JONATHAN SCHOFIELD TOURS
DON'T MISS THE NEW AND EXCLUSIVE TOUR: ST LUKE'S, CHEETHAM HILL, A MAGNIFICENT AND SPOOKY RUIN WITH A FABULOUS STORY
June public tours
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours. Tours can be customised to fit exactly the client's needs.
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday
Saturday 6 June
NEW 10am The Secrets of Altrincham
The tour tells the story, past and present and future, of this bustling suburb.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Sunday 7 June
7am Secret Tunnels Tour
You'll need waders, you'll need to be fit, but you'll never forget this tour.
Saturday 13 June
10am Secrets of Angel Meadow and the Irk Valley
(The Impossible Bridge and the Improbable Hill)
In the north of the city centre changes are afoot in one of the most historic areas of the city. This tour tells tales of bravery, misery, love and death and passes fascinating architecture and landscapes. Oh and a story about when a lot of naked people arrived in 2010.
THESE ARE SOME GUEST COMMENTS
Sunday 14 June
10am Secrets of Stockport
We go up and down and all around exploring the great stories of this sandstone town. Fine buildings to see, music to listen to, tragedies to weep over and how to count your life by moons.
Saturday 20 June
10.30am EXCLUSIVE: Salford Lads Club Tour
(plus Middlewood Locks and Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal)
The finest and last lads' club in the country with stunning interiors and moving stories.
Sunday 21 June
11am The Secrets of Chorlton: The Surprising Manchester Series
From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to desirable suburb the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a fascinating tale of people, places and events. This tour will explore the characters that inhabited the suburb, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Wednesday 24 June
6pm EXCLUSIVE: Jewels in the Crown - the Oxford Road tour
Interior visits to superb buildings old and so brand new the polish still shows through. Some of these places will make your jaw drop. There are wonderful stories of truly world-changing importance.
5.30pm The Manchester ghost tour
Superb spooky stories visiting the locations inhabited by the dead with stories of the gruesome pigman, the drowned beauty who floated back, the opera singer who returned from the other side, the Manchester magician and more.
Sunday 28 June
10.30am EXCLUSIVE: Jewels in the Crown - the Oxford Road tour
Interior visits to superb buildings old and so brand new the polish still shows through. Some of these places will make your jaw drop. There are wonderful stories of truly world-changing importance.
1.30pm & 3pm Exclusive: Ruined St Luke’s Church, Cheetham Hill, a very special tour for 2026
Imagine this as a tour. A ruined church, an overgrown graveyard, a gloomy crypt. There will be music and projections. This will be special, this will be spectacular.
In association with the North West Heritage Trust
DON'T MISS THE NEW AND EXCLUSIVE TOUR: ST LUKE'S, CHEETHAM HILL, A MAGNIFICENT AND SPOOKY RUIN WITH A FABULOUS STORY
June public tours
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours. Tours can be customised to fit exactly the client's needs.
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday
Saturday 6 June
NEW 10am The Secrets of Altrincham
The tour tells the story, past and present and future, of this bustling suburb.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Sunday 7 June
7am Secret Tunnels Tour
You'll need waders, you'll need to be fit, but you'll never forget this tour.
Saturday 13 June
10am Secrets of Angel Meadow and the Irk Valley
(The Impossible Bridge and the Improbable Hill)
In the north of the city centre changes are afoot in one of the most historic areas of the city. This tour tells tales of bravery, misery, love and death and passes fascinating architecture and landscapes. Oh and a story about when a lot of naked people arrived in 2010.
THESE ARE SOME GUEST COMMENTS
Sunday 14 June
10am Secrets of Stockport
We go up and down and all around exploring the great stories of this sandstone town. Fine buildings to see, music to listen to, tragedies to weep over and how to count your life by moons.
Saturday 20 June
10.30am EXCLUSIVE: Salford Lads Club Tour
(plus Middlewood Locks and Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal)
The finest and last lads' club in the country with stunning interiors and moving stories.
