Oldham is a large town in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
, England,
amid the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
and between the rivers
Irk and
Medlock, southeast of
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
and northeast of
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 ...
. It is the administrative centre 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 ...
, which had a population of 237,110 in 2019.
Within the boundaries of the
historic county 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 Lancashi ...
, and with little
early history
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
to speak of, Oldham rose to prominence in the 19th century as an international centre of
textile manufacture
Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
. It was a
boomtown
A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...
of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, and among the first ever
industrialised
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econom ...
towns, rapidly becoming "one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England." At its zenith, it was the most productive
cotton spinning mill town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe
Italy
* ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...
in the world,
[.] producing more cotton than France and Germany combined.
Oldham's textile industry fell into decline in the mid-20th century; the town's last mill closed in 1998.
The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed and heavily affected the local economy.
Today Oldham is predominantly a commuter town, and the improvement of the town centre is the focus of a project for transforming Oldham into a centre for
further education
Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...
and the
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
.
It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the surviving
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
s and other buildings associated with that industry.
In the
2011 United Kingdom census
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...
Oldham
Built-up area subdivision, as defined by the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
, had a population of 96,555 and an area of , giving a population density of ,
while the Borough of Oldham had a population of 224,897, an area of area of , and a population density of .
History
Toponymy
The
toponymy
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
of Oldham seems to imply "old village or place" from ''Eald'' (
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
) signifying oldness or antiquity, and ''Ham'' (Saxon) a house, farm or
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 ...
. Oldham is however known to be a derivative of ''Aldehulme'', undoubtedly an
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
name. It is believed to be derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''ald'' combined with the Old Norse ''holmi'' or ''holmr'', meaning "promontory or outcrop", possibly describing the town's hilltop position. It has alternatively been suggested that it may mean "holm or hulme of a farmer named Alda". The name is understood to date from 865, during the period of the
Danelaw
The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...
.
Cumbric
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...
''alt'', meaning "steep height, cliff", has also been suggested for the first element.
Early history
The earliest known evidence of a human presence in what is now Oldham is attested by the discovery of
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
flint arrow-heads and workings found at
Werneth and Besom Hill, implying habitation 7–10,000 years ago. Evidence of later
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
activity is confirmed by an ancient
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
archaeological relics found at various sites within the town. Placenames of Celtic origin are still to be found in Oldham: Werneth derives from a Celtic personal name identical to the
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
''vernetum'', "
alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
swamp", and
Glodwick
Glodwick is an area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is south-east of Oldham town centre.
Glodwick is a multi-ethnic residential area in the south of Oldham, home particularly to a large community of Pakistanis and British Pakistanis.
...
may be related to the
modern Welsh
The history of the Welsh language (Welsh: ''Hanes yr iaith Gymraeg'') spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh.
Origins
Welsh evolved from British, the Cel ...
''clawdd'', meaning "dyke" or "ditch". Nearby
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
is also pre-Anglo-Saxon in origin, from the
Old Welsh
Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...
''cadeir'', itself deriving from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''cathedra'' meaning "chair". Although
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
occupied territory around the area centuries earlier, Oldham as a permanent, named place of dwelling is believed to date from 865, when
Danish invaders established a settlement called Aldehulme.
From its founding in the 9th century until the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, Oldham is believed to have been little more than a scattering of small and insignificant settlements spread across the
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
and dirt tracks that linked
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
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Although not mentioned in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, Oldham does appear in legal documents from the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, invariably recorded as territory under the control of minor
ruling families and
baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
s. In the 13th century, Oldham was documented as a manor held from
the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
by a family surnamed
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, wh ...
, whose seat was at
Werneth Hall
Werneth Hall is a Grade II* listed privately owned Jacobean manor house in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
History
In the reign of Henry III, Alwardus de Aldholme held the manor of Oldham and land in Werneth (Vernet). In the 13th centu ...
. Richard de Oldham was recorded as
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Werneth/Oldham (1354). His daughter and heiress, Margery (d.1384), married John de Cudworth (d.1384), from whom descended the Cudworths of Werneth Hall who were successive lords of the manor. A Member of this family was
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
's Chaplain,
Ralph Cudworth
Ralph Cudworth ( ; 1617 – 26 June 1688) was an English Anglican clergyman, Christian Hebraist, classicist, theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is tau ...
(father of the
Cambridge Platonist
The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of Platonist philosophers and Christian theologians at the University of Cambridge that existed during the 17th century. The leading figures were Ralph Cudworth and Henry More.
Group and its nam ...
philosopher
Ralph Cudworth
Ralph Cudworth ( ; 1617 – 26 June 1688) was an English Anglican clergyman, Christian Hebraist, classicist, theologian
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is tau ...
). The Cudworths remained lords of the manor until their sale of the estate (1683) to
Sir Ralph Assheton of
Middleton.
Industrial Revolution and cotton
![Oldham From Glodwick](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Oldham_From_Glodwick.png)
Much of Oldham's history is concerned with
textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution
Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines in the United Kingdom. The main drivers of the Industrial Revolution were textile manufacturing, iron foundi ...
; it has been said that "if ever the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
placed a town firmly and squarely on the map of the world, that town is Oldham."
[.] Oldham's soils were too thin and poor to sustain
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...
growing, and so for decades prior to
industrialisation
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
the area was used for grazing
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...
, which provided the raw material for a local
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
len weaving trade.
By 1756, Oldham had emerged as centre of the
hatting industry in England. The rough
felt
Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
used in the production process is the origin of the term "Owdham Roughyed" a
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
for people from Oldham. It was not until the last quarter of the 18th century that Oldham changed from being a
cottage industry
The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...
township producing woollen garments via domestic
manual labour, to a sprawling industrial metropolis of textile factories. The climate, geology, and topography of Oldham were unrelenting constraints upon the social and economic activities of the human inhabitants. At above sea level and with no major river or visible natural resources, Oldham had poor geographic attributes compared with other settlements for investors and their engineers. As a result, Oldham played no part in the initial period of the Industrial Revolution,
although it did later become seen as obvious territory to industrialise because of its convenient position between the labour forces of
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 ...
and southwest
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
.
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
spinning
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
and
milling were introduced to Oldham when its first mill, Lees Hall, was built by William Clegg in about 1778, the beginning of a spiralling process of
urbanisation
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...
and
socioeconomic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...
transformation.
Within a year, 11 other mills had been constructed, and by 1818 there were 19 – not a large number in comparison with other local settlements. Oldham's small local population was greatly increased by the mass migration of workers from outlying villages, resulting in a population increase from just over in 1801 to in 1901. The speed of this urban growth meant that Oldham, with little pre-industrial history to speak of, was effectively born as a
factory town
A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe
Italy
* ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...
.
![Royd Mill, Hollinwood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Royd_Mill%2C_Hollinwood.jpg)
Oldham became the world's manufacturing centre for cotton spinning in the second half of the 19th century. In 1851, over 30% of Oldham's population was employed within the textile sector, compared to 5% across Great Britain. It overtook the major urban centres of
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 ...
and
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
as the result of a mill building boom in the 1860s and 1870s, a period during which Oldham became the most productive cotton-spinning town in the world. In 1871, Oldham had more
spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined.
By 1911 there were 16.4 million spindles in Oldham, compared with a total of 58 million in the United Kingdom and 143.5 million in the world; in 1928, with the construction of the UK's largest textile factory Oldham reached its manufacturing zenith. At its peak, there were more than 360 mills, operating night and day;
Oldham's townscape was dominated by distinctive rectangular brick-built mills. Oldham was hit hard by the
Lancashire Cotton Famine
The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as the Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–65), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by overproduction in a time of contracting world markets. It coincided wi ...
of 1861–1865, when supplies of raw cotton from the United States were cut off. Wholly reliant upon the textile industry, the cotton famine created chronic unemployment in the town. By 1863 a committee had been formed, and with aid from central government, land was purchased with the intention of employing local cotton workers to construct
Alexandra Park, which opened on 28 August 1865. Said to have over-relied upon the textile sector,
as the importation of cheaper foreign
yarn
Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufact ...
s grew during the 20th century, Oldham's economy declined into a depression, although it was not until 1964 that Oldham ceased to be the largest centre of cotton spinning.
