Denton is a town in
Tameside
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, ...
,
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, five miles (8 km) east of
Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
part of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, it had a population of 36,591 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
Denton probably derives its name from Dane-town, an etymology supported by other place names in the area such as Danehead-bank and Daneditch-bourne. The word 'Dane' is itself derived from
Anglo-Saxon ''denu'', ''dene'', ''daenland'', meaning a valley. So literally Denton means valley town.
Prehistory
A
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
coin was discovered in Danesheadbank, dating from the sixth or seventh century, as part of the Denton coin hoard. The early medieval linear earthwork
Nico Ditch
Nico Ditch is a six-mile (9.7 km) long linear earthwork between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford in Greater Manchester, England. It was dug as a defensive fortification, or possibly a boundary marker, between the 5th and 11th century.
The ...
passes through Denton; it was probably used as an administrative boundary and dates from the 8th or 9th centuries. A 300 m stretch is still visible on Denton golf course, about 4 m wide and 1.5 m deep.
Middle Ages
In the early 13th century it lay within the
Manor of Withington, a feudal estate which also encompassed the townships of
Withington
Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...
,
Didsbury,
Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of Manchester, England, southwest of the city centre. Chorlton ward had a population of 14,138 at the 2011 census, and Chorlton Park 15,147.
By the 9th century, there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement her ...
,
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, W ...
,
Rusholme
Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...
,
Burnage
Burnage is a suburb of the city of Manchester in North West England, about south of Manchester city centre and bisected by the dual carriageway of Kingsway. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the population of the B ...
and
Haughton, ruled by the Hathersage, Longford, Mosley and Tatton families.
Hat industry
Felt hatting was recorded in Denton as early as 1702 and Denton gained supremacy in the hatting industry towards the end of the 19th century. The increasing importance of Denton and Haughton as centres of felt hat production is demonstrated by the increase of manufacturers in the area: in 1800 there were 4 hatting firms in Denton and Haughton, but by 1825 there were 25 manufacturers, making it the third largest hat making centre in the north west. By 1840, 24,000 felt hats were produced in Denton a week. The prosperity of the hatting industry is reflected in the growth of the town from 2,501 in 1801 to 6,759 in 1841.
During the 1840s, the felt hat industry went into depression; the recession affected Denton, with wages in the area falling by 35% and only 12 hat manufacturers remaining in Denton. The depression was partially due to changes in fashion away from felt towards silk hats. The revitalisation of the felt hat industry came in the 1850s, once again on a whim of fashion but also the increased use of machinery led to reduced production costs. The resurgence was demonstrated by the doubling of the number of hat manufacturers in the town between 1861 and 1872. At its peak in the Edwardian period, Denton's felt hat industry was the largest felt hat manufacturing centre in Britain. There were 36 firms directly involved in the felt hat making industry. In 1907 the majority of the 16,428,000 felt hats made in England (worth £2,068,000) were made in Denton and Stockport. In 1921, the working population of Denton was 9,653 with about 41% of those people in occupations related to the hatting industry. The last hat factory in Denton closed in 1980.
Although the felt hat industry in Denton and Haughton was prosperous and an integral part of the town, working conditions in the factories were not risk free. One of the problems workers faced was
mercury poisoning; mercury was used to separate the fur from the rabbit hide and workers were in regular contact with fur impregnated with mercury or exposed to mercury vapour. Inadequate ventilation in some parts of the hat making process led to other sorts of dangers; solvents were also used and on 14 January 1901 there was an explosion at the factory of Joseph Wilson & Sons in Denton, killing 13 people and injuring many more. The explosion was of vapour from methylated spirits used in the dying process.
Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century, a wide range of hats was manufactured to suit all tastes and purses. The names used by the competing manufacturers to describe their products was bewildering and some of these were; felt hats, silk hats, fur hats, wear fur hats, soft hats, stiff hats, velour hats, wool hats, straw hats and, of course, the ubiquitous
cloth cap. In the 1930s the 'Attaboy'
trilby hat
A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...
was introduced by the Denton Hat Company. This brand quickly became famous and it was in production for many years. Ladies' hats were not forgotten either and at least one works specialised in making these and the hat master's wife designed them at home. Hats were made for home consumption and for export. The well-known slogan "''If you want to get ahead, get a hat''" arose in Denton and, needless to say, anyone attending for a job interview not wearing a hat was quickly shown the door. Similarly, until the early 20th century, anyone entering a Denton shop without a hat would receive much cursing. The term, "''mad as a hatter''" also arose in Denton because the mercury used in the felting process led to mercury poisoning.
