Belle Vue archives at Chetham's

Consul, the Belle Vue smoking chimp

New! Now you can search the Belle Vue archive lists, and a great deal more, at Access to Archives (A2A)

Founded in 1836 by John Jennison (1793-1869) on a site between Hyde Road and Kirkmanshulme Lane, Belle Vue was the third oldest zoological garden in the United Kingdom, and the country's most important provincial zoo.

   
Zoo guide covers from 1901 and 1904 (from F.4.3(3,13,2)))

   
James Craythorne with the skeleton of Maharajah the elephant, early 1900s;
Lorenzo Lawrence, '40 years an elephant keeper at Belle Vue' in 1912

   
Zoo guide covers from 1936 and 1952

Until its closure in the 1970s, and the subsequent sale and redevelopment of the site, Belle Vue was Manchester's principal centre of entertainment. In addition to the zoo and gardens, Belle Vue was famous for a host of other activities including firework displays, brass band contests, ballroom dancing, pop concerts, political meetings, an amusement park, circus and speedway.

       
The scale of the attractions at Belle Vue is clear in this late nineteenth century series of postcard views (from F.4.3)

       
Events at Belle Vue: Easter parades, 'dressing up', and visits of the famous
including Gracie Fields, Ken Dodd and Harold Wilson

The Library has assembled the present Belle Vue archive over a period of some seventy years. The collection began in 1929, and deposits of relevant material are still being accepted. The collection includes papers given by George Jennison, the grandson of the founder and the last of the family to own the zoo, material by Robert Nicholls, author of Looking back at Belle Vue (1990) and The Belle Vue story (1992), and material given by R.T. Talbot, a former Deputy General Manager at Belle Vue.

   
Three Circus programme covers and some of the many unusual Belle Vue Circus acts (from F.4.3, F.6.1/bdl 1)

 
Refreshment advertising and a plan of Belle Vue from 1952 (from F.4.3(iii) no.28)

The Library continues actively to extend its archival collections, and is always interested in acquiring further deposits. We are particularly interested in extending the Belle Vue Collection. If you are interested in making a deposit of archival material, or for further information concerning archives held at Chetham's Library, please contact the Archivist, either by email or at the addresses here.

There's more to see about Belle Vue at David Boardman's site and Jaybofox's site. If you know of other links to Belle Vue related sites we should be displaying, please let the System Operator know.