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Deansgate   | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Manchester city centre,City of Manchester England | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°28′27″N2°15′03″W / 53.4742°N 2.2508°W /53.4742; -2.2508 | ||||
| Grid reference | SJ834975 | ||||
| Managed by | Northern Trains | ||||
| Transit authority | Greater Manchester | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | DGT | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway London Midland Region of British Railways | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 20 July 1849 (1849-07-20) | Opened asKnot Mill and Deansgate | ||||
| ? | RenamedKnott Mill and Deansgate | ||||
| 3 May 1971 | RenamedDeansgate | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  1.323 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  0.213 million | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.805 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.968 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1.059 million | ||||
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Deansgate is arailway station inManchester city centre, England; it is located 1,100 yards (1 km) west ofManchester Piccadilly, close toCastlefield at the junction ofDeansgate and Whitworth Street West. It is part of theManchester station group.
It is linked toDeansgate-Castlefield tram stop and theManchester Central Convention Complex by a footbridge built in 1985; Deansgate Locks,The Great Northern Warehouse and theScience and Industry Museum are also nearby.
The platforms are elevated, reached by lift or stairs, or by the walkway from the Manchester Central Complex. The ticket office, staffed full-time, is between street and platform levels. There are no ticket barriers, although manual ticket checks take place on a daily basis.
It is on theManchester to Preston and theLiverpool–Manchester lines, both used heavily by commuters. Most tickets purchased by passengers to Deansgate are issued toManchester Stations orManchester Central Zone; therefore actual usage is not reflected in these statistics, due to the difficulty in splitting the ticket sales correctly between the four grouped stations (Piccadilly,Victoria,Oxford Road and Deansgate).
The original station buildings were situated on Hewitt Street.[1] The station was opened asKnot Mill and Deansgate on 20 July 1849 by theManchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway[2] (MSJAR) near the Manchester terminus ('the Knot Mill station'[3]) of theBridgewater Canal from which travellers could catch a fast packet in 1849 which could get them toLiverpool in four and a half hours for as little as sixpence.[4][5] This fare was anomalously low because of a temporary outbreak of competition between the canal and theLondon and North Western Railway (L&NWR);[6] it was back up to sixteen pence by 1853.[7]
When a celebratory train ran over the line at the beginning of July 1849, a reporter for theManchester Courier observed that most stations had permanent buildings and "at Knott Mill and Oxford-street temporary stations will in the meantime be erected."[8] When the line opened for passenger traffic a fortnight later, theCourier reported the station at Knott Mill had opened with temporary wooden buildings.[9] The booking office was at street level; from it, "narrow, steep, troublesome steps, enough to tire anyone but athletes"[10] led to the platforms. The station proved, according to its critics, to be "inconvenient of approach, ugly in appearance and with platform, booking office and waiting-room accommodation much cramped"[11] but accessibility was the biggest issue: for the aged, the invalid or children it was "a most difficult not to say dangerous task to climb the steep flights of steps to the platforms."[11]
The area was also the site of the annual Easter-tide[12] Knott Mill Fair,[13] a decades-old event which, until its abolition in 1876,[12] hosted acts such asPablo Fanque's Circus Royal andGeorge Wombwell's Menagerie.[14][15]
In 1860, special trains laid on in connection with the fair by both the L&NWR and theManchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), the joint owners of the MSJAR were not advertised as running to Knott Mill station; the LNWR excursion ran toOrdsall Lane,[16] the MS&L excursion to London Road (now Piccadilly station).[17])
If the station was originally namedKnot Mill and Deansgate by the MSJAR, from its opening onwards it was known simply asKnott Mill (orKnot Mill) to the Manchester papers[9] and, by 1860, the railway was following suit in its advertisements.[18][19] In 1864, the MS&LR gave the required notice of a bill to be brought forward in the next session of Parliament for widening part of the MSJAR "from or near Knott Mill station to Old Trafford station";[20] however, in the same year, the accident return for an accident at Old Trafford noted that the train involved had stopped at "Knot Mill and left that station..."[21]
Following the widening and improvement of the southern portion ofDeansgate, a correspondent to theManchester Courier suggested in 1880 that the station be renamedDeansgate: "Very few lady passengers who have shopping to do in Deansgate make use of the Knot Mill station. If they are aware of its nearness, perhaps they are waiting for the station and its approaches to be improved"[22] A public meeting in October 1884 complained that Knott Mill station was altogether inadequate for the newly improved district; the MSJAR was therefore alleged to be in breach of the requirement to provide sufficient station accommodation: the Improvement Committee of Manchester Corporation was called upon to exert pressure on the MSJAR.[23]
A deputation from the Improvement Committee duly met directors of the railway to urge them to improve the "dingy" and "long-neglected" station.[24] Improvement plans were drawn up but an impasse was reached; the MSJAR's joint owners (the L&NWR and the MS&LR) disagreed on how much they should spend on improvement[25] and Manchester Corporation were unhappy with any narrowing of adjacent streets to accommodate an enlarged station.[26] Not until 1892 was a plan devised that was acceptable to all of the interested parties.[27] Negotiations to purchase the required land were protracted, with Manchester Corporation eventually offering to exercise its powers of compulsory purchase to assist the railway, but the work finally went out for tender in January 1895.[28] Work started in March 1895. By June 1895, a temporary entrance from Gaythorn Street had to be used and the previous entrance from Deansgate was closed;[29] it was completed in September 1896;[30] the latter year appears (in a shield) as part of the decorative stonework over the entrance. The station name is given there as simplyKnott Mill Station.
The station is now a Grade II listed building.[31] Itsbattlemented architectural feature, visible at its corner, is intended to mirror similar features in the nearby viaducts, all of which in turn incorporated the design in recognition of the Roman fort that once stood in the Castlefield area.[1]
The station becameKnott Mill and Deansgate for railway purposes in around 1900;[2] to the local press, it remainedKnott Mill station. It was renamedDeansgate on 3 May 1971.[32] It is sometimes known asManchester Deansgate and on many station information boards it isDeansgate G-Mex.
The station nameDeansgate was formerly used for theGreat Northern Railway goods station[33] serving theGreat Northern Warehouse next toManchester Central railway station. This is now a Grade II* listed, as theDeansgate Goods Station building.[34]
All services at this station are operated byNorthern. The typical off-peak service pattern is:[35]
All eastbound trains call at Manchester Oxford Road; those that continue to Manchester Airport also call atManchester Piccadilly.
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Trains Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central | ||||
| Northern Trains Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere to Manchester Airport | ||||
| Northern Trains Blackpool North to Manchester Airport | ||||
| Northern Trains Manchester to Southport | ||||
| Northern Trains Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport | ||||
| Disused railways | ||||
| Cornbrook 1856–65 Line and station closed | Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway | Manchester Oxford Road Line and station open | ||
| Old Trafford 1849–56, 1865–1991 Line closed, station open | ||||
| Bolton | |
|---|---|
| Bury | |
| Manchester (Manchester station group in italics) | |
| Oldham | |
| Rochdale | |
| Salford | |
| Stockport | |
| Tameside | |
| Trafford | |
| Wigan | |
† stations on theEast Lancashire Railway (heritage) | |
Buildings and structures inManchester, England | ||
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| Skyscrapers (over 100 metres) |
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| High-rises (over 50 metres) |
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| Notable low-rises (city centre or Grade II* listed) |
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| Mills andwarehouses |
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| Religious (Grade I or II* listed) |
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| Transportation | ||
| Entertainment |
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| Sports venues | ||
| Memorials and sculptures | ||
| Bridges | ||
Italics denote building under construction | ||
