Flat Iron

Background information
The Flat Iron Conservation Area is centred around Sacred Trinity Church on the A6, close to the boundary with the city of Manchester. It is bounded by Blackfriars Road and Blackfriars Street on the east, the River Irwell to the south, Booth Street and Bury Street to the west and the main railway line from Manchester to the north.

The Flat Iron Conservation Area derives its name from the triangular shaped plot of land which contained both Trinity Church and the market itself, resembling the shape of flat, hot coal heated iron once used for ironing clothes.

The original town of Salford was contained within the triangle of land bounded by the River Irwell, Chapel Street, Gravel Lane and Greengate. Although Salford received a Borough Charter in 1228 and a Market Charter in 1230, it had no church of its own until 1635 when Sacred Trinity was erected. At this time it was on the edge of the town and remained so for almost the next 150 years, until the industrial revolution resulted in the rapid expansion of the town.

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the areas adjacent to the old town centre developed with housing, industry and public buildings. Originally the surrounding areas were fashionable, but as the 19th century progressed they became increasingly used for commerce and industry. The old houses were replaced by shops and offices and only a limited amount of residential accommodation, often over shops or in the form of caretaker’s flats, survived.

This process was accelerated in the 1880s by the building of Exchange Station, which resulted in the obliteration of a large part of Sacred Trinity’s parish. Since that time the centre of Salford has continued to move further away from the original centre, with the result that the area around Sacred Trinity Church has declined to such an extent that the viability of the church as a parish church has been threatened.

Update
Several schemes have been implemented to improve the environs of the conservation area.

Period lamp posts and reinstated footpaths, together with cleaning of walls and the provision of a traffic free pedestrian area have all helped to enhance one of the oldest churches in Salford.

A successful conservation area partnership bid helped to secure the future of the Grade II-listed Punch Bowl public house by conversion to offices. Likewise the conversion of the Grade II Textile Institute building in Blackfriars Street into flats has also brought much-needed investment into the area.

This page was last updated on 4 October 2009