oTHER KEY ACTIVITY 40

Peterloo Memorial

Manchester City Council commissioned Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller to design a memorial to commemorate the Peterloo Massacre. The memorial was opened to the public as part of the Peterloo 2019 Anniversary weekend in front of the Manchester Convention and Conference Centre.

It includes the names of towns from which protestors travelled, names of the dead and at its summit a compass points toward other locations where similar protests have happened across the world.

The memorial has caused controversy as it is not fully accessible to some disabled people, with the circular-stepped feature coming under fire from disability campaigners as wheelchair users cannot access the top of the structure.

Ongoing discussions continue to take place between Manchester City Council, The Peterloo Memorial Campaign Group and disabled people to find a solution to ensure equal access for all.

Peterloo Visitors Film

Marketing Manchester played a key role; working with Manchester Histories they connected visitors to this story of Peterloo by commissioning a short film starting actor Neil Bell, who had a starring role in Mike Leigh’s Peterloo feature film. ❝ 'Peterloo: Manchester's Fight for Freedom' was one of our most successful exhibitions, popular with both local and international audiences and, as the reflection area showed, raising interesting comparisons between then and now. The Library's proximity to the Peterloo site and the depth of its collections placed it at the heart of the city wide commemorations.

Janette Martin

John Rylands Library

Peterloo weekend 16-18 August 2019

The day of the anniversary of the massacre on Friday 16th August also marked the start of a Peterloo Weekend with a wealth of events and activities, talks and performances taking place across the Greater Manchester including ‘Art Battle’ at Manchester Art Gallery, March for Democracy, Six Acts, and a Peterloo Picnic in Tandle Hill County Park Oldham. A targeted communications and marketing campaign also reached out to visitors and residents to the city and beyond.