The archaeological dig in Miller Street is winding up this week. However, there will be a public open day this Saturday, 10th October. Members of the public are invited to visit the site between 10.00 am – 4.00 pm and take a glimpse into what the BBC recently described as Manchester’s Hell. It should be a remarkable insight into early industrial Manchester. The site itself is making way for a new Co-operative Development.

Was Dr. John Dee (1527-1609)a brilliant scientist or misguided mystic? The debate rages on, 400 years after his death in 1609. Earlier this week, scholars met in Cambridge to try an rescue the reputation of the Elizabethian thinker.

Dr. Dee’s career spanned an era when the distinction between modern science and mysticism was not so clear cut. Unlike some of the other big names of that time, John Dee never made a blockbuster scientific discovery. He was an expert on algebra, made contributions to navigation and had the largest private library of his day, but his reputation as a conjurer of spirits and necromancer has stuck. He wasn’t an Isaac Newton (1642-1727)who discovered gravity or introduced a ground-breaking theory of the Universe. Newton, like Dee, wrote exhaustively on alchemy and Biblical codes, but his reputation is preserved because of his scientific discoveries.

It’s interesting that Chetham’s Library (located next to Urbis) has connections to both Newton and Dee, connections that reflect the reputations of both. The library is home to a 1st edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia, a foundational text of western science, while Dee’s connection is much more sinister. According to legend, when Dee was the Warden of Manchester Collegiate Church (1595) he summoned the Devil himself in his office. The scorch mark on the oak table in the audit room remains as reputed evidence of Satan’s hoof print.

The focus of the dig is on the slum dwellings that once lined the street, leading up to the old Angel Meadow area. Beneath the ripped up tarmac and excavated soil are the ruins of the cellars. These were once houses unto themselves and reports from the 1870s claim that close to 20 adults, with additional children, would be living in a single cellar residence. Steve, a site archaeologist and our guide, had these reports to hand as well as a series of historic street maps and a copy of Engels’ Condition of the Working Class in England. For archaeologists, having this amount of contemporary documentation about a site before you dig is rare. But that’s what makes digging industrial history different – the details are already there, but the dig brings them back to life physically.

The cellars are primitively built and are typically only one brick thick. This is particularly difficult for the archaeologists as when the soil is removed the walls are liable to fall. Bearing in mind that the privy and messy inner courtyard once lied behind the walls, the squalid living conditions for many people in the 19th century is made more vivid. Steve pointed out the routes of various attempts to improve the drainage in the cellars, which must have been a continual problem. He also showed some of the artifacts found on the site including early 19th century beer bottles (complete with marble stop), a doll’s head and, rather bizarrely, a Masonic pipe.

We hope to visit the site again soon and hopefully return with pictures.

The Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show at Tatton Park in Knutsford opens today celebrating its 10th year.

If you’re visiting keep an eye out for the Urbis stand extolling the virtues of Urban Gardening.