In 2003, the prominent Wilson's Hat Factory on Wilton Street, together with the adjacent mill-workers' houses, other factories, Wilton Street Chapel and Mainstream Studios was demolished to make way for a new retail shopping park 'Crown Point North'.
Coal mining
![Denton greater manchester from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Denton_greater_manchester_from_the_air.jpg)
Denton is on the Lancashire
coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...
and once had a number of collieries. These included the Ellis Colliery (which became Denton Colliery), Top Pit, Hard Mine Pit and, further south and near to the River Tame, Hulmes Pit. Much of the coal that they produced was consumed by local industry, there being an abundance of steam powered mills in the area.
Denton Colliery was the largest of these mines and eventually absorbed the other local pits, often using their shafts for ventilation or, in the case of Hulmes Pit, as a pumping station to drain water from the main workings. Denton Colliery was connected to the
London & North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lon ...
's line from
Guide Bridge
Guide Bridge is an area west of Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, Guide Bridge was built as a village around an eponymous bridge over the Ashton Canal.
History
Industries included Sco ...
to
Stockport by a standard gauge
tramway. The tramway was worked by steam power, rather than horses, as evidenced by a photograph held in the Tameside Local History Library archives.
In 1926, miners at Denton Colliery joined the national strike against reduced wages and longer working hours. This dispute led to the
General Strike (3–12 May 1926). When the General Strike was called off, coal miners stayed out for several more months.
As the strike started to crumble, miners at Denton Colliery remained steadfast, not returning to work until 5 November 1926,
[C. Wilkins-Jones, ''Tameside'', Tameside Metropolitan Libraries Committee, 1978] some 6 weeks and one day after their colleagues at the nearby Ashton Moss Colliery, the only other significant colliery left in Tameside at that time. They returned to face longer working hours and their pre-strike rates of pay.
Unfortunately, months without maintenance during the strike had taken their toll on many coal mines. Denton Colliery had flooded to the extent that it was no longer workable and the Denton Colliery Co. went into voluntary liquidation in 1929. The headstock was demolished in 1932 and the shaft was finally filled and capped in 1974.
Some traces of Denton Colliery can still be found. The colliery offices on Stockport Road still stand and are now the showroom of a company of monumental stonemasons. Behind the office building is a small section of wall from the colliery. On the opposite side of the road and slightly nearer to Crown Point is the building that once housed the local mines rescue station, now two private houses. Two miner's cottages, much altered and now converted into one house, stand near the junction of Stockport Road and Cemetery Road. The foundations of Hulmes Pit were excavated in the early 1970s and can still be seen. Parts of the track bed of the tramway to Denton Colliery can still be traced, both on modern maps and on the ground, as can traces of a canal, known as the
Beat Bank Branch, intended to link local collieries to the
Stockport branch of the
Ashton Canal
The Ashton Canal is a canal in Greater Manchester, England, linking Manchester with Ashton-under-Lyne.
Route
The Ashton leaves the Rochdale Canal at Ducie St. Junction in central Manchester, and climbs for through 18 locks, passing thro ...
at
Reddish
Reddish is an area in Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 Census, the population was 28,052. Historically part of Lancashire, Reddish grew rapidly in the Industria ...
, which was partially built and then abandoned.
Oldham Batteries
After hatting, the most important industry in Denton was the manufacture of
lead-acid batteries by Oldham Batteries (Oldham & Son Ltd). In 1865, Joseph Oldham established a millwright general engineering shop and by 1887 this company was manufacturing machinery for the hat-making industry. Another important industry in the area was coal mining and shortly after 1887 the company began making machinery and equipment for this industry, which included miners' portable lamps. Up to this time, miners had always used the safety lamp devised in 1815 by Sir
Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
(1778–1829) but this new battery-powered
Davy lamp eventually replaced the traditional safety lamp.
In 1920, the manufacture of automotive batteries for commercial vehicles, cars and motorcycles commenced and over the years this business expanded into the manufacture of traction batteries, which also included submarine batteries.
Nonetheless, the company never converted exclusively to the manufacture of batteries and they still continued to make machinery for the hatting industry, general engineering equipment, portable lamps and lighting systems as well as helmet-lamps and other related equipment for the mining industry. It also produced attachments for the mechanical handling industry.
