Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Manchester
Have you ever wanted to explore what’s on your doorstep in Manchester? Do you want to know some really interesting facts about the city? Here’s our first local guide to Manchester, UK!
If you’re unfamiliar, Manchester is a major city in the northwest of England that is located in the metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester. It’s close by to historic counties such as Lancashire and Cheshire.
If you live in Manchester, UK, or it’s somewhere you want to visit, then we have put together this guide on things to do in Manchester but specifically, ten cool things you probably didn’t know about Manchester.
Did you know these?
You can take a degree in Mummy studies in Manchester
…nope, afraid this isn’t for those looking to study on how to be a mum!
The University of Manchester is the only university in the world that actually offers a degree in Mummy Studies, via it’s official degree title “MSc Biomedical Egyptology” where you can combine the study of ancient egypt with modern biomedical technologies.
There’s even a module on Ancient Eygyptian medicine. Pretty cool.
You can be on a TV show in Manchester
Manchester is home to MediaCity’s dock10 studios, where you can actually apply to be part of the audience to some of the UK’s best loved TV shows aired on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and much more.
Manchester is also home to the longest serving TV soap opera, Coronation Street which has been on our screens every week since 1960.
Wigan is home to the 'World Pie Championships'
Who ate all the pies? Apparently Wigan…
Wigan is a large town based in Greater Manchester, but it’s also the home of the World Pie Championship. It’s held at Harry’s Bar and it sees contestants compete against each other (and the clock) to eat a meat and potato pie in the fastest time possible.
It’s so successful, that it’s been running for over 20 years - reckon you could beat the current record of 22.53 seconds?
Manchester is the home of vegetarianism
From meat pies, to vegetarianism…
Inside a tiny chapel in Salford, Greater Manchester, is the British birthplace of the meat-free diet, which occurred over 200 years ago.
Reverend William Cowherd preached the moral virtues of a vegetarian diet. But you won’t believe what that tiny chapel is called…
The Beefsteak Chapel. Nope, we’re not kidding.
There’s a snake who tries to eat his own tail called Ouroboros
Honest, this is true… well, not quite as it seems!
If you visit Manchester’s magnificent Town Hall, on the ceiling of the main entrance, you can see a snake trying to eat its own tail and he’s an ancient pagen icon symbolising the eternal cycle of life.
If you happen to visit, don’t forget to say hi to Ouroboros!
11 million bricks make up the Manchester viaduct
That’s A LOT of bricks!
The Manchester viaduct was built in 1840 and end-to-end, the bricks would stretch all the way to Madrid and back.
Manchester’s Roman name meant ‘breast-shaped hill’
Nope, we’re not joking.
Manchester began when a wooden fort was built by the Roman army around 79AD and the Romans called it ‘Mamucium’ which was thought to represent an original Celtic name, meaning ‘breast-shaped hill’.
We’re not sure why, but look it up - it’s true!
Black Pudding first arrived in Manchester
Bury, in Greater Manchester is the undisputed home of the black pudding.
Some love it, some hate it, but black pudding is a Manchester staple.
There’s a detective day out that comes to the city once a year
Yes! Imagine the whole of Manchester turning into a city-wide playground full of people dressed up in fancy dress.
It’s true! CluedUpp Games (us) is an exciting outdoor detective adventure where we bring a new virtual adventure or murder-mystery to the city every year! From Sneaky Finders, to Witchcraft and Wizardry and most recently The Ripper…
You can scramble across the city, solve the clues and crack the case, all in fancy dress, with your friends and family gathered and you could even win prizes for the best dressed, best K9 detective (where you can bring your dog) and much more!
Just find your nearest game by searching “Manchester” in the search box on our events schedule.
Did you know these facts about Manchester? Let us know!