Sunday 21 June
11am The Secrets of Chorlton: The Surprising Manchester Series
From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to desirable suburb the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a fascinating tale of people, places and events. This tour will explore the characters that inhabited the suburb, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Wednesday 24 June
6pm EXCLUSIVE: Jewels in the Crown - the Oxford Road tour
Interior visits to superb buildings old and so brand new the polish still shows through. Some of these places will make your jaw drop. There are wonderful stories of truly world-changing importance.
5.30pm The Manchester ghost tour
Superb spooky stories visiting the locations inhabited by the dead with stories of the gruesome pigman, the drowned beauty who floated back, the opera singer who returned from the other side, the Manchester magician and more.
Sunday 28 June
10.30am EXCLUSIVE: Jewels in the Crown - the Oxford Road tour
Interior visits to superb buildings old and so brand new the polish still shows through. Some of these places will make your jaw drop. There are wonderful stories of truly world-changing importance.
1.30pm & 3pm Exclusive: Ruined St Luke’s Church, Cheetham Hill, a very special tour for 2026
Imagine this as a tour. A ruined church, an overgrown graveyard, a gloomy crypt. There will be music and projections. This will be special, this will be spectacular.
In association with the North West Heritage Trust
Click here for the full calendar which has more than ninety Greater Manchester tours covering more than forty themes for 2026. More than any other operator.
Public tours coming up.
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours.
This is what people are saying about the tours.
This is a 2024 podcast called We Built This City with Lisa Morton of Roland Dransfield
Buy three beautiful Mcr books by Jonathan Schofleld here.
Join The Manchester Talks Series to learn about Manchester's history and architectural styles across the region
Discussing the Manchester Bee on Radio 5 Live here.
You can read a profile of Jonathan Schofield here in The Guardian.
Most tours are dog-friendly
Do you want your building or area researched? Not just the architecture but the human stories associated with it? Mulligans pub did on Southgate Street.
The results proved fruitful.
Tom Dellow of Scoop who hired me certainly thought so.
Public tours coming up.
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours.
This is what people are saying about the tours.
This is a 2024 podcast called We Built This City with Lisa Morton of Roland Dransfield
Buy three beautiful Mcr books by Jonathan Schofleld here.
Join The Manchester Talks Series to learn about Manchester's history and architectural styles across the region
Discussing the Manchester Bee on Radio 5 Live here.
You can read a profile of Jonathan Schofield here in The Guardian.
Most tours are dog-friendly
Do you want your building or area researched? Not just the architecture but the human stories associated with it? Mulligans pub did on Southgate Street.
The results proved fruitful.
Tom Dellow of Scoop who hired me certainly thought so.
We approached Jonathan to do a deep dive into the history of Mulligans and the pub that came before it, The Waggon and Horses, and the results were fascinating. He uncovered loads of stories about the pub and the colourful characters connected to it, some more outrageous than others, plus maps and images that really bring it to life. His research has given us a brilliant insight into this Mancunian institution, from its opening in the 1820s to its transformation into Mulligans in 1990. I’d wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan for any research into buildings or places across Manchester.
Here's my favourite quote about Manchester in its nascent industrial days from Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1785. Its meaning is self-evident and although it refers to science the sentiment applies to every other field of endeavour.
‘Men, however great their learning often become indolent and unambitious to improve in knowledge for want of associating with others of similar talents and improvements. But science, like fire, is put in motion by collision. Where a number of such men have frequent opportunities of meeting and conversing together, thought begets thought, and every hint is turned to advantage. A spirit of enquiry glows in every breast.’
‘Men, however great their learning often become indolent and unambitious to improve in knowledge for want of associating with others of similar talents and improvements. But science, like fire, is put in motion by collision. Where a number of such men have frequent opportunities of meeting and conversing together, thought begets thought, and every hint is turned to advantage. A spirit of enquiry glows in every breast.’