JONATHAN SCHOFIELD TOURS
2025
Upcoming public tours
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Saturday 29 November
10.30am Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx in Manchester
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx were the fathers of communism. Engels lived, on and off, for 22 years in Manchester and during this time Marx would stay with Engels for long periods. The remarkable tale of two men who changed the political world is told on this tour - five days before Friedrich Engels birthday.
Saturday 6 December
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 December
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 13 December
NEW 10.30am Bombed and Besieged: Manchester at War
Close to the anniversary of the Christmas Blitz in 1940 this tour takes a look at major conflicts that affected Manchester: the English Civil Wars, the 1945 Jacobite rebellion, the Napoleanic Wars, and the two World Wars of the twentieth century.
Saturday 27 December
11am This Mighty Manchester
Say goodbye to 2024 with a riproaring skip through the heady delights of the Manchester story.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Thursday 1 January
11am New Year's Day Tour
Start 2025 with a fresh, informative and amusing tour of the city.
Click here for the full calendar which has more than ninety Greater Manchester tours covering more than forty themes for 2025. 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.
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.
2025
Upcoming public tours
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Saturday 29 November
10.30am Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx in Manchester
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx were the fathers of communism. Engels lived, on and off, for 22 years in Manchester and during this time Marx would stay with Engels for long periods. The remarkable tale of two men who changed the political world is told on this tour - five days before Friedrich Engels birthday.
Saturday 6 December
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 December
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 13 December
NEW 10.30am Bombed and Besieged: Manchester at War
Close to the anniversary of the Christmas Blitz in 1940 this tour takes a look at major conflicts that affected Manchester: the English Civil Wars, the 1945 Jacobite rebellion, the Napoleanic Wars, and the two World Wars of the twentieth century.
Saturday 27 December
11am This Mighty Manchester
Say goodbye to 2024 with a riproaring skip through the heady delights of the Manchester story.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Thursday 1 January
11am New Year's Day Tour
Start 2025 with a fresh, informative and amusing tour of the city.
Click here for the full calendar which has more than ninety Greater Manchester tours covering more than forty themes for 2025. 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.
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.
Tom
Tom
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.’