The Domesday Book was commissioned in 1085 by William the Conqueror and contains records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees. It describes Manchester as a royal manor once held by King Edward the Confessor. It is believed that there was a church at this site dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the area of the intersection of Market Street and Deansgate, which is approached by today’s St Mary's Gate.

It is likely that William the Conqueror destroyed much of what existed in Saxon time when he invaded Britain in 1066. Manchester became the administrative centre of the ‘Honor of Manchester’, a title probably conferred by Roger the Poitevan, a renowned local landowner, which represented a large number of manors. The De Grelle family maintained a fortified manor here, but the members of this family mostly used it as a hunting lodge; Hunts Bank reveals the site of their dog kennels.

Initially, Manchester was part of the administrative division that incorporated the town of Salford. However, an administrative error resulted in the separation of Salford and Manchester and two separate city charters were eventually issued. Manchester had the market and the church, and consequently developed as the more significant place.

In 1223, it was granted the right to organise an annual fair. In the 14th Century, it became home to a Flemish community of weavers, who established the tradition of cloth production after having settled in the town to make wool and linen. When the clergyman Thomas de la Warre became lord of the manor, King Henry V and the Pope granted him a license to found a church dedicated to St George and St Denis, the patron saints of England and France, respectively.

Construction of this church began around 1422 and continued until the early 1500s. Wealthy merchants residing in Manchester endowed several chapels, which reflected the rising prosperity of the town’s wool trade. Later, the church became known as Manchester Cathedral, a historical monument that survives to this day. Predominantly designed in the perpendicular Gothic style, it is located on Victoria Street.

The old manor house became a clerical residence under the authority of de la Warre. Today, this building houses Chetham’s School of Music and is a fine example of a British religious building from the Middle Ages. Around this time a stone bridge over the Irwell River was completed. Lord Thomas also reconstructed a bridge across a gully that had served as a moat for the manor house; remains of it survive as the Suspended Bridge.