In spite of efforts to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of its production, the last cotton spun in the town was in 1998.
Engineering
Facilitated by its flourishing textile industry, Oldham developed extensive
structural
A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...
and
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
sectors during the 18th and 19th centuries. The manufacture of
spinning and weaving machinery in Oldham belongs to the last decade of the 19th century, when it became a leading centre in the field of
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
. The
Platt Brothers
Platt Brothers, also known as Platt Bros & Co Ltd, was a British company based at Werneth in Oldham, North West England. The company manufactured textile machinery and were iron founders and colliery proprietors. By the end of the 19th century, ...
, originated in nearby
Dobcross
Dobcross is a village in the civil parish of the Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is in a valley in the South Pennines, along the course of the River Tame and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, ...
village, but moved to Oldham. They were pioneers of cotton-spinning machinery, developing innovative products that enabled the mass-production of cotton yarn. Platt Brothers became the largest textile machine makers in the world, employing over people in the 1890s,
twice the number of their nearest rivals Dobson & Barlow in Bolton and Asa Lees on
Greenacres Moor.
They were keen investors in the local area and at one time, were supporting 42% of the population.
The centre of the company lay at the New Hartford Works in
Werneth, a massive complex of buildings and internal railways on a site overlooking Manchester. The railway station which served this site later formed the basis of
Oldham Werneth railway station
Oldham Werneth railway station was situated on the Oldham Loop Line, northeast of Manchester Victoria. The station was situated on Featherstall Road South, in the Werneth area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Opened on 31 March 1842 ...
. The main building exists to this day. Platts gained prestigious awards from around the world, and were heavily involved with local politics and civic pride in Oldham.
John and James Platt were the largest subscribers for promoting Oldham from a township to a
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
, pledging £100 (more than double the next largest sum) in advance towards any expenses which may have been incurred by the
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
. In 1854
John Platt was made the (fourth) Mayor of Oldham, an office he was to hold twice more in 1855–56 and 1861–62. John Platt was elected in 1865 to become a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
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, wh ...
, and was re-elected in 1868; he remained in office until his death in 1872. A bronze statue of Platt existed in the town centre for years, though was moved to
Alexandra Park. There have been recommendations for it to be returned to the town centre.
Abraham Henthorn Stott, the son of a
stonemason
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...
, was born in nearby
Shaw & Crompton in 1822.
He served a seven-year apprenticeship with
Sir Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...
, before starting a structural engineering practice in Oldham in 1847 that went on to become the pre-eminent mill architect firm in
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 Lancashi ...
.
Philip Sydney Stott, third son of Abraham and later titled as
Sir Philip Stott, 1st Baronet
Sir Philip Sidney Stott, 1st Baronet (20 February 1858 – 31 March 1937), usually known by his full name or as Sidney Stott, was an English architect, civil engineer and surveyor.
Early life and career
Stott was born in Chadderton, Lancashire ...
, was the most prominent and famous of the Stott mill architects.
He established his own practice in 1883 and designed over a hundred mills in several countries. His factories, which improved upon his father's
fireproof
Fireproofing is rendering something (structures, materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a passive fire protection measure. "Fireproof" or "fireproofing" can be used as a n ...
mills, accounted for a 40% increase in Oldham's spindles between 1887 and 1914.
Although textile-related engineering declined with the processing industry, leading to the demise of both Stotts and Platts, other engineering firms existed, notably electrical and later electronic engineers
Ferranti
Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The firm was known ...
in 1896.
Ferranti went into receivership in 1993, but some of its former works continue in other hands. Part of the original
Hollinwood site was operated by
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
Metering and Semiconductor divisions.
The remainder of the site is occupied by Mirror Colour Print Ltd; the printing division of
Reach
Reach or REACH may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* Reach plc, formerly Trinity Mirror, large British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher
* Reach Canada, an NGO in Canada
* Reach Limited, an Asia Pacific cable network company
* ...
, which prints and distributes thirty-six major newspapers, and employs five hundred staff.
Coal mining
On the back of the Industrial Revolution, Oldham developed an extensive coal mining sector, correlated to supporting the local cotton industry and the town's inhabitants, though there is evidence of small scale coal mining in the area as early as the 16th century. The
Oldham Coalfield
The Oldham Coalfield is the most easterly part of the South Lancashire Coalfield. Its coal seams were laid down in the Carboniferous period and some easily accessible seams were worked on a small scale from the Middle Ages and extensively from the ...
stretched from
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
in the north to
Bardsley in the south and in addition to Oldham, included the towns of
Middleton and
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
to the west. The Oldham Coalfield was the site of over 150 collieries during its
recorded history
Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...
. Although some contemporary sources suggest there was coal mining in Oldham at a commercial scale by 1738, older sources attribute the commercial expansion of coal mining with the arrival in the town of two
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
labourers, John Evans and William Jones, around 1770. Foreseeing the growth in demand for coal as a source of motive and steam power, they acquired colliery rights for Oldham, which by 1771 had 14 colliers. The mines were largely to the southwest of the town around
Hollinwood and
Werneth and provided enough coal to accelerate Oldham's rapid development at the centre of the cotton boom. At its height in the mid-19th century, when it was dominated by the Lees and Jones families, Oldham coal was mainly sourced from many small collieries whose lives varied from a few years to many decades, although two of the four largest collieries survived to
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
. In 1851, collieries employed more than 2,000 men in Oldham, although the amount of coal in the town was somewhat overestimated however, and production began to decline even before that of the local spinning industry. Today, the only visible remnants of the mines are disused shafts and boreholes.
Social history
![MandK Industrial Revolution 1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/MandK_Industrial_Revolution_1900.jpg)
Oldham's
social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...
, like that of other former
unenfranchised towns, is marked by politicised
civil disturbance
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty m ...
s, as well as events related to the
Luddite
The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver s ...
,
Suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
and other
Labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
s from the
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
es.
There has been a significant presence of "
friendly societies
A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal and service organisations, fraternal organization or Rotating savings and credit association, ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purpo ...
". It has been put that the people of Oldham became radical in politics in the early part of the 19th century, and movements suspected of
sedition
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...
found patronage in the town. Oldham was frequently disturbed by bread and labour riots, facilitated by periods of scarcity and the disturbance of employment following the introduction of
cotton-spinning machinery
Cotton-spinning machinery is machines which process (or spin) prepared cotton roving into workable yarn or thread. Such machinery can be dated back centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, as part of the Industrial Revolution cotton-spinnin ...
.
On 20 April 1812, a "large crowd of riotous individuals" compelled local retailers to sell foods at a loss, whilst on the same day
Luddites
The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver s ...
numbering in their thousands, many of whom were from Oldham, attacked a cotton mill in nearby
Middleton. On 16 August 1819, Oldham sent a contingent estimated at well above 10,000 to hear speakers in St Peter's Fields at Manchester discuss political reform; it was the largest contingent sent to Manchester. John Lees, a cotton operative and ex-soldier who had fought at
Waterloo, was one of the fifteen victims of the
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...
which followed. The 'Oldham inquest' which proceeded the massacre was anxiously watched; the
Court of King's Bench
The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions.
* Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...
, however, decided that the proceedings were irregular, and the jury were discharged without giving a verdict.
Annie Kenney
Ann "Annie" Kenney (13 September 1879 – 9 July 1953) was an English working-class suffragette and socialist feminist who became a leading figure in the Women's Social and Political Union. She co-founded its first branch in London with Minnie ...
, born in nearby
Springhead
Springhead lies at the source of the River Ebbsfleet, just southwest of the Gravesend suburban conurbations. Springhead forms one of the major quarters of the Ebbsfleet Valley development, with housing and the associated facilities now under con ...
, and who worked in Oldham's cotton mills, was a notable member of the
Suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
movement credited with sparking off suffragette militancy when she heckled
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, and later (with
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...
