know, we were shoving plants and we were getting last minute
deliveries. We were trying to figure out how to keep it alive
in this very hostile growing situation.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: And then, the day the team has been working
towards its opening morning.
DYMPNA GOULD: We're all waiting on the inside of the gates.
The team have all got the crisp new National Trust uniform on.
It's a gorgeous sunny morning.
We've rehearsed our tours, the gardens look great.
To see a crowd of people on top of the city and clamouring to
get in. It was absolutely momentous.
For all of us on that weekend, there was just one big
collective intake of breath.
Walking up the staircase. I think there's 50 steps in all.
But if you're not great on steps, there is a lift.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: It's summer 2023, a year since opening day
this morning, Dympna Gould is climbing the metal staircase
from the street below to the top of the Castlefield Viaduct where
she's giving a behind the scenes tour before visitors start
arriving.
DYMPNA GOULD: And then all of a sudden you're above the city.
You can see the Metrolink, the lovely yellow trams whizzing by
and we're at the gates to Castlefield Viaduct and we're
about to go in.
The first thing that they come into is what looks like a
gorgeous green outdoor waiting room.
We've come onto the wonderful stretch ahead of us. So we've
got all sorts of plants and dandelions and you name it,
thriving here where we try and recreate the viaduct as it was
in the 1890s.
And then we move into the secret gardens and proliferation of
green.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: The walkway leads to a set of distinct mini
gardens. These are partner plots, each carefully designed
and cultivated by local community groups, highlighting
stories from Manchester's past and present.
DYMPNA GOULD: So this is a wonderful organization
called'Sow the City' and on their slot, they have got a
pond.
Two ducks waddled on literally days after this plot was
finished and jumped in and had a swim. We call them the via-ducks
we've had via-ducklings.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Other plots are from'City of Trees' whose
garden showcases a variety of trees significant to
Manchester's story.
There's Castlefield Forum with their sculptural pocket garden.
And Hulme Community Garden Centre with their edible forest
garden.
KATH GAVIN: I wanted the garden to be a really practical example
of how people can grow in small inner city spaces.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Here's Kath Gavin on the surprising foods
you can grow in a small urban plot.
KATH GAVIN: This is quite a large planter. It's just over a
meter square and it contains what's known as an'apple tree
guild'.
An arrangement of plants that grow well together and makes the
most of a small amount of space.
The ground layer is wild strawberry.
There's also a hardy kiwi growing up the back.
We've got Babington's Leek, which is a perennial leek so it
will come back year after year.
And then in the centre we've got the apple tree and at the back
there's rhubarb. So there's quite a lot going on.
It's worth growing things that are maybe expensive in the shops
as well. So things like soft fruit. Salad leaves are another
really good one.
If you're just adding just a few leaves to your meal every day,
that can make quite a difference to your diet and to your pocket.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: It's 11am which means it's opening time.
DYMPNA GOULD: So now it's time for us to do what we like doing
best every day. We're going to throw open our gates to the
public and welcome them on to Castlefield Viaduct.
GENERIC: This is our third time visiting cos my children are six
and three and they absolutely love it. They love seeing all
the flowers. We just found some mushrooms that we've been
looking at and we've found some snails in the pond as well.
I didn't even know it was here and I was born and bred in
Manchester. I just think it's a little oasis in a really busy
overbuilt city.
I thought it would be a lot more noisier, but it's quite soothing
here. You could sit here and just listen to the trams and the
trains coming past every day.
And I think for people's mental health, taking the time to go
out, explore new places and just stay away from electronics for a
while is really good. You feel a lot more calmer.
You go to cities like Paris or New York and Paris has got the
Promenade Plantee and Brooklyn's got the, I think it's the high
line and to have something like that in Manchester shows what
sort of city it's become.
I think it's crucial as like a society to have places like this
where people can go to, especially in cities where you
don't find a lot of green spaces.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: By 2023 Castlefield Viaduct has cost
£1.8 million from funding and donations that's seen thousands
of visitors through its gates.
It showcased dozens of community gardens and run a cultural
events program with city skyline views.
Public opinion will help gorge the long term plans for the
Castlefield Viaduct. But could there be a bigger future for
recycling our industrial heritage into something new,
green and socially beneficial?
DUNCAN LAIRD: There's a massive opportunity to repurpose these
historic bits of infrastructure within cities and provide value
to the local communities and local places.
BEVERLEY SMEE: Anything that can preserve any of the beauty that
I remember as a child gets full marks from me.
DYMPNA GOULD: All I can say really is a big thank you to the
people of Manchester Salford and beyond who just come and visited
and fed all their ideas in.
And because of that, we've got confidence going forward that we
will find a permanent future for this viaduct and that makes me
so happy.
MICHELLE DOUGLASS: Thanks for listening to this episode of the
National Trust podcast.
The Castlefield Viaduct Sky Park is extending its pilot program
till summer 2024. If you'd like to find out more, visit the
Castlefield Viaduct or donate to the project, please follow the
links in this episode's show notes.
And if you'd like to be updated with every new episode of the
National Trust podcast, please follow us on your favorite
podcast app or you can find all our audio programmes at
nationaltrust.org.uk/podcasts
For now, from me, Michelle Douglas. Goodbye.