Fewer than 200 years ago, Miles Platting was semi-rural. Plaited rushes divided the fields.....hence the name Miles Platting. Oldham Road, then known as Newton Lane, was bounded by fields, punctuated with timber cottages. At least two farms existed close to Butler Street, formerly Cow Lane. Hulme Hall Lane and Bradford Road presented a rural vista known as Shooters Brook. The population was largely made up of working class people, who probably combined cultivation of the soil with the Cottage Weaving Industry.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the character of this area gradually underwent transition. Cotton Mills and Factories were built to accommodate the new Machinery, which was to make Manchester the leading textile City of the North.

Meanwhile many of the poorer cottage-weavers were not happy. The site of St. George’s Church (now demolished) was once a large field, where the weavers met to air their grievances and protest against the injustice of low-wages. There were frequent riots and on one occasion, forty power looms were destroyed at the Mill in Pollard Street.
By the middle of the 19th Century there were fewer rural spots in Miles Platting and Ancoats. Wide roads had been laid down. Back to back terraced houses, built for utilitarian purposes to house the factory workers, had replaced the older cottages. The aspect changed to one of squalor, exacerbated by an increasing population and high levels of density.

Gin Parlours and Beer houses were frequented by the poorer sections of the community, escaping from the unpleasant working conditions.
Not surprisingly, such Benevolent Societies as the Temperance Movement and The Band of Hope began to flourish in these parts. Many prominent people became involved with the Chartist Movement in order to bring about improved Social Conditions for the working classes. The Sunday School Movement played a valuable part in helping to educate the poorer people of this area.

Only gradually were significant improvements brought into effect.
Alice Jackson.