[1] In the early 13th century, Withington occupied a feudal estate that included the townships of Withington, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Moss Side, Rusholme, Burnage, Denton and Haughton, held by the Hathersage, Longford and Tatton families,[2] and within the Manor of Manchester and Hundred of Salford in historic county boundaries of Lancashire.

[3] Withington was largely rural until the mid-19th century when it experienced rapid socioeconomic development and urbanisation due to the Industrial Revolution, and Manchester's growing level of industrialisation.

[6] The first recorded description of Withington referred to the area as a willow-copse farmstead, and giving rise to the Anglo-Saxon name Wīðign-tūn, with withy meaning "willow branch used for bundling".

In the 13th century, Robert Grelle (sometimes Grelley),[9] Lord of the Manchester Manor, granted free warren in Withington to Matthew de Hathersage (or Haversage), son of William, in exchange for one knight's fee.

Hough End Hall was built by Sir Nicholas Mosley in 1596 as the new Withington manor house—the original medieval manor house was situated south-east of the modern junction of Mauldeth Road West and Princess Road, which was surrounded by a moat.

This area was the old village centre however, although the only relic of its former importance is the small flower display on the corner of Wilmslow Road and Cotton Lane.

The trade in Withington, and consequent traffic on Wilmslow Road, increased steadily as the city of Manchester flourished in the early 19th century.

Among them was the Souchay family, who lived at Withington House on Wilmslow Road (the present site of the telephone exchange at Old Broadway).

Mendelssohn wrote a number of letters to friends from Eltville House, the residence of another member of the Souchay family, John D. Souchay, which was situated on the south-east corner of Fog Lane and Wilmslow Road (later renamed Didsbury Priory).

[16][17][18] An account exists of an occasion in April 1847 when Mendelssohn visited St Paul's Church to play the newly installed pipe organ.

The composer was suffering from ill health, and this proved to be his last British tour; less than six months later, on 4 November, aged 38, Mendelssohn died in Leipzig.

[22] On 28 April 1910, French pilot Louis Paulhan landed his Farman biplane in Barcicroft Fields, Pytha Fold Farm on the borders of Withington, Burnage and Didsbury, at the end of the first powered flight from London to Manchester, with a six-hour overnight stop near Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Paulhan beat the British contender, Claude Grahame-White, winning a £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail.

The large hangars were then demolished and Princess Road extended southwards through the eastern edge of the site.

The Conservative Party could once regard this area as a heartland for them, with its largely middle class population and relatively suburban image.

The 'flight of the middle classes' to rural Cheshire, however, led to many of Withington's larger homes being sold off for student flats.

This resulted in a changing socio-economic structure that would ultimately favour Labour and more recently, for a time, the Liberal-Democrats.

The project was then put on hold due to escalating costs;[45] new funding was sought through the Manchester Congestion Charge,[46] but this was rejected in a public referendum in 2008.

The school has been attended by actors such as Ben Kingsley and Robert Powell, cricketer Mike Atherton, and writer and broadcaster Martin Sixsmith.