Throughout
this period Manchester was regarded as a Roundhead Parliamentary
stronghold. Interestingly, this parliamentarian ethic still
survived until the 19th century, when, controversially, in 1875,
Matthew Noble's statue of Cromwell was erected by local liberal
politicians outside the cathedral, facing the Exchange Railway
Station (demolished in the 1980s - now a car park!).
The realistic
likeness, showing Cromwell in battledress with drawn sword and
leather body armour, (based on Lely's famous painting) with
its "pimples, warts and everything", dismayed local conservatives
and outraged the large Irish immigrant population of the city
(Cromwell had tyrannically put down Irish uprisings).
This statue
stood outside the cathedral until it was moved in the 1980s
as part of extensive inner city redevelopment, and is relocated
outside Wythenshawe
Hall in Wythenshawe Park, which had been used as
a billet for Roundhead troops.
The statue's
controversial nature spread wider than local politics : when
Queen Victoria was invited to open the new Manchester
Town Hall, she said that she would consent provided
the Cromwell statue was removed.
In the
event, the statue remained, Victoria declined, and the Town
Hall was opened by the Lord Mayor. Ironically, the Houses of
Parliament itself installed a statue of Cromwell later, which
still stands outside the Palace of Westminster today.
Sources:
See Bibliography - Books about
Manchester