Gas lamp and Manchester Cathedral

Amazing survival of part of gas lamp dated 1837, on Bridge over the Irwell in front of Manchester Cathedral.

This shot links two optimistic periods of English History. The Cathedral benefitted from Henry VIIs mum Margaret Beaufort, who paid for the magnificent angel roof. This was a time when England under the new Tudor dynasty was putting the Wars of the Roses behind and entering a New Age.

Similarly the cast iron gas lamp at the start of Victoria's reign and at the start of the railway age, symbolises a period of great prosperity and growth as Manchester became the first world industrial city.

Of course for both periods this was an age of growth and prosperity for some, but certainly not for all.