Oldham Batteries became a major Denton employer with over 1,000 employees, but by the beginning of 2002 the decision to close the factory had been made. The factory, which used to be off Lime Grove, Denton, is no longer there. It has been demolished, and a planning application for a further housing and a Wellness centre agreed, the latter of which was completed and opened in early 2020. The housing is still currently (as of 2022) being built. Both of these projects required considerable clean up of the ground, given the previous use and the associated lead and other chemical contamination.
Governance
Civic history and councillors
Denton was originally one of the
townships
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
of the
ancient parish of Manchester in the
Salford Hundred
The Salford Hundred (also known as Salfordshire) was one of the subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire, in Northern England (see: Hundred (county division). Its name alludes to its judicial centre being the township of Salford (the ...
of Lancashire. In 1866 it became a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in its own right. The parish was expanded in 1894 by the inclusion of the Haughton township, the former area of which now covers the eastern part of the town. The name of Haughton survives as local place names at Haughton Green and Haughton Dale, both in south Denton. Clues to the former township do still exist at Haughton Street, Haughton Hall Road, the Parish
Church of St. Anne, Haughton, and etched onto an ancient
boundary marker
A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other ty ...
on Broomstair Bridge on the A57 Hyde Road – (CHESHIRE Township of Hyde , Township of Haughton LANCASHIRE). Also in 1894 the enlarged parish became
Denton Urban District in the
administrative county
An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...
of Lancashire.
In 1974 Denton's
Urban District
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
status was abolished and its assets and area were transferred to form part of the new
Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in the
metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.
Since 1974, Denton has consisted of three council wards on Tameside Council; Denton North East, Denton South and Denton West, each returning three councillors. The new wards took the same format as the original six Denton UDC wards (which were East, North, South-east, South, South-west and West). There have been minor ward boundary changes in 1982 and 2004. Denton West is the most Conservative-inclined of the three wards, and from 1975 to 1991 had Conservative Party representation. No Conservative councillor has been elected since 1987 in the town, although the party came within 13 votes of re-gaining the Denton West seat in 2008 on the back of government unpopularity over the abolition of the 10p tax rate and the proposals for a congestion charge in Greater Manchester with the proposed outer charging zone cutting the ward in two.
After the most recent local elections held in May 2022, the nine councillors for the town are:
Since 1998 there has been a degree of devolution, with District Assemblies established in the Tameside townships and consisting of the councillors and an advisory group. Assembly meetings are open to the public. Each Assembly has a town manager and devolved staff and budgets to deal with local services such as grounds maintenance, road repairs, parks, Britain in Bloom, community events, youth services, crime and disorder and town centre regeneration. The Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly controls an annual budget in excess of £1.5m. The old council chamber in
Denton Town Hall was refurbished to provide a permanent home and meeting place for the Denton and
Audenshaw
Audenshaw is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester. Historically part of Lancashire, in 2011 it had a population of 11,419.
The name derives from Aldwin, a Saxon personal name, and the Old English suffix ...
District Assembly as the town's millennium project in 2000.
Since its formation the District Assembly Chairs have been: Andrew Gwynne (1998–2001); Mike Craven (2001–2004); Allison Gwynne (2004–2005); Margaret Downs (2005–present).
Twinning
![Mayors on Denton Twinning Day](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Mayors_on_Denton_Twinning_Day.jpg)
On 5 December 1992, Denton became a
twin-town to
Montigny le Bretonneux, near Paris, France. On one side of the town hall, there is a 'French road sign' which was a gift from the Municipal Authority in Montigny and states how far it is to Montigny le Bretonneux from Denton. There is a similar 'English road sign' outside Montigny's Town Hall pointing to Denton. Denton celebrated 20 years of twinning in September 2012.
For ten years the French sign on Denton Town Hall pointed north, implying that Denton's French twin-town is located in the sea somewhere to the west of
Orkney. However, Tameside MBC installed a 'mock' French road sign, pointing left (i.e. south) in February 2007.
Since September 2012, Denton has been twinned with
Kierspe
Kierspe () is a town in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the western edge of the Sauerland on Volme River.
History
The first mention of Kierspe was in 1003, when the castle 'Haus Rhade' was fi ...
in north west Germany, near
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, which in itself has been twinned with Montigny for 25 years.
There is a similar road sign to Kierspe displayed on the wall of the town hall building that points in a southerly direction, indicating that you may find it close to Le Mans in France, rather than Germany where Kierspe is currently located.
The town twinning is run independently of the local authority and is run by volunteers who sit on the Denton Town Twinning Association. The group fundraise and rely on generous donations to continue cultivating educational, cultural, and commercial links between Denton and its twin towns.
