Buried treasures from Manchester’s industrial past has been uncovered during the construction of a city centre apartment block.

Developer Capital&Centric has discovered fascinating glimpses of the 19th-century Dolphin Foundry – a former casting shop that produced metal goods such as machine tools, steam-cased pans and girders. The find was at the Ferrous site, just to the east of Piccadilly station.

The residential development is set to become a new community of design-led homes, café-bars and pocket parks.

A team of archaeologists dug deep into the land south of Chapeltown Street to find two wrought iron hooks, which experts believe were part of a permanent rotary crane used for lifting crucibles of molten iron and finished castings.

To see planning applications; traffic and road dive

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