) the first
Suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
to be imprisoned. Oldham Women's Suffrage Society was established in 1910 with Margery Lees as president and quickly joined the Manchester and District Federation of the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...
. The
Chartist and
Co-operative movements had strong support in the town, whilst many Oldhamers protested in support of the emancipation of
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.
The
Riot Act
The Riot Act (1 Geo.1 St.2 c.5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and o ...
was read in
1852 on election day following a mass public brawl over the
Reform Act
In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...
,
and irregularities with parliamentary candidate nominations.
For three days in late May 2001, Oldham became the centre of national and international media attention. Following high-profile
race-related conflicts, and long-term underlying racial tensions between local
White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
and
British Pakistani
British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...
communities, major riots broke out in the town. Occurring with particular intensity in the
Glodwick
Glodwick is an area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is south-east of Oldham town centre.
Glodwick is a multi-ethnic residential area in the south of Oldham, home particularly to a large community of Pakistanis and British Pakistanis.
...
area of the town, the
Oldham riots
The Oldham riots were a brief period of violent rioting which occurred in Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester, England, in May 2001. They were the worst ethnically-motivated riots in the United Kingdom since 1985, briefly eclipsing the secta ...
were the worst racially motivated riots in the United Kingdom for fifteen years prior, briefly eclipsing the sectarian violence in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
in the media.
At least 20 people were injured in the riots, including 15 police officers, and 37 people were arrested. Similar riots took place in other towns in
northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
over the following days and weeks. The 2001 riots prompted governmental and independent inquiries, which collectively agreed on community relations improvements and considerable regeneration schemes for the town.
There were further fears of riots after the death of Gavin Hopley in 2002.
Governance
Civic history
![Oldham County Borough Council - coat of arms2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Oldham_County_Borough_Council_-_coat_of_arms2.png)
Lying within the
historic county boundaries 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 Lancashi ...
since the early 12th century, Oldham was recorded in 1212 as being one of five parts of the
thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...
age estate of Kaskenmoor, which was held on behalf of
King John King John may refer to:
Rulers
* John, King of England (1166–1216)
* John I of Jerusalem (c. 1170–1237)
* John Balliol, King of Scotland (c. 1249–1314)
* John I of France (15–20 November 1316)
* John II of France (1319–1364)
* John I o ...
by
Roger de Montbegon and William de Nevill. The other parts of this estate were
Crompton Crompton may refer to
Place names
*Crompton (West Warwick), a community in West Warwick, Rhode Island, US
*Crompton, Greater Manchester, in Shaw and Crompton, Greater Manchester, England formerly in Lancashire
*Crompton Urban District, an obsole ...
,
Glodwick
Glodwick is an area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is south-east of Oldham town centre.
Glodwick is a multi-ethnic residential area in the south of Oldham, home particularly to a large community of Pakistanis and British Pakistanis.
...
,
Sholver
Sholver is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. An elevated, residential area, it lies near the middle of the Oldham part of the valley of the River Beal, northeast of Oldham's commercial centre, nearly at the northeasternmost ext ...
, and
Werneth. Oldham later formed a
township
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, Ca ...
within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of
Prestwich-cum-Oldham
Prestwich-cum-Oldham (also known as Prestwich with Oldham) was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England. With the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Prestwich as ...
, in the
hundred of Salford
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 s ...
.
In 1826 commissioners for the social and economic improvement of Oldham were established.
The town was made part of a
parliamentary borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
, in 1832, though it was in 1849 when Oldham was incorporated as a
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
, giving it
borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, s ...
,
and in 1850 the Borough Council obtained the powers of the improvement commissioners.
In 1880, parts of the
Hollinwood and
Crossbank
Crossbank is an area of Lees, a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
Historically a part of Lancashire, the name Crossbank is thought to derive from the days of the Knights Templar when a cross was etched ...
areas of
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
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 ...
townships were added to the Borough of Oldham.
Oldham Above Town
Oldham Above Town was, from 1851 until 1905, a statistical unit used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census information. It was a sub-district of the larger registration district of Oldham, in the ...
and
Oldham Below Town
Oldham Below Town was, from 1851 until 1905, a statistical unit used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census information. It was a sub-district of the larger registration district of Oldham, in the ...
were, from 1851 until c. 1881, statistical units used for the gathering and organising of
civil registration
Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differen ...
information, and output of
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
data.
The
Local Government Act 1888
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
created elected
county council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Ireland
The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...
s to administer services throughout England and Wales. Where a municipal borough had a population of more than 50,000 at the 1881
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
it was created a
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...
, with the powers and duties of both a borough and county council.
As Oldham had an 1881 population of 111,343 it duly became a county borough on 1 April 1889. The borough, while independent of Lancashire County Council for local government, remained part of the county for purposes such as the administration of justice and
lieutenancy
A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...
.
In 1951 parts of the
Limehurst Rural District
Limehurst was, from 1894 to 1954, a rural district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England.
History
Ashton-under-Lyne Rural Sanitary District was created in 1872 and included parishes in both Cheshire and Lancashire.F A Youngs Jr., ...
were added to the County Borough of Oldham, and in 1954 further parts of the same district added to it on its abolition.
Since 1961, Oldham has been
twinned with
Kranj
Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...
in
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. Under the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
, the town's autonomous county borough status was abolished, and Oldham has, since 1 April 1974, formed part 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 ...
, within the
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...
of
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
.
Parliamentary representation
The boundaries of two
parliamentary constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region
Administra ...
divide Oldham:
Oldham East and Saddleworth
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, whic ...
, and
Oldham West and Royton (which includes the town centre), represented by
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs)
Debbie Abrahams
Deborah Angela Elspeth Marie Abrahams (' Morgan; born 15 September 1960) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Oldham East and Saddlewor ...
and
Jim McMahon
James Robert McMahon Jr. (born August 21, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, most notably with the Chicago Bears. McMahon played college football at BYU, where he wa ...
respectively.
Created as a
parliamentary borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
in 1832, Oldham's first parliamentary representatives were the
radicals William Cobbett
William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...
and
John Fielden
John Fielden (17 January 1784 – 29 May 1849) was a British industrialist and Radical Member of Parliament for Oldham (1832–1847).
He entered Parliament to support William Cobbett, whose election as fellow-MP for Oldham he helped to bring ...
.
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
began his political career in Oldham. Although unsuccessful at his first attempt in 1899, Churchill
was elected as the member of Parliament for the
Oldham parliamentary borough constituency in the
1900 general election. He held the constituency for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
until the
1906 general election, when he won the election for
Manchester North West as a
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
MP. After he became the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
in 1940, Churchill was made an
Honorary Freeman of the Borough of Oldham, on 2 April 1941.
Politics
In the
2016 European Union membership referendum, Oldham heavily voted in favour of
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
. The vote to leave was 60.9%.
Geography
![Map of Oldham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Map_of_Oldham.png)
At (53.5444°, −2.1169°), and north-northwest of London, Oldham stands above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
, northeast 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. ...
, on elevated ground between the rivers
Irk and
Medlock.
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, Delph, ...
and the
South Pennines
The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester co ...
are close to the east, whilst on all other sides, Oldham is bound by other neighbouring towns, including
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 ...
,
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
,
Failsworth
Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was 2 ...
,
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
and
Shaw and Crompton
Shaw and Crompton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which contains the town of Shaw and lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines. It is located north of Oldham, south ...
, with little or no
green space between them. Oldham experiences a
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
, like much of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. On 23 November 1981,
an F1/T2 tornado formed over
Hollinwood and later passed over Oldham town centre, causing some damage.
Oldham's
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
is characterised by its rugged,
elevated
An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the Track (rail transport), tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast i ...
Pennine terrain.
[.] It has an area of .
The
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
of Oldham is represented by the
Millstone Grit and
Coal Measures
In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coal ...
series of rocks. The
River Beal
The Beal is a small river in Greater Manchester, England, and is a tributary of the River Roch. It rises in the Beal Valley in green space between Sholver and Royton, before continuing northwards through Shaw and Crompton, Newhey, Milnrow and ...
