Occupying an area of 4.7 square miles (12 km2), it was the first planned industrial estate in the world,[1] and remained the largest in Europe over a century later.

Trafford Park was a major supplier of materiel in the First and Second World Wars, producing the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines used to power the Spitfire and the Lancaster.

[4] Its 1,183 acres (479 ha) comprised flat meadows and grassland, and an inner park containing a tree-lined avenue leading from an entrance lodge at Barton-upon-Irwell.

The canal and the River Irwell, which marked the estate's northeast and northwest boundaries, gave the park its present-day "island-like" quality.

[11] A meeting held in 1882 at the Didsbury home of engineer Daniel Adamson began the estate's transformation, with the creation of the Manchester Ship Canal committee.

The deer were initially allowed to continue roaming free, but as the park's industrialisation gathered pace they were considered inappropriate and were killed, the last of them in 1900.

[17] On 7 May 1896, Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford put the 1,183-acre (479 ha)[18] estate up for auction, but it failed to reach its reported reserve price of £300,000 (£43.8 million as at 2023).

The initial plans for the estate included a racetrack, housing and a cycle works, along with the development of the ship canal frontage for various types of trade.

[27] A polo ground was set up in the park in 1902,[26] and 80 acres (32 ha) of land near the hall were leased to the Manchester Golf Club, which laid out a three-mile (4.8 km) long course.

[29] In 1908 the Estates Company reversed its earlier policy of only leasing the land, and began to construct what were known as "Hives", 25-foot (7.6 m) wide subdivisions of a long building that could be internally reconfigured for each tenant's needs.

[34] In 1903, the Cooperative Wholesale Society (CWS), bought land at Trafford Wharf and set up a large food-packing factory and a flour mill.

The Barton Docks area was developed during and after the Second World War, but the land belonging to Dumplington Estates remained largely undeveloped until the construction of the Trafford Centre, which opened in 1998.

[45] The wood-working factory of F. Hills & Sons built more than 800 Percival Proctor aircraft for the RAF between 1940 and 1945, which were flight tested at the Barton Aerodrome.

On the night of 23 December 1940, the Metropolitan-Vickers aircraft factory in Mosley Road was badly damaged, with the loss of the first 13 MV-built Avro Manchester bombers in final assembly.

[54] Ellesmere Port and Runcorn at the western end of the Manchester Ship Canal overtook Trafford Park in economic importance.

[58] On 12 August 1981, 483 acres (1.95 km2) of Trafford Park – along with Salford Quays – were declared an Enterprise Zone by the UK government, in an attempt to encourage new development within the estate.

[60] Wharfside, one of four redevelopment schemes undertaken by the corporation, included 200 acres (81 ha) of the eastern end of the park as well as part of the ship canal docks and the area around Manchester United F.C.

The intention was to build "a flagship site" containing prestigious accommodation for offices, shops, and hi-tech industries, capitalising on the area's proximity to Manchester city centre and mirroring the earlier success of the redevelopment at nearby Salford Quays.

In 1902, W. T. Glover & Co, a cable manufacturing company that had moved to the park from nearby Salford, built a power station next to their works to supply electricity to the rest of the park; the Estates Company had previously approached Manchester Corporation, but Stretford would not allow another local authority to supply electricity within its area.

Manchester Corporation had provided one-third of the capital needed to build the ship canal, for which it had doubled its municipal debt, despite having also increased rates by 26 per cent between 1892 and 1895.

[73] The local bedrock is Triassic Bunter Sandstone, overlaid by sand and gravel deposited during the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago.

[78] The announced arrival of the Westinghouse factory initiated development; in 1899, Trafford Park Dwellings Ltd was formed, to provide housing for the anticipated influx of new workers.

[79] The Village was almost completely self-contained, with its own shops, public hall, post office, police station, school, social club, and sports facilities.

[83] The Village's design attracted criticism from the start; the streets were narrow, with few gardens, and the whole development was close to the pollution of the neighbouring industries.

[84] The Imperial War Museum North, opened on 5 July 2002, is in Trafford Wharf, on the southern edge of the ship canal looking over towards Salford Quays.

[86] The present lake is about one-third of its original size and supports wildlife, including foxes, weasels, rabbits, hedgehogs, lapwings, kestrels, herons, coot, Canada Geese, and several species of newt.

[89] The trams' maximum speed was 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) and their distinctive exhaust smell earned them the nickname "Lamp Oil Express".

Salford Corporation refused to provide gas for the trams, and the service was suspended until the Estates Company bought the entire operation for £2,000 in 1900.

The West Manchester Light Railway Company was set up the following year to take over the tramway operations and lay additional track.

[103][104] Trafford Park railway station, to the east of the area, is served by trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road.