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Byrom Street, MANCHESTER, M3 4PF

15 Byrom Street is known as Artillery House. A plaque on the wall Image explains that in 1745 the site was used as a gun park by Jacobite Forces under Charles Edward Stuart (Bonny Prince Charlie). Previously occupied by Hague Lambert Solicitors, the property has recently been transformed into twelve high-spec luxury apartments.

A plaque on the wall of 15 Byrom Street Image reads: IN NOVEMBER 1745 JACOBITE FORCES UNDER CHARLES EDWARD STUART ('BONNY PRINCE CHARLIE') (1720-1788) USED THIS SITE AS A GUN PARK

This former town house on the corner of Quay Street and Byrom Street is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1247447 It was the residence of the politician and refromer Richard Cobden. The house was purchased in 1851 with money from a legacy left by John Owens. Owens intended the legacy to fund the establishment of a college for the education of males on non-sectarian lines. The college was set-up in Cobden House and called Owens College. The college left Cobden House in 1873 to move to a new home on Oxford Road where it became the Victoria University and eventually the University of Manchester. It was converted into Manchester County Court and opened as a court house in 1878. It continued as that until 1990. http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour1/cobden.html It has since been refurbished and is now barrister's chambers http://www.cobden.co.uk/ The Byrom Street side has a blue plaque Image to the memory of Sir Edward Frankland and Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe.

On the Byrom Street side of Cobden House Chambers Image is a blue plaque to the memory of Sir Edward Frankland and Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe. RSC Sir Edward Frankland PhD FRS Professor of Chemistry 1851-1857 Organometallic compounds. Bonding and Valency. Water Analysis. First President of the Institute of Chemistry Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe BA PhD FRS Professor of Chemistry 1857-1886 Vanadium. Photochemistry. Spectroscopy. First President of the Society of Chemical Industry Active in the transfer of Owens College from this building to Oxford Road in 1873 and in the foundation of the Victoria University in 1880. Royal Society of Chemistry

This Grade II listed building https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1283039 at 14 Byrom Street (previously listed as 20 & 22 Byrom Street) dates from 1896 and overlooks St John's Churchyard. It was constructed as offices serving the County Court Building (now Cobden House Chambers Image) on Quay Street. Until recently it was home to the Rechabite Friendly Society http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour1/14byrom.html but now it is home to Inner Space https://manchester.innerspace.org/ a meditation and personal development centre.

For all Manchester's embarrassment of Victorian riches, there is startlingly little extant Georgian architecture. I think this is the only complete Georgian street surviving in the city centre. It was built up from the late C18th. The lack of the characteristic Georgian unity is due to building plots being taken up over fifty years or so by different builders. The larger stuccoed house probably dates from the 1840s. Grade II listed. South side of the street: Image

For all Manchester's embarrassment of Victorian riches, the Georgian enthusiast will find relatively meagre pickings. Pevsner describes this house of 1770 as "the best preserved house of its date in the centre." Sadly, later mutilation of the doorcase detracts from the facade, but otherwise it has been left alone. Grade II* listed. Richard Cobden, politician and reformer, lived here, 1836-50; it housed Owen's College, precursor to the University of Manchester, 1851-73; later it housed the County Court; and currently it is barristers' chambers.

St John Street, Manchester.

Looking west, along Quay Street (A34). Image] can be seen on the right hand side of the road.