Sometimes I walk around blind. Many times I have walked up and down Balloon Street in Manchester, a thoroughfare that connects Shudehill Bus Station and Manchester Victoria Train Station.
I have even cast an absent thought in the direction of this street name, thinking it a little unusual without looking into it.
Just up or down it.
However, it was only this week that I spotted this, and all became clear:
James Sadler, the first English aeronaut, made the first manned balloon ascent near to this spot. I’ve since discovered that he was accompanied by a cat. It seems that this poor feline remains anonymous, whitewashed from history.
All of this took place on the 12th of May, 1785.
I wonder if they’ve come down yet?
City Jackdaw 
Move over Albert the rhesus monkey, Laika and the others – a cat got there nearly 200 years earlier 🙂
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The pioneer cat! Hopefully not having to use up one of its lives too.
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Interesting story. I wonder what the place looked like back in those days.
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Well the plaque says it was from a ‘garden near this site’. There’s not much sign of a garden now, and the plaque is on a very large co-operative building. I guess the city has grown a lot since then.
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Probably. I bet it was a beautiful garden back then.
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I love that there is a Balloon Street. The word balloon makes me happy.
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My son James used to have a balloon fixation. Or’boons’ as he used to call them.
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