Wisdom and effort

I walk past signs like these all the time and rarely make the effort to look at the detail. This pretty milestone in Didsbury bears Manchester's coat of arms. Granted in 1842, the symbol is packed with information. The motto "Concilio et labore" means something like "Wisdom and effort". The ship represents Manchester's trading. The lion is of course a symbol of bravery and the antelope symbolises peace and harmony; both bear the red rose of Lancaster.

Most familiar is the worker bee - the globe at the top is covered with them; you can see it more clearly on this larger sign near Spinningfields. The bee is a symbol of industry, adopted during the industrial revolution. You can find bees all over Manchester, from the tiled floors in the Town Hall (a giveaway when it's used in films as a stand-in for the Houses of Parliament) to bins and bollards.

Up a back passage

Well, it made me smile. Humble sign in an unprepossessing alleyway in an otherwise charming West Didsbury, Manchester.

Simon's bridge

In 1860, a 24 year old named Henry Simon emigrated from Germany to Manchester, to join the city’s German community. Simon became an engineer with a knack for inventing, and his ideas included steel rollers and sieving machines for the milling industry. His company later became the Simon Carves engineering company, which is still located in South Manchester.

Simon died in 1899 and left money for this bridge to be built over the Mersey in Didsbury, to improve access to Poor’s Field, which was owned by the church and rented out to provide funds to buy items for the poor, such as blankets and clothing. It’s rather a fine looking bridge, painted vibrant green, and it’s shame that present locals saw fit to scrawl all over it. If you’d like to visit and pay your respects to the entrepreneurial Mr Simon, the bridge is near Ford Lane. It’s an interesting area for history so to find out more visit the Mersey Valley website here.