Parliamentary representation
The area of the former Denton urban district initially formed part of the Gorton Parliamentary Division of South East Lancashire from 1885 to 1918; it then became part of the Lancashire, Mossley Parliamentary Division from boundary changes effective in that year's election until 1950. From 1950 to 1955 the town was contained within the short-lived Droylsden constituency. From 1955 to 1983 Denton was re-grouped with Gorton to form the Manchester, Gorton constituency. Since the 1983 boundary changes, Denton has formed part of the
Denton and Reddish parliamentary constituency.
Andrew Gwynne
Andrew John Gwynne (born 4 June 1974) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Denton and Reddish since 2005. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Shadow Minister for Public Health since 2021 and previousl ...
is Denton's current Member of Parliament. He was elected in 2005 to represent the Denton and Reddish seat, after long-serving MP
Andrew Bennett retired.
Members of Parliament representing Denton since 1885:
Landmarks
![Denton War Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Denton_War_Memorial.jpg)
There is one main war memorial, or cenotaph, in Denton, located in Victoria Park. This memorial commemorates people from Denton and Haughton who served in two world wars. The names on the war memorial were collected from their relatives who wrote to the council with details of their loved ones who served in either war. The war memorial was unveiled on 23 July 1921. Figures from the Denton section of the Tameside council website, state that 3,500 Denton men served in the Great War (1914–1918), of that number, 369 people were killed.
The oldest church in Denton is
St. Lawrence's. It is almost 500 years old, originally built in 1531. It is a
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
Grade II* building. The church is also known locally as "Th'owd Peg" (the old peg) due to the fact, as a
timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...
building, it was constructed with wooden pegs rather than nails. It is more commonly known as the black and white church, because of its appearance. A local myth is also said to have a pirate buried within its grounds because of a grave stone marked with a skull and crossbones at its front door. In a more thorough investigation and article printed by Denton Local History Society (1995), it was found that the gravestone was actually a masonic gravestone belonging to a deceased Soldier named Samuel Bromley from the Royal Artillery.
The magnificent
Victorian St Anne's Church, Haughton, is a Grade I listed building, and is built in the
Gothic Revival style.
Transport
![M60 motorway, Denton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/M60_motorway%2C_Denton.jpg)
The town is served by
Denton railway station
Denton railway station serves the town of Denton in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, on the Stockport–Stalybridge line. It is served by two trains a week, one in each direction on Saturday mornings.
The orientation of the line, runni ...
on the
Stockport-Stalybridge Line. There is only a threadbare service, with only two passenger trains a week on Saturday mornings; these are known as
Parliamentary train
A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...
s. The line is used regularly by goods and charter trains.
The area's bus services are provided by
, with links to
Hattersley
Hattersley is an area of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England; it is located west of Glossop and east of Manchester city centre, at the eastern terminus of the M67. Historically part of Tintwistle Rural District in Cheshire until 1974, it i ...
,
Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
,
Gee Cross
Gee Cross is a village and suburb of Hyde within Tameside Metropolitan Borough, in Greater Manchester, England.
History
Gee Cross village centre dates back to the times of the Domesday Book. Originally, Gee Cross was the larger village in th ...
,
Stockport,
Haughton Green
Haughton Green is a large village in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. It formed part of the ancient township of Haughton, Lancashire, along with Haughton Dale, Higher Haughton, Lower Haughton, Haughton Hall and Haughton itself.
History
O ...
and
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
. Local routes include:
* 201: between Hattersley and Manchester city centre, via Hyde, Denton and Gorton
* 202: between Gee Cross and Manchester city centre, via Hyde, Haughton Green, Denton and Gorton
* 322: between Haughton Green and Stockport, via Denton, Brinnington and Portwood
* 324: between Stockport and Haughton Green, via Portwood, Brinnington and Denton
* 327: between Denton and Stockport, via Brinnington and Portwood
* 335: between Ashton-under-Lyne and Denton, via Dukinfield
* 345: between Ashton-under-Lyne and Denton, via Dukinfield and Audenshaw
* 347: between Ashton-under-Lyne and Haughton Green, via Guide Bridge, Audenshaw and Denton.
The M67 ''Denton Relief Road'' motorway was constructed between 1978 and 1981, running east to west through Denton; originally, this was planned to be part of a motorway running from central Manchester to
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
. At
Denton Island, the M67 (J1) connects with the M60 Manchester Ring Road (J24).