, flowing northwards, forms the boundary between Oldham on one side and
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
and
Shaw and Crompton
Shaw and Crompton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which contains the town of Shaw and lies on the River Beal at the foothills of the South Pennines. It is located north of Oldham, south ...
on the other.
To the east of this river the surface rises to a height of at Woodward Hill, on the border with the parish of
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, Delph, ...
. The rest of the surface is hilly, the average height decreasing towards the southwest to
Failsworth
Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and south-west of Oldham. The orbital M60 motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was 2 ...
and the city of
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 ...
. The ridge called Oldham Edge, high, comes southward from Royton into the centre of the town.
![Mill & Church - Oldham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Mill_%26_Church_-_Oldham.jpg)
Oldham's
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
is characterised by its 19th-century red-brick
terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
s, the infrastructure that was built to support these and the town's former
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
s – which mark the town's skyline. The
urban structure
Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in urban areas, in other words, how the land use of a city is set out. Urban planners, economists, and geographers have developed several models that explain where different types of people and busine ...
of Oldham is irregular when compared to most
towns in England
This is a list of towns in England.
Historically, towns were any settlement with a charter, including market towns and ancient boroughs. The process of incorporation was reformed in 1835 and many more places received borough charters, whilst other ...
, its form restricted in places by its hilly upland terrain.
There are irregularly constructed residential dwellings and streets clustered loosely around a
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
in the
town centre
A town centre is the commerce, commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train ...
, which is the local centre of commerce. In 1849, Angus Reach of
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
said:
In the 1870s,
John Marius Wilson
John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (published 1870–72), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was a c ...
described Oldham as consisting of:
Although Oldham had a thriving economy during the 19th century, the local merchants were broadly reluctant to spend on civic institutions, and so the town lacks the grandeur seen in comparable nearby towns like
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
or
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
;
public expenditure was seen as an overhead that undermined the competitiveness of the town.
Subsequently, Oldham's architecture has been described as "mediocre".
The town has no
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s with a Grade I rating.
There is a mixture of high-density
urban areas
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
,
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
s, semi-rural and
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
locations in Oldham. There is some permanent
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
but overwhelmingly the
land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long h ...
in the town is urban. The territory of Oldham is contiguous with other towns on all sides except for a small section along its eastern and southern boundaries, and for purposes of the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
, forms the fourth largest settlement of the
Greater Manchester Urban Area
The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that forms ...
, the
United Kingdom's third largest conurbation. The
M60 motorway
The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bol ...
passes through the southwest of Oldham, through
Hollinwood, and a
heavy rail
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
Rapid transit
A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerati ...
line enters Oldham from the same direction, travelling northeast to the town centre before heading northwards through
Derker
Derker is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton.
History
Historically a part of Lancashire, Derker was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name ''Dir ...
towards Shaw and Crompton.
Divisions and suburbs
![Fredrick Street, Werneth, Oldham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Fredrick_Street%2C_Werneth%2C_Oldham.jpg)
Many of Oldham's present divisions and suburbs have origins as pre-industrial hamlets, manorial commons and ancient chapelries. Some, such as
Moorside, exist as recently constructed residential
suburbia
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
, whilst places like
Hollinwood exist as
electoral ward
A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...
s and thoroughly industrialised districts. Throughout most of its
recorded history
Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...
, Oldham was surrounded by large swathes of
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
, which is reflected in the placenames of Moorside,
Greenacres moor, Littlemoor, Northmoor among others.
A large portion of Oldham's residences are "low value"
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
Accrington red-brick terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
s in a row formation,
built for the most part from 1870 to 1920, to house the town's
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
workers.
There is more modern housing in the semi-rural east of the town, in the most sought after area in areas such as the village
Moorside, although terraces are found in almost all parts of Oldham.
One of the oldest recorded named places of Oldham is
Hathershaw
Hathershaw (or, archaically, Hathershaw Moor) is an urban area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside to the immediate south of Oldham town centre, and is bordered by the districts of Coppice and Fitton Hill to, respecti ...
, occurring in a deed for 1280 with the spelling ''Halselinechaw Clugh''. Existing as a manor in the 15th century,
Hathershaw Hall
Hathershaw Hall is a 16th-17th century Grade II* listed building in Hathershaw, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The present structure is the single surviving range of a once considerably larger manor house. It is situated in what was the hi ...
was the home of a
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
family in the 17th century who lost part of their possessions due to the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
Waterhead, an upland area in the east of Oldham, traces its roots to a water cornmill over the border in
Lees.
Recorded originally as ''Watergate'' and ''Waterhead Milne'', it was for a long time a hamlet in the parish of Oldham that formed a significant part of the
Oldham Above Town
Oldham Above Town was, from 1851 until 1905, a statistical unit used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census information. It was a sub-district of the larger registration district of Oldham, in the ...
registration sub-district.
Derker
Derker is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton.
History
Historically a part of Lancashire, Derker was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name ''Dir ...
was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name ''Dirtcar''. Bound by Higginshaw to the north, Derker is the location of
Derker railway station
Derker is a stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. It opened to passengers on 16 December 2012 and is located in the Derker area of Oldham, England.
History
Derker railway station was o ...
and, said to have terraced residencies "unsuited to modern needs", is currently being redeveloped as part of the
Housing Market Renewal Initiative
The Housing Market Renewal Initiative (HMRI) or Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinders programme was a controversial Cole, Ian and Flint, John ''Addressing housing affordability, clearance and relocation issues in the Housing Market Renewal Path ...
.
Coldhurst
Coldhurst (or more rarely Cold Hurst) is an area of Oldham and an electoral ward of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 11,935, increasing ...
, an area along Oldham's northern boundary with
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
, was once a chapelry and the site of considerable industry and commerce, including
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
,
cotton spinning and hat manufacture.
It is said to have been the scene of an action in the English Civil War in which the
Parliamentarians were defeated.
Demography
According to data from the
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
, Oldham had a total resident population of 103,544, making it the
55th most populous settlement in England, and the 5th most populous settlement of the
Greater Manchester Urban Area
The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that forms ...
.
This figure in conjunction with its area provides Oldham with a
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
of 3,998 people per square mile (1,544 per km
2). The local population has been described as broadly "
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
"; the
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...
es tending to live in outlying settlements.
Oldham, considered as a combination of the 2001
electoral wards
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...
of Alexandra,
Coldhurst
Coldhurst (or more rarely Cold Hurst) is an area of Oldham and an electoral ward of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 11,935, increasing ...
,
Hollinwood,
St. James,
St. Marys,
St. Pauls,
Waterhead and
Werneth,
has an average age of 33.5, and compared against the average
demography of the United Kingdom
The population of the United Kingdom was estimated at over 67.0 million in 2020. It is the 21st most populated country in the world and has a population density of 270 people per square kilometre (700 people per square mile), with England ...
, has a high level of people of
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
heritage, particularly those with roots in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. Due to the town's prevalence as an industrial centre and thus a hub for employment, Oldham attracted migrant workers throughout its history, including those from wider-England, Scotland, Ireland and Poland.
During the 1950s and 1960s, in an attempt to fill the shortfall of workers and revitalise local industries, citizens of the wider
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
were encouraged to
migrate to Oldham and other British towns.
Many came from the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and settled throughout the Oldham borough.
Today, Oldham has large communities with heritage from
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and parts of the Caribbean.
At the time of the 2001 census, over one in four of its residents identified themselves as from a South Asian or
British Asian
British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Brit ...
ethnic group. Cultural divisions along ethnic backgrounds are strong within the town,
with poor cross-community integration and cohesion along Asian and white backgrounds.
With only a small local population during medieval times, as a result of the introduction of industry, mass migration of village workers into Oldham occurred, resulting in a population change from under 2,000 in 1714
to 12,000 in 1801 to 137,000 in 1901 In 1851 its population of 52,820 made Oldham the 12th most populous town in England.
The following is a table outlining the population change of the town since 1801, which demonstrates a trend of rapid population growth in the 19th century and, after peaking at 147,483 people in 1911, a trend of general decline in population size during the 20th century.
