Main Hangar And Workshops At Barton Aerodrome

The Main Hangar and Workshops at Barton Aerodrome is an aircraft hangar and attached workshops built in 1930, with some alterations made in the late 20th century. This steel-framed structure features red brick external walls and a sheet roof covering. It was constructed for Manchester Corporation as part of Manchester's municipal airport.

The exterior showcases a tall main hangar with wide gabled end walls. The north gable is dominated by large hangar doors that span the full width of the front and are set on rails. The gable apex is metal-sheeted, with a projecting canopy above the central opening. The building is approximately 70 metres long, 35 metres wide, and 10.5 metres high, consisting of 13 bays. The side walls are made of pier and panel brick, with two tiers of 24 windows featuring stone sills on the south-west side. Some upper floor openings still have their metal frames. The north-east side has a single tier of 24 blocked windows, with the lower part concealed by a single-storey gabled workshop that extends the full width of the building. The south gable includes an ashlar plaque displaying the coat of arms of Manchester City Council.

Inside, the space is undivided, with exposed steel wall framing along the side and rear end walls. This framing supports 14 braced steel roof trusses that span the entire width of the building.

Historically, the development of the airport site at Barton Moss began in 1928, and the landing field was officially approved by the Air Ministry in 1929. The airport opened on 29th January 1930, and in June of that year, Imperial Airways began services connecting Croydon, Barton, Birmingham, and Liverpool. This hangar is notable as the earliest civil aviation aircraft hangar in England, built to accommodate the most advanced passenger aircraft of its time at the country's first municipal airport, which also included the first passenger terminal, the first flight control tower, and the first designated runways, all contributing to a unique historic aviation landscape.