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We rely on the age and birthplace in the 1851 census to continue our research beyond the introduction of civil registration in 1837. But how reliable are the ages we find there? Did our ancestors actually know how old they were when they filled out the form?

Many readers will know the magnificent Grade II* listed building and clocktower on Oxford Road, Manchester opposite Oxford Road Station.  The building is now the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, but you might have known it until 1987 as the HQ of the Refuge Assurance Company Ltd.

Sometimes when people speak up, government listens. So it was with the recent proposal to scan and destroy wills and other probate documents dating back to 1858, which met with a lot of opposition from family historians. But what will happen now?

War can bring out the best in people - and also the worst. Once the bombing started in 1940, people were exposed to a new temptation. Bomb-damaged houses and business premises offered a rich source of plunder, and some took advantage.

At the northern end of section M1 of Stretford cemetery is an unusual group of memorials, or rather, a group which includes three unusual memorials. Set alongside three traditional crosses and an unremarkable 'slab', their design loudly shouts "Art Deco!".

Unless you are over sixty years old, you have probably never used pre-decimal coins. When money was decimalised in 1971 there was public resistance to the new money, but half a century later, would we really want to return to this complicated, heavy and, frankly, worn-out coinage?

We have published nearly fifty blog articles since we first opened the Manchester Ancestors blog section, but can you be bothered searching through all the pages to see what topics you may have missed? - thought not, me neither! Here is a summary of the blogs we have published to date.

Manchester street names have changed on many occasions. Sometimes it is to remove the ambiguity of having two streets with the same name within a district and sometimes it can be the result of streets being extended through lesser thoroughfares (for example Pool Fold in the city centre becoming part of Cross Street). Then there is Anita Street...