Ten things you didn’t know about North Campus

20 Jun 2016

What do Prince Charles, Jimi Hendrix and Frederick Engels have in common? Our North Campus!

From the bakery that created Prince Charles’ first birthday cake to Hendrix taking to the stage at the Students’ Union, there are many surprising stories within the walls of our North Campus.

Did you know…?

1. Sackville Street Building is home to the Godlee Observatory which contains a fully working telescope and has a roof made from wood and papier-mâché.
2. The River Medlock was culverted to make way for the North Campus and these days it flows right under us.
3. In the 1840s Frederick Engels spent a great deal of time in Chorlton-on-Medlock, studying and documenting how the working classes lived and worked. It led to his work 'The condition of the working classes in England' which is regarded as one of the most informative pieces of work about the Industrial Revolution in the UK.
4. When it was originally built, Sackville Street Building housed a bakery which was famously commissioned to bake Prince Charles’ first birthday cake.
5. Sackville Street Building also contained a brewery on 'D floor'. Although the products were supposed to be disposed of, pipework was added to divert it away from the waste – and into the mouths of some enterprising staff and students.
6. The very first barrel of Vimto was brewed on Granby Row by Noel Nichols in 1908.
7. The grass area between Renold and Barnes Wallis was once a bowling green regularly frequented by staff.
8. The Mill is the oldest building anywhere on the University's campus. Originally called Jackson Street Mill, it was a cotton spinning and doubling mill.
9. Sackville Street Building was actually built in two phases, 53 years apart. You can spot the difference between the two parts as you walk around the building; the walls, flooring and finishes on the corridors are different.
10. Hendrix played the Students' Union in the Barnes Wallis Building – and so did Chuck Berry and The Who!