In 2011, 77.5% of the Oldham metropolitan borough population were White British, 18.1% Asian and 1.2% Black. While in the town of Oldham, which had a 2011 population of 96,555, 55.4% of the population were White British, 37.6% Asian and 2% Black.
Economy
For years Oldham's economy was heavily dependent on manufacturing industry, especially textiles and mechanical engineering.
Since the
deindustrialisation
Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry.
There are different interpre ...
of Oldham in the mid-20th century, these industries have been replaced by
home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as tradit ...
,
publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
,
healthcare
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
and
food processing
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...
sectors, though factory-generated employment retains a significant presence.
Many of the modern sectors are low-skill and low-wage.
Oldham's town centre contains the highest concentration of retailing, cultural facilities and employment in 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 ...
.
It has been extensively redeveloped during the last few decades, and its two shopping centres, Town Square and the Spindles, now provide one of the largest covered retail areas in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
.
The Spindles (named with reference to
textile spindles) is a modern
shopping centre
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
with over 40 retailers, banks, building societies and catering outlets. It houses several of Europe's largest stained glass works, a series of ceilings and skylights created by local artist
Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...
in celebration of the life and music of one of Oldham's famous sons,
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and
conductor Sir
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
.
A number of culinary and medical advances have been developed in Oldham. The
tubular bandage was invented and developed in Oldham in 1961.
That "vital contribution to advancing medical science" resulted from a collaboration between local firm Seton and a cotton manufacturer in the town. There are claims that Oldham was the birthplace of the first
chip shop Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...
.
The sometimes disputed claim of trade in deep-fried chipped potatoes is said to have been started around 1858–60 from an outlet owned by a John Lees, on what is the present site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market.
In 1900 Oldham had the highest concentration of chip shops in the country, one for every 400 people.
Rag Pudding
Rag pudding is a savoury dish consisting of minced meat and onions wrapped in a suet pastry, which is then cooked in a cheesecloth. Invented in Oldham, the dish is also popular in Bury and Rochdale, and is eaten across the Lancashire area. Rag pud ...
is a savoury dish said to be native to Oldham.
Yates Wine Lodge
Yates is a British pub chain. It was founded as Yates's Wine Lodge in Oldham, Lancashire by Peter and Simon Yates in 1884.
History
Yates is Britain's oldest pub chain. Its motto was ''moderation is true temperance''. The founders, brother ...
was founded in Oldham by Peter and Simon Yates in 1884.
Park Cake Bakeries, sold in 2007 by
Northern Foods Group to
Vision Capital
Vision Capital is an international investor with a flexible capital approach to investing in mid-size private companies that has its headquarters in Western Europe and North America.
The company specializes in both the dynamics of private equit ...
, have a large food processing centre in
Hathershaw
Hathershaw (or, archaically, Hathershaw Moor) is an urban area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside to the immediate south of Oldham town centre, and is bordered by the districts of Coppice and Fitton Hill to, respecti ...
, which employs in excess of 1,600 people. Over 90% of the cakes produced go to
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
.
Long existing as an
industrial district
Industrial district concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nations. Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary indu ...
,
Hollinwood is home to the Northern Counties Housing Association,
Ferranti Technologies is an electronic, electromechanical and electrical engineering company based in
Waterhead.
The majority of poor families are now working families. Coldhurst in Oldham has child deprivation rate of 62.1pc, which is the worst in the UK.
Oldham Athletic's contribution to the local economy have been strengthened by its community links as well as its fortunes on the field. Despite some success in the early 20th century which almost saw the club win the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
title in 1915, the club has spent most of its time outside the top division of English football, including a 68-year spell between 1923 and 1991 – when it won promotion to the
First Division a year before it became the
FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
. The club then survived for three years in the
FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, which encouraged high attendances and boosted the club's finances as well as boosting the local economy as it struggled to recover from post-industrial decline. Between 1990 and 1994, the club also reached two FA Cup semi-finals (taking
Manchester United
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 City of Salford, Salford to ...
to a replay on both occasions) and were on the losing side in a
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
final. The club's subsequent years, however, have been less successful, with relegation in 2018 to the fourth tier of the English league for the first time in almost 50 years. The club's financial situation has also declined, as have its attendances, in accordance with fortunes on the pitch.
Landmarks
Town Hall
Oldham's
Old Town Hall
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
is a Grade II listed
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
neo-classical town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
built in 1841, eight years before Oldham received its
borough status
Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, s ...
.
One of the last purpose-built town halls in northwest England,
it has a tetrastyle
Ionic portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
, copied from the temple of
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
, on the
River Ilissos, near
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
made his inaugural acceptance speech from the steps of the town hall when he was first elected as a Conservative MP in 1900. A
Blue Plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
on the exterior of the building commemorates the event.
Long existing as the political centre of the town, complete with
courtroom
A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...
s, the structure stood empty for many years from the mid-1980s and was regularly earmarked for redevelopment as part of regeneration project proposals, but none were actioned before plans dating to 2012 were completed in 2016.
In September 2008, it was reported that "Oldham Town Hall is only months away from a major roof collapse".
A tour taken by local councillors and media concluded with an account that "chunks of masonry are falling from the ceilings on a daily basis ... the floors are littered with dead pigeons and ... revealed that the building is literally rotting away".
In October 2009 the
Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...
, a charity responsible for the study and protection of Britain's Victorian and Edwardian architecture, declared Oldham Town Hall as the most endangered Victorian structure in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
.
Plans to convert the hall into a leisure complex, incorporating a cinema and restaurants, were revealed in May 2012 with the hall itself being used for public consultation. This £36.72 million project was completed in 2016.
In the heart of Oldham's retail district, the Old Town Hall has been developed into a modern multiplex
Odeon cinema
Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of ...
.
War memorial
Erected as a permanent memorial to the men of Oldham who were killed in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Oldham's
war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
consists of a
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
base surmounted by a
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
sculpture depicting five soldiers making their way along the trenches in order to go into battle.
The main standing figure, having climbed out of the trenches, is shown calling on his comrades to advance, and is the same figure used at the
Royal Fusiliers War Memorial
The Royal Fusiliers War Memorial is a memorial in London, dedicated to the members of the Royal Fusiliers killed in the World Wars, Russian Civil War and subsequent conflicts, along with members of a number of London Regiment battalions kille ...
in London and the
41st Division memorial at
Flers in France. The base serves to house books containing the roll of honour of the 1st, 10th and 24th Battalions,
Manchester Regiment
The Manchester Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1958. The regiment was created during the 1881 Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot and the 96th ...
. The pedestal has two bronze doors at either side.
Commissioned in 1919 by the Oldham War Memorial Committee, the memorial was designed and built by
Albert Toft
Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949) was a British Sculpture, sculptor.
Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen V ...
. It was unveiled by General
Sir Ian Hamilton
Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, (16 January 1853 – 12 October 1947) was a British Army general who had an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Hamilton was twice recommended for the Victoria Cros ...
on 28 April 1923, before a crowd estimated at over 10,000.
The monument was intended to symbolise the spirit of 1914–1918.
The inscriptions on the memorial read:
* Over doors to the north: "DEATH IS THE GATE OF LIFE / 1914–1918"
* Over window to the south: "TO GOD BE THE PRAISE "
Civic Centre
The
Civic Centre
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
tower is 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 ...
's centre of local governance. The 15-storey white-brick building has housed the vast majority of the local government's offices since its completion in 1977. Standing at the summit of the town, the tower stands over high. It was designed by Cecil Howitt & Partners,
and the
topping out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...
ceremony was held on 18 June 1976. The Civic Centre can be seen as far away as
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
,
Trafford
Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of 235,493 in 2017. It covers Retrieved on 13 December 2007. and includes the area of Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Ur ...
,
Wythenshawe
Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the ...
and
Winter Hill in
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 Lancashi ...
, and offers panoramic views across the city of
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 ...
and the
Cheshire Plain
The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded b ...
.
