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Manchester, Police and Fire Station (former), Goulden Street

To the north-east on Goulden Street the character of the area is illustrated by the disused Police and Fire Station by J.G. Lynde. A forceful, even monumental, design of c.1870. A high windowless façade has a giant blind arcadeGlossary Term topped by a pedimentGlossary Term, all in stone. The rest is brick. Within the courtyard a tall channelled chimney. Mounted police were stationed here and the complex included stables. Lynde is better known for police stations in a workmanlike GothicGlossary Term, but something more akin to a stronghold was required in this notoriously lawless area. Its structure even survived a serious fire in November 2002.

In neighbouring ANGEL MEADOW, one of the most notable survivals is in Sharp Street: the former Ragged School, founded in 1853. It was built in 1869, an early and remarkably intact example of a purpose-built ragged school which is said to retain a little-altered interior with a ground floor partition which divided the reception class of wild street children from those who had been subdued!