The Park: The Greater Manchester 'workers' village' that was 'like an island' - now only a couple of streets are left

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

It was Main Street meets Coronation Street, a little slice of America on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal.

Built at the turn of the 20th Century Trafford Park Village was a self-contained community for workers at the world's first industrial estate. Laid out in an American-style grid fashion, with streets given numbers instead of names, the village's design was influenced by US firms, such as Westinghouse, Harley Davidson and Ford, setting up shop in Trafford Park at the time.

But it was also typically Mancunian. The majority of the 762 homes were two-up, two-down terraces, built from Accrington brick and would have been instantly recognisable to the thousands of people who moved there.

Read more: Life in 'Hardcore Valley' - the much-hated housing estate loved by 'hippies and freaks'

And while the village, which was known as The Park' by locals, was pretty isolated, surrounded on all sides factories and canals, it had pretty much everything its inhabitants needed. By the mid-20th Century there was a cinema, three churches, a pub - the grand Trafford Park Hotel - shops, a library, health clinic, a working men's club, a wash house, park and recreation ground.

Local legend had it that all the kids in the Park could swim because it even had its owns baths, and school teams often took the honours at Trafford's swimming galas.

Tom Frederickson was born on Fifth Street in 1946 and lived in the Park until he was 20.

"It was like an island," said Mr Frederickson, 75. "You were surrounded by water and industry.

"But it had everything you needed, so you didn't really have to leave. Any time we did go up to Manchester to go to the cinema or what have you, it was a big deal. Me and my mates would get all dressed up in our