Churches
The
Oldham Parish Church of St. Mary with St. Peter, in its present form, dates from 1830 and was designed in the
Gothic Revival Style
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
by
Richard Lane, a Manchester-based architect.
It has been designated by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
as a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. It was linked with the
church of St Mary the Virgin, Prestwich
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is on Church Lane, Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Radcliffe and Prestwich, the archdeaconry of Bolton and the diocese of Manchester. The church ...
and together the sites were principal churches of the ancient ecclesiastical parish of
Prestwich-cum-Oldham
Prestwich-cum-Oldham (also known as Prestwich with Oldham) was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England. With the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Prestwich as ...
.
A church building had existed on the site since 1280.
During this time, a small chapel stood on the site to serve the local townships of Oldham,
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
,
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
and
Crompton Crompton may refer to
Place names
*Crompton (West Warwick), a community in West Warwick, Rhode Island, US
*Crompton, Greater Manchester, in Shaw and Crompton, Greater Manchester, England formerly in Lancashire
*Crompton Urban District, an obsole ...
. This was later replaced by an
Early English Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
church in the 15th century.
With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, the population of Oldham increased at a rapid rate (from under 2,000 in 1714, to over 32,000 by 1831).
The rapid growth of the local population warranted that the building be rebuilt into the current structure. Though the budget was originally agreed at £5,000,
the final cost of building was £30,000, one third of which was spent on the crypt structure.
Alternative designs by
Sir Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...
, the designer of the
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
, although now regarded by some as superior, were rejected.
The Church, of the
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
denomination, is in active use for worship, and forms part of the
Diocese of Manchester.
There are also
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
churches in Oldham. These include
Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Patrick Church. It was built in 1870, was founded by priests from St Mary's Church in Oldham, and is a Grade II listed building.
Transport
![Bus in Oldham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Bus_in_Oldham.jpg)
The geography of Oldham constrained the development of major transport infrastructure,
with the former County Borough Council suggesting that "if it had not grown substantially before the railway age it would surely have been overlooked".
Oldham has never been on a main-line railway route, and canals too have only been able to serve it from a distance,
meaning that "Oldham has never had a train service worthy of a town of its size".
A principal destination along the former
Oldham Loop Line
The Oldham Loop Line was a local railway route in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail.
The l ...
, Oldham once had six
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
s but this was reduced to three once
Clegg Street,
Oldham Central and
Glodwick Road closed in the mid-20th century.
Oldham Werneth
Oldham Werneth railway station was situated on the Oldham Loop Line, northeast of Manchester Victoria railway station, Manchester Victoria. The station was situated on Featherstall Road South, in the Werneth, Greater Manchester, Werneth area o ...
,
Oldham Mumps and
Derker
Derker is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in north-central Oldham, close to the boundary with Royton.
History
Historically a part of Lancashire, Derker was recorded as a place of residence in 1604 with the name ''Dir ...
closed on 3 October 2009.
Trains from
Manchester Victoria station
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was co ...
to Oldham had to climb steeply through much of its route, from around at Manchester city centre to around at Oldham Mumps.
The Werneth Incline, with its gradient of 1 in 27, made the
Middleton Junction to
Oldham Werneth
Oldham Werneth railway station was situated on the Oldham Loop Line, northeast of Manchester Victoria railway station, Manchester Victoria. The station was situated on Featherstall Road South, in the Werneth, Greater Manchester, Werneth area o ...
route the steepest regular passenger line in the country.
The Werneth Incline route closed in 1963. It had been replaced as the main route to Manchester by the section of line built between Oldham Werneth Station and Thorpes Bridge Junction, at
Newton Heath
Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883.
Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...
in May 1880. Oldham Mumps, the second oldest station on the line after Werneth,
took its name from its location in the Mumps area of Oldham, which itself probably derived from the archaic word "mumper" which was slang for a
beggar
Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public place ...
. The former Oldham Loop Line was converted for use with an expanded
Metrolink light rail network, and renamed as the
Oldham and Rochdale Line
The Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) is a tram line of the Manchester Metrolink in Greater Manchester running from Manchester city centre to Rochdale town centre via Oldham, using most of the trackbed of the former Oldham Loop Line which closed in ...
. The line between Victoria and a temporary
Oldham Mumps tram stop
Oldham Mumps is a tram stop on the Oldham and Rochdale Line (ORL) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system in the Mumps area of Oldham which opened in 2014.
A temporary stop of the same name opened to passengers on 13 June 2012 as ...
opened on 13 June 2012,
and more central stops opened on 27 January 2014.
![Tram on Union Street, Oldham, looking west, geograph-3808797-by-Alan-Murray-Rust](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Tram_on_Union_Street%2C_Oldham%2C_looking_west%2C_geograph-3808797-by-Alan-Murray-Rust.jpg)
Oldham had electric
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
ways to Manchester in the early 20th century; the first tram was driven from Manchester into Oldham in 1900 by the
Lord Mayor of Manchester
This is a list of the Lord Mayors of the City of Manchester in the North West of England. Not to be confused with the Directly elected Greater Manchester Mayor.
The Current and 124th Lord Mayor is Cllr Donna Ludford, Labour who has served Sinc ...
. The system came to an end on 3 August 1946, however. There was also a short-lived
Oldham trolleybus system, in 1925–26.
Oldham bus station
Oldham bus station is a bus station located in the town of Oldham in Greater Manchester. The bus station is found on Cheapside at the junction of West Street. The bus station opened in January 2001 and replaced the previous bus station at Town S ...
has frequent bus services to Manchester, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne and Middleton with other services to the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham,
Tameside
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Aud ...
, and across the Pennines to
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
.
The roof canopy is supported internally on two rows of steel trees. The extensive use of glass and stainless steel maximises visibility, and there is a carefully co-ordinated family of information fittings, posters and seating, using robust natural materials for floors and plinths.
The bus station is used by
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
coaches.
has its headquarters in Oldham.
Despite the Turnpike Act 1734, Oldham had no turnpike road to Manchester for another 56 years and
Church Lane, Oldham
Church Lane is one of the oldest streets in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England and one of the few that are still cobbled. It is the only part of the town centre that has survived decades of redevelopment. As a result, all of the buildings on the ...
remained part of the main street through the town. But following a further Act of Parliament a turnpike was constructed. The first regular coach service to Manchester came into operation in October 1790, with a journey time of over 2 hours and a fare 2s.8d (about 13p), with half fare for travellers on top of the coach.
Oldham is about south of the major
M62 motorway
The M62 is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of ...
, but is linked to it by the
M60 at
Hollinwood, and
A627(M)
The A627(M) is a motorway that runs between Chadderton and Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. It is long and connects these two towns to the M62. It opened in 1972.
Route
Heading north, the road starts as a two-lane dual carriageway on ...
via
Chadderton
Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester.
Hi ...
. There are major
A roads to
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 ...
,
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
,
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 ...
, and
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
.
The
Hollinwood 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 ...
was a
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
that ran from
Fairfield in
Droylsden
Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...
, through Littlemoss and
Daisy Nook Country Park to the
Hollinwood area of Oldham, with a branch from Daisy Nook to the
Fairbottom Branch Canal
The Fairbottom Branch Canal was a canal near Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, England.
Route
The canal left the Hollinwood Branch Canal at Fairbottom Junction immediately above lock 22. It was just over one mile long (1.82 km) and ...
. The canal was mainly used for the haulage of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
until it fell into disuse for commercial traffic in the 1930s. It included four aqueducts and a two-rise lock staircase.
Sport
Oldham Rugby League football club was established in 1876 as Oldham Football Club.
Renamed in 1997 to Oldham R.L.F.C., it has achieved several club honours during its history, winning the
Rugby Football League Championship
The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in England between 1895 and 1996, when it was replaced by the Super League.
History
1895–1904: Foundations
The first season of rugby league (189 ...
five times and
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...
three times.
They played at
Watersheddings
Watersheddings was the site of a former rugby league stadium in the Watersheddings area of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was in Lancashire, lying on the A672 (Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham ...
for years before joining Oldham Athletic A.F.C. at
Boundary Park
Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively.
