Wythenshawe (/ˈwɪðənʃɔː/) is an area of Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km), Wythenshawe became the largest council estate in Europe.
Wythenshawe includes the areas of Baguley, Benchill, Peel Hall, Newall Green, Woodhouse Park, Moss Nook, Northern Moor, Northenden and Sharston.
Manchester (/ˈmæntʃɪstər, -tʃɛs-/) is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of over 589,000 in 2024. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million.
The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (castra) of Mamucium or Mancunium, established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand significantly around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. Manchester attained city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, and the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration. Following considerable redevelopment, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Benchill is an area in the Wythenshawe council estate 8 miles (13 km) south of Manchester city centre, in England.
In 2000, Benchill was named in the Index of Multiple Deprivation as the most deprived ward in England.
Peel Hall is a suburb of Manchester, England, nine miles south of the city centre and a mile north of Manchester Airport. Peel Hall is on the eastern edge of Wythenshawe and borders Heald Green and Gatley in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, and is mainly residential.
Newall Green is an area in the Wythenshawe district of Manchester, England. It is on the west side of the M56 motorway, approximately 1 mile from Wythenshawe Town Centre.
Newall Green has two secondary schools, St Paul's Catholic High School and Newall Green High School and numerous primary schools. St. Paul's High School, the only Catholic secondary school in Wythenshawe, was created from the amalgamation of St. Paul's Secondary Modern, All Hallows High School, St. Columba's Secondary Modern and St. Augustine's Grammar School. It swapped sites with the adjacent St. Peter's Primary School. St. Peter's RC Church stood next to the primary school until demolished in 1998.
Woodhouse Park is an area of Wythenshawe in south Manchester, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,519.
Northenden is a suburb of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 15,064 at the 2021 census. It lies on the south side of the River Mersey, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Stockport and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Manchester city centre, bounded by Didsbury to the north, Gatley to the east, Sale to the west and Wythenshawe to the south.
Historically a rural township and parish within the hundred of Bucklow in Cheshire, despite unplanned urbanisation and population growth in its neighbours in the 19th century, Northenden remained a comparatively rural and unpopulated area which spanned the hamlets of Lawton Moor, Northern Moor, Rose Hill and a part of what is now Wythenshawe. By 1866 Northenden had coalesced and became a civil parish. The industrialisation of neighbouring Manchester resulted in overpopulation in the early 20th century.
Sharston is an area of Wythenshawe, south Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 16,754.