On a rare trip into Manchester last week – it’s a bit of a trek from North Shropshire, where I’m living now – I took the opportunity to climb the staircase up to the Castlefield viaduct. I’d read about this project to turn a section of the long unused viaduct into a garden, inspired perhaps (and there’s no shame in that) by the now famous New York Highline.

The garden is split into two main areas. The first section is a straight path flanked on both sides with wildflower meadow, planted into what looks like very poor, stony, soil – presumably relatively unimproved from what was there. Unpromising ground into which to grow. But of course there are a profusion of experimental projects showing how – if you choose the right plants – brick dust, rubble, building waste, even concrete and decaying tarmac, are not necessarily an obstacle to creating a garden. The wildflower meadow borders were, as you would expect at this time of year, somewhat low and scrappy – not much to see there, but I’m willing to bet they will put on a show as the weather warms up.

The Second part is more formal, with large, steel planters, with a full range of plants, from ground cover, up to trees. The planting was neat and tidy, with quite a lot of interest now. Young Himalayan birches provide some height (doing their best to compete with the shiny new tower blocks in the background), and their white trunks were looking good. The feature plant on the day of my visit was Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’ (or ‘Kojo-no-grow’, as I like to call it – a little unfairly, but it is a very small, slow growing tree) with early, frothy, white blossom.

Grasses are used to good effect, and will look good all year round. These (Calamagrostis x. acutifolia?) are due to have last year’s foliage cut back anytime now – difficult to bring yourself to do it while they still look so impressive, but it will make room for the new leaves and flower stems…

In bays between the planters there is a potting station, with miniature greenhouses…

A text sculpture in rusting steel…

And even a wildlife pond…

Tiered planters at the far end provide displays for smaller plants…

Trams are passing back and forth on the adjoining viaduct the whole time, as you can see in some of the photos.

We were accosted by a couple of geography students from Durham University who wanted us to take part in their survey assessing the value of the space to the community. As you can imagine, our replies were very favourable. And then the sun came out, which made a huge difference…

And it stayed out for the rest of the day as we wandered around the ever-changing city we once knew so well (but that now grows so quickly as to need regular research to keep up with what’s happening).

We passed by the new ‘Factory International’/Aviva venue which, disappointingly, was shut on a Tuesday! I have to say, the side of the building we saw didn’t look much – a drab, concrete cube with some powder-coated steel behind – a nocturne in beige. I believe the front is a bit more interesting, but even that didn’t impress me when I saw it on television. It’s an enormous venue, and I can’t help thinking it’s going to prove to be a white elephant – I wouldn’t be the first person to question where the events are going to come from for yet another large venue. I also understand it went well over budget and cost many billions. But then, as a friend of mine pointed out, that’s very much in the tradition of factory records (and the associated Hacienda nightclub) that inspired it.

The Castlefield viaduct project comes under the auspices of The National Trust, but is, apparently, only a temporary installation, so its future is in question. While the intention is to make it permanent, funding has yet to be secured. On the other hand, if the money can be found, plans are afoot to plant up the other 800m and turn the whole thing into a permanent fixture. I very much hope that happens, as this is a fabulous resource for a city that is relatively poor for greenspace (although at long last, the city is working hard to change that).

text & photos © graham wright 2024