The Manchester Martyrs
Hyde Road, Manchester
In 1867 Irish Fenians ambushed a police van under a railway arch on Hyde Road to free two of their leaders. A police sergeant, Charles Brett, was shot dead through the van's keyhole.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- 18 September 1867
- Where
- 53.4680, -2.2150
- Group
- Plots
Visiting
A plaque is near the railway bridge on Hyde Road.

Guy Fawkes: Traitor or Faithful?
This book asks one question and keeps asking it: was Guy Fawkes faithful, or a traitor? Most people think they already know. The answer has been handed down for four hundred years, with a bonfire and a rhyme, and it is rarely examined. From the boy from Stonegate in York to the cellar, the Tower and Westminster Hall, every chapter ends with a ledger of what it adds in his favour and what it adds against him. By the last page you may find that the answer you arrived with is not the one you leave with.
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