Fallowfield

Fallowfield is an area of the city of Manchester, England. It lies three miles south of Manchester City Centre and is bisected north–south by Wilmslow Road and east–west by the former Fallowfield Loop railway line, now a cycle path.

The area has a very large student population. The University of Manchester's main accommodation complex – the Fallowfield Campus – lies in its centre, and it also includes the university's Owens Park hall of residence.

Wilbraham Road is the site of the stylistically eclectic and, for its time, structurally innovative South Manchester Synagogue (1913).

History

The early medieval linear earthwork Nico Ditch passes through Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield; it was probably used as an administrative boundary and dates from the 8th or 9th century.

The 1893 FA Cup final was played at Fallowfield Stadium, in which Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Everton 1-0, with Harry Allen scoring the only goal of the game. The stadium also hosted the cycling events for the 1934 British Empire Games, and the Amateur Athletic Association championships in 1897 and 1907. It was demolished in 1994, and the site is now Manchester University's Richmond Park Halls of Residence.

Fallowfield was the subject of the penultimate track on Manchester band The Courteeners debut album, St Jude, enititled "Fallowfield Hillbilly".

Governance

Fallowfield ward (which does not coincide with the area popularly known as Fallowfield) is represented on Manchester City Council by three Labour councillors, David Royle, Peter Morrison and Michael Lee Amesbury. It is part of the Manchester Gorton Parliamentary Constituency held by Sir Gerald Kaufman. Included in the Fallowfield ward is the Platt Fields Park and the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple in Whalley Range, as well as William Hulme High School and Whalley Range High School.

Transport

Fallowfield has an excellent bus service along Wilmslow Road. It also has Mauldeth Road railway station on the Styal Line.

Fallowfield railway station was located on Wilmslow Road. What remains of the station building has been converted into a public house; the rest of the site is occupied by a Sainsbury's supermarket and a block of flats.

References

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