The 2,000-year-old birthplace of Manchester set to be transformed

Plans to transform the 2,000-year-old birthplace of Manchester are back on track. The multi-million pound revamp of the Roman Gardens in Castlefield, which have been in the offing for years, is now being revived by a local group.

The historic city centre spot located off Liverpool Road was home to the Roman fort of Mamucium where the settlement of Manchester was founded in AD 79. A reconstruction of the fort's North Gate now stands on the site of the original stone gateway which was uncovered during a dig in the early 1980s.

Plans to transform the public green space described as 'one of the saddest and most unloved areas' were put forward by Castlefield Forum in 2016 with detailed proposals drawn up by architects BDP on behalf of the community group approved by Manchester council the following year. But planning permission for the project expired during the pandemic before it got started.

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A new planning application outlining the same proposals has now been submitted to the town hall with the hope that work will get under way later this year. But first, millions of pounds must be raised, according to Castlefield Forum chair Calum McGowan who estimates the project will now cost £3m.

He said: "Our long-term mission is to transform this space from being unloved into something everybody's really proud of. The hard work starts again now."

A masterplan for the Roman Gardens was developed by architects BDP as part of the project which began in 2010. Castlefield Forum raised £19,000 to take the project through the planning process which it achieved in 2017.

Some initial work such as tree surveys took place using council grants, but because certain elements of