Hulme History

An interactive web application exploring the history of Hulme, Manchester through maps and a timeline.

Features

• Interactive Timeline: Events from 1860s-2010s grouped by decade
• Historical Map Layers: Hand-traced GeoJSON layers showing Hulme in 1871 and 1990
• Historical Base Maps: OS maps from 1890s, 1940s, 2014 aerial, and modern tiles
• Event Details: Markdown content with images, PDFs, and map markers/polygons
• Archive Browser: Searchable catalogue of URBED's Hulme archive

Tech Stack

• Framework: Astro 5.x
• Map Library: MapLibre GL (open-source)
• Content: Markdown with YAML frontmatter
• Testing: Vitest

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start dev server
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Build for production
npm run build

Project Structure

src/
├── lib/                     # TypeScript modules
│   ├── app.ts               # Main app initialization
│   ├── map-manager.ts       # Map layer and marker handling
│   └── map-config.ts        # Tile sources and era config
├── components/              # Astro components
└── pages/                   # Routes

public/
├── gis/                     # Hand-traced historical GeoJSON layers
└── events/                  # Event content and assets
    └── YYYY-event-slug/
        ├── index.md            # Event content (frontmatter + markdown)
        ├── cover.webp/jpg/png  # Cover image
        ├── file.geojson        # Map marker/polygon
        └── *.jpg/*.pdf         # Gallery items

tests/                       # Vitest test suite

Adding Events

1. Create public/events/YYYY-event-slug/ folder with:

   • index.md - Event content with frontmatter:

     ---
     start: 1991
     end: 1997 # Optional
     title: "Event Title"
     desc: "Short description"
     author: "contributor" # Optional
     timeline: buildings # buildings | community | news
     ---
     Event content in markdown...

   • cover.webp, cover.jpg, or cover.png - Cover image

   • file.geojson - GeoJSON Point, Polygon, or MultiPolygon for map

   • Additional images and PDFs (appear in gallery)

Map Eras

The slider switches between historical base maps:

• 1890s: Victorian OS maps (MapTiler)
• 1940s: Mid-century OS maps (NLS)
• 2014: ESRI World Imagery Wayback
• Now: Stamen Toner Lite

Hand-traced GeoJSON layers (1871, 1990) can be toggled independently.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! You can:

• Submit a pull request with new events or improvements
• Email kim@gfsc.studio with content or corrections

Credits

• Project Manager & Code: Kim Foale
• URBED Coordinator: Emily Crompton
• Original Developer: Phoebe Queen
• Maps: Delphine Hollebecq (hand-traced from Manchester Central Library archives)
• Archive Training: Sylvia Kölling
• Content: Delphine Hollebecq, Emily Crompton, Kim Foale, Sylvia Kölling

Thanks

• Archives+ and Manchester City Council
• URBED
• Cassowary Project
• National Library of Scotland (historical tile layers)
• OpenStreetMap contributors

License

Content and hand-traced maps are original work. See individual assets for licensing.