- Rusholme
infobox UK place
map_type= Greater Manchester
country = England
official_name= Rusholme
latitude= 53.4544
longitude= -2.2247
population= 14,422
metropolitan_borough= City of Manchester
metropolitan_county=Greater Manchester
region= North West England
constituency_westminster=Manchester Gorton
post_town= MANCHESTER
postcode_district= M14
postcode_area= M
dial_code= 0161
os_grid_reference= SJ850953 Rusholme is a part ofManchester , in North WestEngland , about two miles south ofManchester city centre .Rusholme is home to the
Curry Mile - a focused stretch of South Asian restaurants.Most of the housing consists of low-cost
terraced house s, around 70–100 years old, although some larger houses exist to the east of the main road that runs through the centre in the Victoria Park neighbourhood.In recent times Rusholme has suffered like nearby
Moss Side with gangs, drugs and gang-related shootings.Geography and administration
The community is surrounded by
Fallowfield to the south,Moss Side to the west, Victoria Park to the east andChorlton-on-Medlock to the north. It is served in Westminster by the MP forGorton ( [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/0,9338,-1112,00.html election results] ), currently the Rt HonSir Gerald Kaufman MP.The councillors elected for the ward in
2004 wereAbu Chowdhury , Paul Shannon andLynne Williams .Rusholme was an independent town until incorporation into
Manchester in1885 .History
Etymology
Rusholme, unlike other areas of
Manchester which have '-holme' in theplace name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from "ryscum", which is the dative plural of Old English "rysc" "rush": " [at the] rushes". The name was recorded as "Russum" in 1235.Fact|date=February 2007However, the suggestion of 'holme' in the name is appropriate, as the area is in low-lying land, close to areas like
Hulme .ocial history
Over the
Victorian era , there were several different socio-political meanings of Rusholme. Primarily, it was a township based around a general area known as Rusholme since at least the thirteenth century. The area grew into a township, and by the beginning of the nineteenth century, it had its own government responsible for public health, roads, policing, poor relief, and other local government tasks. That Rusholme was originally a politically autonomous entity was vital to its self-conception as a discrete area even after it lost almost all political self-control upon incorporation into Manchester. The low-cost terraced housing built between1880 and1930 dominates the landscape, along with a sprawlingcouncil housing estate erected in the interwar era.Political history
Prime Minister
Herbert Asquith was married in a Rusholme church,Richard Cobden ,William Royle , andThomas Lowe were long-time residents.Conservative Dame
Kathleen Ollerenshaw was for twenty-six years the town's representative on Manchester City Council before becoming Lord Mayor of Manchester from1975 –1976 .Other local politicians include ward councillors Paul Shannon a Liberal Democrat and deputy leader of the
Manchester City Council Liberal Democrat group and Lynne Williams , a former Liberal Democrat originally from theCynon Valley in SouthWales .Recent history
"Film Studios Manchester" opened their Dickenson Road studio in Rusholme in 1947, coverting it from a former church. The first Manchester-made feature film to be released was called "Cup-Tie Honeymoon" and starred
Sandy Powell andPat Phoenix as his wife. It was the first of many similar films to be made in at the site.In 1963 the
BBC bought the studios as their northern base and on New Year's Day, 1964,Jimmy Savile presented the first edition of the British music chart television programmeTop of the Pops . The centre was in use until1971 when the BBC moved to purpose-builtcolour television studios in central Manchester.Rusholme was immortalised in the song "Rusholme Ruffians" by Manchester band "
The Smiths " on their 1985 album "Meat Is Murder ". Additionally,Mint Royale 's 1999 album "On The Ropes" contained a track entitled "From Rusholme With Love".Rusholme was the home of the second indoor ice skating rink in England, after the London
Glaciarium , although this has been replaced by a grocery store. From 1947 to 1954 it was the home of Mancunian Film Studios, many of whose productions were filmed on local streets. Its studios, in a disused Wesleyan church on Dickenson Road later became the home for Top of The Pops, in its early years.John Ruskin gave the lectures later published as "Sesame and Lillies" (1865 ) at Rusholme Town Hall.As of 2008, well known 5 a-side football team Dynamo Bowden Athletic are based in Rusholme, after moving from the City Centre.
Curry Mile
Rusholme is acclaimed as home of the largest number of
South Asian (India n, Pakistani,Bangladeshi ) restaurants in theUnited Kingdom . This ledWilmslow Road to be dubbed the "Curry Mile ". It is said that the Curry Mile has the largest concentration of South Asian restaurants anywhere in the world outside the Indian Subcontinent; there are more than seventy curry houses and kebab shops on the road.Fact|date=February 2007Wilmslow Road is part of the
B5117 which includes theUniversity of Manchester andManchester Metropolitan University . It also forms part of the busiest bus route in Europe,Fact|date=February 2007 with many bus stops being serviced by one bus from one of many different bus companies every 60 to 90 seconds during peak times. There are a number of purpose built student halls in the area, and a large number of students who rent privately. There is a large, mostlyMuslim South Asian community as well as a dwindling community of working class white people.Fact|date=February 2007References
External links
* [http://www.rusholmecurry.co.uk Rusholme Curry Mile Manchester]
* [http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/districts/rusholme.html Rusholme - Districts & Suburbs of Manchester England]
* [http://dbafc.leaguerepublic.com/ Dynamo Bowden Athletic Football club]
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