That area of Manchester known as Hulme was in its heyday in the 19th century, when it became home to hundreds of thousands of people who came to Manchester to find work in the several important industries that expanded rapidly there.   It became a place full of chimneys, factories, mills, terraced houses of the poorest quality, enveloped in brick and smoke. The famous Salford artist, L. S. Lowry, captured industrial scenes around the Manchester area as they lasted into most of the 20th. century, and some of his striking canvases are shown at the sides.

Hulme had, however, existed as a small community about 2 miles south southwest of Manchester for many centuries before this.   Manchester itself was the site of a manor, granted in the reign of William the Conqueror (1066-1087).   One wealthy Manchester family, the Prestwich family, built Hulme Hall within the confines of Hulme well before Elizabethan times.    Manchester continued to grow, especially through being a centre for the weaving of cloth in the 1500's, but nevertheless remained small until the 18th century.   In 1673 a Parliamentary Act granted the township of Hulme to Sir Edward Moseley, the then-current Lord of Manchester, and his family used Hulme Hall as an out-of-town residence.