Bound ...
until 2010 when they moved to Oldham Borough's previous ground,
Whitebank Stadium
Whitebank Stadium, currently also known as the Vestacare Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league and association football stadium which forms part of Limeside in Oldham, England. It is the home stadium of Oldham R.L.F.C. and Avro F ...
.
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club, known as The Latics, was founded in 1895 as Pine Villa Football Club.
Oldham Athletic have achieved both league and cup successes, particularly under
Joe Royle
Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...
in the 1990s.
They were
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
runners-up in the
last season before the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but were relegated from the
Football League First Division
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
in 1923. They reached the
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
final in 1990 and won the
Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...
title in 1991, ending 68 years outside the top flight. They secured their top division status a year later to become founder members of the new
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
,
but were relegated after
two seasons despite reaching that year's
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
semi-finals. they play in
EFL League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
, the fourth tier of the English league.
Oldham Borough F.C.
Oldham Borough F.C. was an English association football club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club was founded in 1964 as Oldham Dew F.C., changing their name in 1985 to Oldham Town, again in 2009 to Oldham Boro before making the ...
was established in 1964 as Oldham Dew FC, and after many years playing under the name of
Oldham Town
Oldham Borough F.C. was an English association football club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club was founded in 1964 as Oldham Dew F.C., changing their name in 1985 to Oldham Town, again in 2009 to Oldham Boro before making the ...
changed its name to Oldham Boro in 2009, finally becoming known as Oldham Borough just months before it folded. The team played in the
North West Counties Football League
The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern S ...
before going out of existence in 2015, just over 50 years after it was founded.
Oldham Netball Club's senior team is the 2019–2020 national league division 1 champion
and has won seven out of the last eight titles. Former players include England's most capped player
Jade Clarke
Jade Bridget Clarke (born 17 October 1983 in Manchester, England) is an English netball player. Primarily a midcourt defender, Clarke was selected for the England national netball team in 2002, making her senior debut the following year agains ...
.
Oldham has league cricket teams with a number of semi-professional league clubs including
Oldham CC, and
Werneth CC, both playing 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, an Australian ...
(GMCL).
Oldham CC was one of the founding members, in 1892, of the
Central Lancashire Cricket League
The Central Lancashire Cricket League (CLCL) was a fifteen team cricket league, traditionally based in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was then based in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The league ran competitions at First T ...
, which closed in 2015.
The Manchester
Fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
Centre in Oldham opened in 2015 in the former Osborne Mill, and at was said to be "the largest centre of its kind".
The Marshall Fencing Club trains there, under head coach and Commonwealth games medallist Stuart Marshall, and in 2019 won six gold medals at eight national ranking events.
Education
![Blue coat0004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Blue_coat0004.jpg)
Oldham produced someone who is considered
to be one of the greatest benefactors of education for the nation,
Hugh Oldham
Hugh Oldham ( – 25 June 1519) was an English cleric who was Bishop of Exeter (1505–19) and a notable patron of education as a founder and patron of Manchester Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
Born in Lancashire to a fami ...
, who in 1504 was appointed as
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell. , and later went on to found what is now
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...
.
University Campus Oldham is a centre for
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
and a sister campus of the
University of Huddersfield
, mottoeng = Thus not for you alone
, established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £2.47 million (2015)
, chancellor = George W. Buckley
, vice_chancel ...
. It was opened in May 2005 by actor
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actor ...
, the centre's Chancellor.
The University Campus Oldham presented actress
Shobna Gulati
Shobna Gulati (born 7 August 1966)[www.shobnagulati.co.uk](_blank)
Shobna Gulati official website is an English ...
and artist,
Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...
(both born in Oldham) with an
Honorary Doctorate of Letters at the Graduation Ceremony of November 2006, for their achievements and contributions to Oldham and its community.
Public services
Home Office policing in Oldham is provided by the
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England.
, Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...
. The force's "(Q) Division" have their headquarters for policing 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 ...
at central Oldham.
Public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
is co-ordinated by
Transport for Greater Manchester
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities. ...
.
Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) is the statutory emergency fire and rescue service for the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. It is part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
GMFRS covers an area of ...
, which has two stations in Oldham; at Hollins on Hollins Road, and at Clarksfield on Lees Road.
The
Royal Oldham Hospital
The Royal Oldham Hospital is a NHS hospital in the Coldhurst area of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is managed by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has its own volunteer-run radio station, Radio Cavell, which ...
, at Oldham's northern boundary with
Royton
Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...
, is a large
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
hospital administrated by
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was an acute hospital trust which, until 2019, operated Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, North Manchester General Hospital, the Royal Oldham Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary, all in Greater Manchester. It is no ...
. It was opened under its existing name on 1 December 1989.
Formerly known as Oldham District and General, and occupying the site of the town's former
workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
(named Oldham Union Workhouse in 1851),
the hospital is notable for being the birthplace of
Louise Joy Brown
Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by ''in vitro'' fertilisation experiment (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "t ...
– the world's first successful
''In vitro'' fertilised "test tube baby", on 25 July 1978.
Waste management
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...
is co-ordinated by the
local authority
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
via the
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority
The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) was England’s largest waste disposal authority, responsible for the management and disposal of municipal waste from Greater Manchester. It dealt with 1.1 million tonnes of waste produced ...
. Locally produced
inert waste Inert waste is waste which is neither chemically nor biologically reactive and will not decompose or only very slowly. Examples of this are sand and concrete. This has particular relevance to landfills as inert waste typically requires lower disposa ...
for disposal is sent to
landfill
A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
at the Beal Valley. Oldham's
distribution network operator
A distribution network operator (DNO), also known as a distribution system operator (DSO), is the operator of the electric power distribution system which delivers electricity to most end users. Each country may have many local distribution networ ...
for electricity is
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 Englan ...
;
there are no
power station
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many p ...
s in the town. United Utilities also manages Oldham's
drinking
Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among o ...
and
waste water
Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...
;
water supplies being sourced from several local reservoirs, including
Dovestone and
Chew
Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, th ...
. There is a
water treatment
Water treatment is any process that improves the Water quality, quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking water, drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recrea ...
works at
Waterhead.
Culture
![Brian Clarke Spindles Oldham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Brian_Clarke_Spindles_Oldham.jpg)
Oldham, though lacking in leisure and cultural amenities,
is historically notable for its theatrical culture. Once having a peak of six ''"fine"'' theatres in 1908, Oldham is home to the
Oldham Coliseum Theatre
Oldham Coliseum Theatre is a theatre in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
Found on Fairbottom Street in the town centre, Oldham's Coliseum is a repertory theatre which celebrated its centenary in 1987. Its interior makes it a great period cla ...
and the
Oldham Theatre Workshop
The Oldham Theatre and Music Workshop is a youth theatre group based in the north west of England.
Outline
Founded by David Johnson in , the Oldham Theatre Workshop has a purpose-built studio located in its own building off Oldham's Union Street, ...
, which have facilitated the early careers of notable actors and writers, including
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
,
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades.
During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...
and
Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride (21 June 1954 – 19 January 2015) was an English actress, best known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap ''Coronation Street'', which she played for 42 years from 1972 to 2014. For this ...
,
daughter of acclaimed
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
Jack Kirkbride
Jack Kirkbride (31 March 1923 – 1 October 2006) was an English cartoonist, and father to Anne Kirkbride, the actress who played Deirdre Barlow in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' from 1972 to 2014.
Kirkbride left school at the age ...
who worked for the ''
Oldham Evening Chronicle
The ''Oldham Evening Chronicle'' was a daily newspaper published each weekday evening. It served the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. There were also four sister editions, called the ''Oldham Extra'', ''Saddleworth ...
''. Oldham Coliseum Theatre is one of Britain's last remaining
repertory theatre
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
s;
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
and
Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...
performed there in the early 20th century, and contemporary actors such as
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...
and
Minnie Driver
Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic ''Grosse ...
, among others, have appeared more recently.
During the 19th century the
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...
was a popular entertainment in Oldham;
Pablo Fanque
Pablo Fanque (born William Darby; 30 March 1810 – 4 May 1871) was a British equestrian performer and circus proprietor, becoming the first recorded Black circus owner in Britain. His circus was popular in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a pe ...
