Castleshaw is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in the
Saddleworth
Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills.
Areas include Austerlands, Del ...
parish of the
Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, The borough had a population of 237,628 making it the seventh-largest district by population ...
in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
, England.
It lies amid the
Pennines, north of
Uppermill
Uppermill is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies on the River Tame in a valley amongst the South Pennines wit ...
, west-southwest of
Marsden, and east-northeast of
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
.
Historically a part of the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, Castleshaw is most notable for the
Castleshaw Roman fort, the remains of an ancient
castrum
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...
. There are two reservoirs, Castleshaw upper reservoir and Castleshaw lower reservoir. In 2016,
United Utilities
United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West Engla ...
reinforced the walls on the lower reservoir but had to drop water levels by 1m.
History
There used to be a
Roman fort situated near to the head of the valley. A series of modern mounds and ditches have been laid out to mark the site, on the edge of Castleshaw Upper Reservoir. The Castleshaw area was once also home to a sanitorium, which is now used as a Youth Training Centre.
References
Villages in Greater Manchester
Towns and villages of the Peak District
Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Saddleworth
{{GreaterManchester-geo-stub