Unearthing Manchester's Victorian slums (2009)

"This is our archaeological handbook," says Chris Wild, brandishing The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844, a muddy, thumbed paperback. "Engels."

This, though, is far from being the only contemporary account of late 19th-century living conditions in this part of inner-city Manchester. In 1870, the Manchester Guardian – as this paper was then known – published a series of articles on the city's slums, opening with a scene of 18 adults and several babies squeezed round a single fireplace. Along with Engels' account, the newspaper's archive reports proved influential in the decision to investigate this site. And, not one to leave an investigation unfinished, the Guardian has today returned to the same streets (Miller, Dantzic and Angel) near the city's Victoria Station.