NIGEL Barlow’s new book, Around Manchester, features people and places in Greater Manchester from Roman times to the 2014 near collapse of the Co-op Bank.

Entitled From Deer to Cornflakes, there is a chapter about Stretford and Trafford Park.

Nigel describes the art treasures held in Trafford Hall including the last picture of the park painted by Joshua Renshaw in 1895.

Occupied by the De Trafford family since the seventeenth century, it was sold to Ernest Terah Hooley in May 1896 for the then huge sum of £360,000.

Nigel said: “He originally wanted to make a golf course with the hall as clubhouse but, later that year, Marshall Stevens, the general manager of the Ship Canal Company, offered him a lot of money and Trafford Park Industrial Estate was born.”

Despite his wealth, Hooley suffered bankruptcy twice and was ultimately jailed for fraud.

Nigel, 52, describes how, in 1922, Metropolitan Vickers set up Manchester Radio 2ZY, the second local radio station in the country, in a former water tower.

“Stanley Holloway was one of the first broadcasters there,” said Nigel.

His book mentions Stretford’s Botanical Gardens.

“The person behind its opening in 1831 was John Dalton. Best known for his atomic theory, he was also a meteorologist and worked out the best site to avoid pollution from the wind direction.”

A major attraction was the Art Treasures Exhibition there. Housed in a Crystal Palace style building, it was opened by Prince Albert in 1857.

“It had three million visitors in 142 days,” said Nigel.

Stretford was once called Porkhampton due to people who kept pigs in the 19th century.

* Around Manchester is published by About Manchester Publishing. Priced £14.99 it is available from history.aboutmanchester.co.uk or from Amazon, the People’s History Museum, John Ryland’s Library, Central Library and the Museum of Science and Industry.