Sleeping on the site of Peterloo
I was at the TUC in Manchester in 2018 and stayed with my union delegation in a nearby hotel, the Radisson in Peter St. So far so far perfectly usual. You have to stay somewhere. Note however the address: Peter St. The Radisson is on the site of the old Free Trade Hall. Nowadays just the front facade of the Hall stands. I attended trade union meetings there in the 1980s but I am of course far too young to have heard Dylan in 1966.
The Free Trade Hall itself was built on the site of the Peterloo Massacre that took place on 16th August 1819. It was the HQ of the Anti-Corn Law League and Manchester liberalism. Disraeli made a famous ‘one-nation’ Conservatism speech there and later the Hall was the base for the Halle Orchestra
A small plaque on the outside wall marks the occasion. Inside there are ‘of course’ hotel meeting rooms including those named ‘Peterloo’ ‘Bamford’ and ‘Hunt’.
Sleeping in the hotel was a slightly odd experience given what had taken place there 200 years ago. Possibly only in Britain though could it end up being marked by the names of meeting rooms. This was not I think what Henry Hunt or Samuel Bamford had in mind on that August Monday
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