Sackville Gardens, Manchester - Report on an Archaeological Excavation July-August 2025

A community archaeological investigation was undertaken, led by a team of supervisors affiliated to the University of York, between July and August 2025 in Sackville Gardens, Manchester. This excavation was undertaken as part of a PhD research project at the University of York; ‘Trowel, Trenches, and #TransRights: Archaeology and Transgender Activism’. The PhD project is being led by Owen Hurcum and supervised by Doctor Colleen Morgan and Professor Emma Waterton.  

The excavation was funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council through the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH), The Leverhulme Trust, and the Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre (HGCRC) (the work was partly funded by Professor Emma Waterton's Leverhulme International Professorship [LIP-2022-003]). Equipment was loaned by the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. Further project partners included Manchester City Council through the Manchester Park Rangers, and the Friends of Sackville Gardens, who granted permission for the excavation to be conducted.

Three trenches were excavated during the fieldwork period. Excavation revealed evidence of late 20th century public life in Manchester, potential activities related to subaltern cultures such as the homeless and LGBTQ+ community, features of the Garden’s original Edwardian layout, and 19th century industrial activity and destruction.