1963 British Pathe made a film called “Flats up in half the time” which shows Darnhill being built. The film showcases the very latest modern methods of construction that were used to build the tower blocks. To view the film click here The flats in Darnhill were demolished in 1999, just 36 years later.
Darnhill 2019
By William Frank at XYLO
HOME AND COMMUNITY: Poems written at Springbank Care Home, Heywood
Not a very nice street I’m the char woman! £5 an hour – that’s cheap! I’m cheap because I help my neighbours. We’ve got a chef – from Nandos – chicken, rice and peas. We once cooked a meal for Gracie Fields. It was years ago now. I used to build tanks. David’s a pilot […]
HOME: Poems written at Roeacre Court, Heywood.
The following poems were written in Heywood by participants of the Small Things Creative STORY BOX sessions held in at Roeacre Court on 17th May 2019 which used the Overspill theme to share stories of Home and Community. Participants were living with, or caring for someone with, dementia. Home Peace and quiet and solitude A […]
A Really Close Community
“I grew up in Heywood on the Darnhill estate and my nana and grandad came from the overspill in Manchester. I loved the little area we lived in, our family was close and we knew most people around and thought of it as a really close community. I had a good childhood running around the […]
A Classroom Full of Frogs!
“I moved to Darnhill when I was 8 and my sister was 10. We were the second family to move up. We moved on March 16th 1962 – it was a Friday. We moved from an upstairs flat in Wythenshawe to a house – brand new! There were 4 of us – my mum, my […]

The Darnhill Adventure
Moving to Darnhill was, for me, a great adventure. It was January, 1963, and I was eight years old. We – my mum, dad and two older brothers – were moving from a cramped and run-down three-up, three down, privately-rented terrace house in Manchester to the relative luxury of a brand new home high in […]