Main Prison Block of Hmp Manchester is a Grade II listed building in the Manchester local planning authority area, England. First listed on 3 October 1974. Prison.
Main Prison Block of Hmp Manchester
- WRENN ID
- guardian-rafter-storm
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Manchester
- Constituency
- Manchester Central MP: Lucy Powell (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 3 October 1974
- Type
- Prison
- Address
- Main Prison Block of Hmp Manchester, Southall Street, M3 1JL
- OS grid reference
- SJ 837 995
- Coordinates
- 53.49273, -2.24638
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The main prison block of HMP Manchester, formerly known as the main prison block of Strangeways Gaol, was built between 1866 and 1868 by architect Alfred Waterhouse. This prison is constructed from red brick with stone dressings and features a Romanesque style. It consists of six wings that radiate from a central concourse, which includes a short entrance wing facing the gatehouse and five cell-block wings.
The hexagonal concourse is topped with a pointed roof and has a clerestory of round-headed windows supported by pilasters, along with a corbel table at the eaves. The two-storey entrance wing, which includes a chapel on the first floor, has a slightly projecting gabled bay in the center, flanked by pilasters. This wing also features an arcaded range of five windows and a central arched entrance, topped by a perron. The five four-storey cell wings are designed with ranges of barred windows that have stone sills and cambered stone lintels, and each wing has a canted bay at the gable end that encloses the staircase.
Local climate
Main Prison Block of Hmp Manchester sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,060 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 84% of listed buildings. Of these, 23 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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