Miles Platting is an inner city part of Manchester, England, northeast of Manchester city centre along the Rochdale Canal and A62 road, bounded by Monsall to the north, Collyhurst to the west, Newton Heath to the east, and Bradford, Holt Town and Ancoats to the south. Historically part of the township of Newton Heath, Lancashire, Miles Platting began to appear on maps in the 1820s, when it had begun to expand into a factory district as a result of the Industrial Revolution. That industrial growth resulted in a population that became very large for the size of the district, resulting in densely packed terraced housing that had degenerated into slums by 1950. As a result of this, crime rose and the area became an economically deprived part of the city. Miles Platting has undergone extensive redevelopment and regeneration, with former slum terraces removed to make way for council housing.
History
The origin of the name remains uncertain, but one suggestion is that it may derive from the wordplatt, meaning a small piece of ground, with miles being a corruption of mills. Hence Miles Platting may mean "mills on a small piece of ground". Miles Platting certainly did have many mills by the middle of the 19th century: Holland Mill, Victoria Mill and Ducie Mill were among the largest. By the 1870s a chemical works, timber yard, gas works and a tannery were also operating in the area alongside the many mills. This volume of industry in such a relatively small area inevitably led to the construction of densely packed back-to-back housing to provide homes for the necessary workforce. By the middle of the 20th century, with the decline in manufacturing industry and the closure of its local industries, Miles Platting had become a slum area inhabited by a deprived community. Today, Miles Platting contains just under 2,000 housing units, many of them managed by Adactus Housing Association on behalf of Manchester City Council, including 12 multi-storey blocks. The area, once recognised as being amongst the most deprived in the UK, has benefited from the substantial urban regeneration scheme for east Manchester initiated in the late 1990s. Miles Platting railway station lay at the junction of the lines from Manchester Victoria to Oldham and Stalybridge, but this closed in 1995, and the station was subsequently demolished. The railway line, which remains open for passenger traffic, separates Miles Platting from Collyhurst and Monsall. Between 1839 and 1844, the area was also the location of Oldham Road railway station, the original terminus for the Manchester and Leeds Railway until the line was extended to Manchester Victoria station in the latter year. The station was then converted to become a major railway goods depot by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, remaining in use until the 1960s.
A prominent building of Miles Platting is Victoria Mill, a huge former cotton mill that looms over the district and now houses offices and apartments. Its restoration was directed by Fr Dominic Kirkham of Corpus Christi.
Religion
Historically, much of the population of Miles Platting was of Irish Catholic or Italian descent, as evidenced by the large Corpus Christi Priory on Varley Street. The basilica has been served since 1889 by the Norbertine Order, becoming an independent canonry of the order in 2004. Due to falling numbers and mounting repair and maintenance costs the basilica is now closed; the final Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Salford on 27 April 2007. the basilica has been converted into the Usmania Banqueting Hall. From 1880 until the slum clearances of the 1970s there was a Salvation Army corps in Cash Street. Miles Platting is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, and the Anglican Diocese of Manchester.
