Darnhill (or Darn Hill as recorded by the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

) is an area of Heywood, a town within the

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, The borough covers other outlying towns and villages with a population of 206,500 at the ...

, 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. In the 20th century, Darnhill was chosen as the location for a planned overspill housing estate for

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, to allievate quality housing shortages in that city. The Darnhill council estate is no longer overseen by Manchester City Council, but by the Guinness Trust Housing Association.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Manchester was heavily bombed. Lacking space the Council bought land from neighbouring boroughs to build

municipal housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

for its bombed out residents. Although these estates were in boroughs outside of

, residents still paid rent and rates to Manchester City Council. The Darnhill Estate began construction in the early 1960s with the first family moving in in 1962. Eventually 5000 people moved to the estate, mainly from the

Collyhurst Collyhurst is an inner city area of Manchester, England, northeast of the Manchester city centre, city centre on Rochdale Road (A664) and A62 road, Oldham Road (A62), bounded by Smedley, Manchester, Smedley, Harpurhey and Monsall tram stop, Mons ...

and

Miles Platting Miles Platting is an inner city part of Manchester, England, northeast of Manchester city centre along the Rochdale Canal and A62 road, bounded by Monsall to the north, Collyhurst to the west, Newton Heath to the east, and Bradford, Holt To ...

area of the city In 1998, after consultation with residents, Manchester City Council, transferred its interests in the Darnhill Estate to the

Guinness Trust The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner a ...

Geography

Darn Hill is located in the southwestern part of Heywood, between the

River Roch The River Roch is a river in Greater Manchester in North West England, a tributary of the River Irwell. Course Rising on Chelburn Moor (south of Todmorden in the Pennines), the river flows south through Littleborough towards Rochdale where ...

(to the north) and

East Lancs Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

(to the south). It is close to the

's boundary with the

Metropolitan Borough of Bury The Metropolitan Borough of Bury is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, just north of Manchester, to the east of Bolton and west of Rochdale. The borough is centred around the town of Bury but also includes othe ...

Education

Our Ladys and St. Pauls RC is the only school on the estate at the present time. Darnhill Primary School was closed in 2007.

Heywood Community High School Heywood Community High School was a secondary school in the Heywood district of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. The school closed 30 June 2010 to students but officially closed on 31 August 2010.

closed on 31 June 2010.

References

Areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Housing estates in Greater Manchester Heywood, Greater Manchester {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub