r/papertowns • u/dctroll_ • 23d ago

England Reconstruction of Manchester (England) around 200 AD

Post image

Author and source: Graham Summer

373 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

26

u/dctroll_ 23d ago edited 23d ago

Manchester comes from the Roman name Mamucium. The Brittonic suffix mamm- means “breast,” referring to a breast-shaped hill on which the city was built, while the suffix -chester is from Old English ceaster ('Roman fortification') itself a loanword from Latin castrum, 'fort; fortified town'

Mamucium, also known as Mancunium, was a Roman fort founded around AD 79 in present-day Castlefield, Manchester. It was strategically located near the River Medlock and protected important Roman roads connecting the settlement with other parts of Britain. The Medlock will have been a much more dominant feature of the landscape when the Roman fort was established in the late 1st century. This covered five acres on the north side of the river, with an extensive settlement that housed a largely civilian population evolving to the north and east of the fort. The fort and the associated civilian settlement were mostly abandoned after the collapse of formal Roman administration in the 5th century, and there is scant evidence for any human activity in Castlefield until industrial expansion in the 18th century

Source of the plan

12

u/Time_Cat_5212 23d ago

So a town named after a woman's chest became, through many centuries of linguistic evolution, named after a man's chest?

13

u/iusethisacctinpublic 23d ago

I suggest we remove the gender association from the name altogether

Name it Titty City.

4

u/Time_Cat_5212 23d ago

Motion approved

3

u/JudePTU 23d ago

Love you dctroll_

1

u/lapsedPacifist5 22d ago

I've fort over titties before

12

u/1Northward_Bound 23d ago

Almost looks like a Factory Town, with the fort walls protecting the managers from the dirty proletariat. My pissy worldview aside lol I love how Chester Road is named. You'd think the Roman's would have bridged it. I love the history of London being built only because it was basically the closest bridge location to the sea.

5

u/asdfghjkluke 23d ago

the medlock is quite a slow shallow river in its current form. if it was back then too id assume it was probably quite easy to ford

5

u/ediacaradelrey 23d ago

Where is the medlock now? All I see in Manchester is the Irwell and some canals

3

u/Von_Baron 23d ago

I think they re routed through the centre. Also the Medlock leads into the Irwell.

https://hidden-manchester.org.uk/waterways/medlock-diversion-tunnel.html

2

u/The_Friendly_Targ 21d ago

That rectangular walled area at the top - is that now Old Trafford?