's circus was a regular visitor, filling a 3,000-seat amphitheatre on Tommyfield in 1869. Formerly criticised for its lack of a
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
* ...
,
there are plans to develop an "Oldham
West End".
Oldham has a thriving bar and
night club
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
culture, if you consider one nightclub (Liquid and Envy) as a thriving nightlife.
![The Lyceum and Science & Art Building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/The_Lyceum_and_Science_%26_Art_Building._-_geograph.org.uk_-_493742.jpg)
The Lyceum is a
Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
opened in 1856 at a cost of £6,500 as a "mutual improvement" centre for the working men of Oldham. The facilities provided to members included a library, a newsroom and a series of lectures on geology, geography and education, microscopy and chemistry, female education and botany.
Instrumental music was introduced and there were soon sixteen violinists and three cellists. Eventually the building was extended to include a school of science and art. Music had always been important in the life of the Lyceum, and in 1892 a school of music was opened, with 39 students enrolled for the "theory and practice of music".
The Lyceum continued throughout the 20th century as a centre for the arts in Oldham. The Lyceum Players are a current amateur theatre company entering its 93rd year. They put on a varied programme of productions each season and the theatre is on the ground floor of the Lyceum building. In 1986 the local authority was invited by its directors and trustees to accept the building as a gift.
The acceptance of the Lyceum building by the Education Committee provided the opportunity to move the music centre and "further enhance the cultural activities of the town".
In 1989 the Oldham Metropolitan Borough Music Centre moved into the Lyceum building, which is now the home of the Oldham Lyceum School of Music.
Oldham's museum and gallery service dates back to 1883.
Since then it has established itself as a cultural focus for Oldham and has developed one of the largest and most varied permanent collections in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. The current collection includes over 12,000 social and industrial history items, more than 2,000 works of art, about 1,000 items of decorative art, more than 80,000 natural history specimens, over 1,000 geological specimens, about 3,000 archaeological artefacts, 15,000 photographs and a large number of books, pamphlets and documents.
Meanwhile, the
Rifle Street drill hall dates back to 1897.
Oldham is now home to a newly built state-of-the-art art gallery,
Gallery Oldham
Gallery Oldham is a free-to-view public museum and art gallery in the Cultural Quarter of central Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England.
Design
Designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, Gallery Oldham was completed in its original f ...
, which was completed in February 2002 as the first phase of the Oldham Cultural Quarter.
Later phases of the development saw the opening of an extended Oldham Library, a lifelong learning centre and there are plans to include a performing arts centre.
Carnival
The annual Oldham Carnival started around 1900, although the tradition of
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
s in the town goes back much further, providing a "welcomed respite from the tedium of everyday life". The carnival parade was always held in mid-to-late summer, with the primary aim of raising money for charities. It often featured local dignitaries or popular entertainers, in addition to brass, military and jazz bands, the Carnival Queen, people in
fancy dress
A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock chara ...
, dancers and decorated
floats from local churches and businesses. Whenever possible, local people who had attained national celebrity status were invited to join the cavalcade. The carnival's route began in the town centre, wound its way along King Street, and ended with a party in
Alexandra Park.
The carnival fell out of favour in the late 1990s but was resurrected by community volunteers in 2006 and rebranded the Peoples' Carnival. The parade was moved into Alexandra Park in 2011. The event hosts live stages and other activities alongside a parade in the park.
2016 marked ten years since the carnival was reinstated by volunteers. The main organiser is Paul Davies who runs the carnival with a number of committee members and volunteers.
International relations
Twin towns - sister cities
*
Geesthacht
Geesthacht () is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, south-east of Hamburg on the right bank of the River Elbe.
History
A church was built in what is today ...
,
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
*
Kranj
Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...
,
Upper Carniola
Upper Carniola ( sl, Gorenjska; it, Alta Carniola; german: Oberkrain) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the northern mountainous part of the larger Carniola region. The centre of the region is Kranj, while other urban centers include Jeseni ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
Britain in Bloom
Oldham has had a pattern of success in the "best city" category in the national
Britain in Bloom
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
competition, winning in 2012 and 2014,
and in several following years
and gaining a gold award in 2019.
Oldham Council financially support the awards, one of only five local authorities in the North West to do so.
Notable people
People from Oldham are called Oldhamers, though "Roughyed" is a
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
from the 18th century when rough
felt
Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
was used in Oldham to make hats.
Edward Potts was a renowned architect who moved to Oldham from
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
. He was the architect for fourteen mills in the Oldham area. Other notable persons with Oldham connections include the composer Sir
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
, former British Prime Minister Sir
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, the artist
Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...
, and
Louise Brown
Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by ''in vitro'' fertilisation experiment (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "t ...
,
the world's first baby to be conceived by
''in vitro'' fertilisation.
Notable media personalities from Oldham include presenter
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
, actors
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
,
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades.
During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...
and
Christopher Biggins
Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter.
Early life
Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of William and Pamela Biggins. He was brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, attended St P ...
,
Ricky Whittle
Richard George Whittle (born 31 December 1979) is a British actor. Whittle first came to prominence as a model for Reebok in the early 2000s. He is known in the United Kingdom for his role as Calvin Valentine in the soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. I ...
, TV host
Phillip Schofield
Phillip Bryan Schofield (born 1 April 1962) is an English television presenter who works for ITV. He is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2002–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2014, 2018–present) alongside Holly ...
,
actress
Shobna Gulati
Shobna Gulati (born 7 August 1966)[www.shobnagulati.co.uk](_blank)
Shobna Gulati official website is an English ...
, actress/comedian
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.[Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride (21 June 1954 – 19 January 2015) was an English actress, best known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap ''Coronation Street'', which she played for 42 years from 1972 to 2014. For this ...]
, actress
Olivia Cooke
Olivia Kate Cooke (born 27 December 1993) is an English actress. In television, she has starred as Emma Decody in the thriller '' Bates Motel'' (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama '' Vanity Fair'' (2018), and Alicent Hightower in ...
physicist and science educator
Brian Cox, television presenter
John Stapleton and comedy double act
Cannon and Ball.
Notable musicians from Oldham include the
Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets are an English rock band, part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1980, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassist ...
,
N-Trance
N-Trance () are a British electronic music group who were formed by Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth in 1991. The group is known for their European hit songs " Set You Free" and "Electronic Pleasure", and their covers of the 1970s disco songs " ...
and
Mark Owen
Mark Owen (born 27 January 1972) is an English singer and songwriter best known for being a member of pop group and band Take That; as of 2019, the group have sold 14 million albums and 11.4 million singles in the UK. In Owen's solo career, he ...
of boyband
Take That
Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...
as well as the founding members of the rock band
Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...
.
Notable charity mountaineer, the first British Muslim to climb
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
,
Akke Rahman
Aklakur Rahman ( bn, আখলাকুর রহমান), better known as Akke Rahman, is a British Bangladeshi mountaineer. In October 2020 he broke the UK record for climbing Mount Elbrus, reaching the summit in less than 24 hours. In May 2 ...
, of Bengali heritage, is from Oldham.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Oldham
Oldham is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, and it is unparished. The town and the surrounding countryside contain 102 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of th ...
*
Greenhill power station
Greenhill power station supplied electricity to the town of Oldham, England and the surrounding area from 1921 to 1960. It replaced the older Rhodes Bank generating station and was superseded by Chadderton B power station. Greenhill power statio ...
*
Chadderton power station
Chadderton Power Station refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations, which were situated at Chadderton, Greater Manchester in North West England.
Slacks Valley (Chadderton A) Power Station
History
The first power station to be constr ...
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
www.oldham.gov.uk Website of Oldham Council.
www.genuki.org.uk GENUKI entry for Oldham, including genealogical data and historic descriptions.
{{authority control
Oldham
Towns in Greater Manchester
865 establishments
Populated places established in the 9th century
9th-century establishments in England
Unparished areas in Greater Manchester
Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham