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18th April 2008

Greater Manchester and its Forty-Seven Grade I Listed Buildings

The English Heritage is a non-departmental public body and is sponsored by the department for Culture, Media and Sport. The organisation was set up to protect important and significant buildings and structures in Great Britain.

The non-departmental public body is the entrusted authority on the Grade listings. The procedure is carried out under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

Buildings or structures awarded with a Grade I are considered to be of ‘exceptional interest’. Buildings or structures that are listed are also of special architectural, historical or cultural significance.

Greater Manchester is known to hold a wealth of industrial heritage that is supported by outstanding industrial architecture.

Manchester was the world’s first industralised city and houses fifteen of Greater Manchester’s forty-seven Grade I listed building.

Historically much of the region was localised in Lancashire and was at the forefront of textile manufacturing during the period of the early 19th century to the early 20th century.

An exceptional amount of listed buildings are situated in Greater Manchester and date back to the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

The Association for Industrial Archaeology said, ‘ one of the classic areas of industrial and urban growth in Britain, the result of a combination of forces that came at the 18th and 19th centuries.

Out of 10 boroughs Manchester has the highest number of Grade I listed buildings.

A high percentage of Grade I structures in Greater Manchester are of a municipal, ecclesiastic or other cultural heritage.

Oldham is the only borough in Greater Manchester to not have any Grade I listed structures.

The oldest Grade I listed structure in Greater Manchester is the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Eccles. The church was completed in the 13th century but has been greatly expanded over the centuries.