Education
Primary schools
*Corrie Primary and Nursery School
*Denton West End Primary School
*Greswell Primary School
*Linden Road Primary School
*Manor Green Primary and Nursery School
*Russell Scott Primary School
*St Anne's Primary School
*St John Fisher RC Primary School
*St Mary's RC Primary School
Secondary schools
*
Denton Community college
Denton Community College is a comprehensive school for boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16 in Denton, Greater Manchester, England. It was rated as Good by Ofsted in October 2015.
History
The school opened on 1 September 2010, with a n ...
(formerly
Egerton Park Arts College and Two Trees Sports College)
*
St Thomas More RC College
Sport
Cricket
Denton is home to three semi-professional
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
clubs, all of which play in the
Greater Manchester Cricket League
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality
* ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
* "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014
*Greater Bank
Greater Ban ...
.
Denton CC play at Egerton Street. They were league champions in 1994 and 1995 and runners up in 1998; their previous professionals include
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
players
Malcolm Marshall
Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...
and
Kenneth Benjamin.
Denton West CC, known as Reddish & Gorton CC until 1947, play at Windsor Park in the Dane Bank area of Denton. Denton West had a long history of Sri Lankan professionals including the first, Test Player
Tony Opatha, in 1976. They were league champions in 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2013, and Walkden Cup winners in 1975, 1998, 2009, 2012 and 2014.
Denton St Lawrence CC play at Sycamore Park and their 2005 professional was West Indian Ryan Nurse. In July 2005, they won the Walkden Cup for the first time in 30 years defeating
Flowery Field Cricket Club.
Football
Denton Town FC currently play in the Cheshire Football League Division One, after winning the Division Two championship in 2011. The club was formed in 1920 as Bradford Parish and was a force in local non-league football for many years before relocating with a change of name in the mid-1990s; their ground is now on the Whittles Park Estate in south-east Denton.
Notable people
Notable people who come from Denton include:
*
Jimmy Armfield
James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...
OBE, England footballer. Freeman of the Borough of
Blackpool, he was born in Denton. Although he spent most of his life in Blackpool, he was honoured by Tameside Council in July 2009 and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by Denton and Audenshaw District Assembly.
*Thomas Bowler (17 September 1826 – 15 September 1893) and his uncle William (25 January 1808 – 1878) were hatters. They were born in Denton and moved to
Southwark in London around 1840–1, where they became involved in the development of the hat which bears their name.
*
Mick Hucknall
Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career ...
, who became the lead singer of
Simply Red
Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...
lived in Denton and attended
Audenshaw School
Audenshaw School is an all-boys secondary school in Audenshaw, Greater Manchester, England. Previously, the school was known as Audenshaw Grammar School. It opened to boys in 1932.
History
On 29 July 1932, Audenshaw Grammar School for Boys was ...
.
*Sir
Geoff Hurst
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley S ...
: the West Ham United and England 1966 World Cup footballer lived in Denton until he was 8 years old. His grandfather lived on Cemetery Road until his death.
*
Zach Clough
Zach Paul John Clough (born 8 March 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Adelaide United.
Clough started his career at Bolton Wanderers, having played for them since the age of eight. He establishe ...
(b. 1995): Professional footballer currently playing for
Adelaide United
Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...
. Who has previously played for
Bolton Wanderers,
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
and
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
among others. He was born in and raised in Denton.
*
Paul Lake, from Haughton Green, attended
St. Thomas More Roman Catholic College and played for
Manchester City until his career was cut short with a knee injury.
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Alan "Reni" Wren, who lived in Denton and attended
Egerton Park Arts College, is the drummer for
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...
.
*
Col Needham
Colin Needham (born 26 January 1967) is a British computer engineer who is known as the founder and CEO of IMDb. He has been general manager of IMDb since its acquisition by Amazon in 1998.
Early life
Needham was born in Denton, Lancashire, an ...
, creator of the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) lived in Denton.
*
Jean Stubbs, born in Denton. Accredited British author of 17 books.
*
Colin Haughton, is an English badminton singles player from Denton who held the No. 1 position in the national rankings and reached as high as 19th in the world rankings
See also
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Listed buildings in Denton, Greater Manchester
References
External links
Tameside Council website– Section about Denton
– Information about St. Lawrence's Church
dentonlocalhistorysociety.co.uk– Official Webpage of the Denton Local History Society
Denton Manchester– Resources on Denton
{{authority control
Towns in Greater Manchester
Unparished areas in Greater Manchester
Geography of Tameside
Hatmaking