Weaste () is an inner-city suburb of

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. It is bordered by the town of Eccles to the West and

Seedley Seedley is an inner city suburb of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Governance Weaste & Seedley (ward), The electoral ward of Weaste & Seedley is represented in Parliament of the United Kingdom, Westminster by Rebecca Long-Bailey Member ...

to the East. In 2014 Weaste and Seedley ward had a population of 12,616.

History

The name either comes from the English word ''waste'' meaning "uncultivated land, common" in local dialect or from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th

Textiles and the Industrial Revolution

Winterbottom Bookcloth Company Datestone Weaste March 2025

19th-century cotton firm Ermen & Engels—part-owned by the father of Friedrich Engels">Baumwollspinnerei Ermen & Engels">Ermen & Engels—part-owned by the father of Friedrich Engels—established Victoria Mills, a factory making sewing threads, in 1837 near the now-closed

Weaste railway station Weaste railway station is a closed station on the Liverpool to Manchester line located between and in Salford. The line opened on 17 September 1830 but there is little detail of early stops or stations, early intermediate stations were lit ...

on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway line. Friedrich worked for the factory in its offices for a period of time starting in 1842. Victoria Mills was later sold to Archibald Winterbottom in 1874 after two years of negotiations. He used the site to found Winterbottom Book Cloth Co Ltd. The company produced bookcloth—a material used for hardcover binding—and tracing cloth. The site was expanded in the following years by the addition of new buildings and a chimney which was amongst the tallest in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

at the time. The company was immensely successful and saw Victoria Mills in Weaste become the top manufacturer of tracing cloth and bookcloth in the world. It kept producing bookcloth until 1980. By 1982 a property developer had bought the remaining buildings and the site was turned into an industrial area.

Religion

In 1892 the All Souls Roman Catholic church was built on Bute street (later renamed to Kintyre Avenue) in Weaste next to the All Souls Primary School. In 1934 a new church building was opened in Weaste at the intersection of Liverpool Street and Weaste Lane to replace the church on Bute Street. The funeral of Albert Scanlon (one of the

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of the ...

and survivor of the

Munich air disaster The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United F.C., Manche ...

) was held in this church in 2010. The church was demolished in 2011 and a residential development was built in its place. All Souls Church Weaste Ornamental Masonry March 2025 From Distance

All Souls Church Weaste Ornamental Masonry March 2025 From Distance

Education

The De La Salle College was a secondary school located near the intersection of Weaste Lane and Eccles Old Road. The school was established by the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish of Salford which purchased the site containing a mansion called Hopefield in 1924. By 1926 a secondary school for boys had been established on the site and was being run by the

De La Salle Brothers The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle ( ...

. The school merged with Pendleton College in 1997 and took its name. It was closed in 2012 and demolished in 2015 to make space for a residential development. Its notable alumni included the Salfordians Terry Eagleton and

Tony Wilson Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager and impresario, and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4. As a co-founder ...

Governance

Weaste was historically part of the

County Borough of Salford Salford was, from 1844 to 1974, a local authority district, local government district in the county of Lancashire in the northwest of England, covering the city of Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford. It was granted City status in the United ...

. In 1974 it became part of the newly-incorporated

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

of the

City of Salford The City of Salford is a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater Manchester, England, named after its main settlement, Salford, which covers a larger area including Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles, ...

which itself is within the

metropolitan county Metropolitan counties are a Subdivisions of England, subdivision of England which were originally used for Local government in England, local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyn ...

. The electoral ward of Weaste and Seedley is represented in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

by Rebecca Long-Bailey, MP for

as of February 2025. As of February 2025, the ward is represented on

Salford City Council Salford City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater Manchester, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and ...

by three Labour councillors: Philip Cusack, Alexis Shama, and Charlotte Youd.

Landmarks

St Luke's Church is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building designed by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

where Emily Pankhurst, the women's suffragette leader, was married. Between 1901 and 2011,

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugb ...

Rugby League Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club played their homes games at the Willows off Weaste Lane. In 2012 the club moved to the Salford City Stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell. Weaste Cemetery was opened in 1857 as Salford's first public municipal cemetery and as of February 2025 remains one of four cemeteries in Salford. Musical conductor Sir Charles Hallé, 19th-century lifesaver Mark Addy,

Eddie Colman Edward Colman (1 November 1936 – 6 February 1958) was an English football player who played as an wing-half and one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster. Biography Colman was born on Archie Street in ...

—one of the

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

who died in the

—and Ferdinand Stanley, who rode in the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a military action undertaken by British light cavalry against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War, resulting in many casualties to the cavalry. On 25 October 1854, the Light Br ...

, are all buried in Weaste Cemetery.

Transport

Weaste tram stop serves the area as part of the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has List of Manchester Metrolink tram stops, 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the Transport in the United Kingdom#Trams and light ra ...

tram system. It is on the

Eccles line The Eccles Line is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester running from Manchester to Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles via Salford Quays, with a short spur to MediaCityUK. It was opened in phases during 1999–2000 as part ...

. Weaste is not served by a train station since the closure of

in the 1940s. The A57 (Eccles New Road) passes through Weaste, which lies close to the

M602 motorway The M602 motorway is a motorway, leading traffic into Salford, Greater Manchester, England, towards Manchester city centre and by-passing the town of Eccles. History The first section from Worsley to Eccles (now Junction 2) opened in 1971, a ...

Notable residents

Albert Finney Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining fame for movie acting during the early 1960s, debuting with '' The Entertainer'' ( ...

, the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award-winning actor famous for films such as '' Tom Jones'' and ''

Murder on the Orient Express ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the U ...

'' grew up in Weaste on Gore Crescent.

References

External links

Weaste tram stop on the Bee Network website

{{portalbar, Greater Manchester Areas of Salford Geography of Salford Industrial parks in the United Kingdom