Salford's early history was marked by the granting of a charter by Ranulf, Earl of Chester, about 1230 A.D. The parchment, which made Salford a free borough, was written just 15 years after the Magna Carta.
In the days of Edward the Confessor, Manchester formed part of the Royal Manor of Salford, which was also called Salfordshire.
During Tudor times its most famous family was the Radclyffs of Ordsall Hall, who featured briefly in the Civil War. Legend has it that Guy Fawkes was a friend of the family and the Gunpowder Plot hatched during a visit here.
Originally, a village on the banks of the Irwell, Salford grew through industrialisation. Cloth and silk were made here, as well as the processes of dyeing, fulling and bleaching. It eventually grew to be one of the greatest cotton towns, although the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the construction of Salford Docks also brought employment for almost a century.
Salford became one of the first county boroughs in the country, but City status was not conferred until 1926.