Balloon Street
BALLOON STREET: Temporary balloon launch site
Operated by: James Sadler
Location: In the SW sector of inner Manchester city centre, SSE of Manchester Victoria station.
Period of operation: May 1785
NOTES
James Sadler was the first Englishman to make a manned balloon flight in England, (See CHRIST CHURCH MEADOWS - OXFORDSHIRE), and the first to make an ascent from Manchester. For the first balloon ascent in England see MOORFIELDS - LONDON, and for the first ever balloon ascent in the UK see COMELY GARDENS - MID-LOTHIAN, in Edinburgh.
In those days Balloon Street didn't exist and the ascent was from a recreation ground behind a house in Long Millgate. It appears that on this occassion Sadler landed somewhere in or near Radcliffe which is roughly 7nm NW of Manchester city centre. The then alley behind the recreation ground was later named Balloon Street.
Sadler made another flight from Manchester (also in 1785 it appears) but I cannot determine if the same launch location was used. It is claimed that on the second flight he landed in or near Pontefract in Yorkshire, some 50 miles away.
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