St Michael and All Angels was demolished in 1935. During its lifetime, the surrounding area became the most overcrowded and unhealthy part of Manchester.

The journalist Angus Leach (born 1821) famously described the area as being “the lowest, most filthy, most unhealthy and most wicked locality in Manchester…. It is full of cellars and inhabited by prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, cadgers, vagrants, tramps and, in the very worst sties of filth and darkness, live those unhappy wretches the low Irish.”

The site of the demolished Church and surrounding area has been preserved as a place of interest. Information boards on site help to keep the local history alive.

‘The Flags’ as it is now known, was a burial ground consecrated in 1787. It was the largest cemetery in Manchester and mainly used for paupers. There were no headstones.