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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Free Trade Hall

Listed building in Manchester, England

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 4, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street in Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–1856 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel.

Editorial summary

“Free Trade Hall” enters the record as listed building in Manchester, England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Free, Trade and Hall can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1853, 1856—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Free, Trade and Hall.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Free Trade Hall” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Free, Trade and Hall provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1853 and 1856.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Free Trade Hall”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Free Trade Hall primary sources, Free Trade Hall archive and Free research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Free Trade Hall”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Free Trade Hall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.