Tandle Hill Country Park is a country park in

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 ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England. It consists of approximately , a combination of beech woodland and open grassland. The park contains a countryside centre (opened in 1994), picnic areas, children's play area and numerous trails and paths into the surrounding area. Two countryside rangers are based at the countryside centre. In fine weather conditions, it offers views 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 Welsh mountains.

History of the Park

Tandle Hill was originally part of the

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, C ...

of Thornham - part of the extensive parish of Middleton. It was used as a meeting place for radicals in the 19th century. In the period leading up to 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 ...

it was said that it had been used by radicals for practising marching and drilling. The beech woodland was planted to prevent this happening again and the hill became a hunting park and private game reserve as part of the Thornham Estate. It was sold in 1861 and came into the ownership of Joseph Milne, whose wife later sold the park to Norris Bradbury, a

councillor. Bradbury gifted the park to the people of Royton in 1919 as a peace offering at the end 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 ...

. A granite marker stands near the Oozewood entrance to the park, and its inscription reads: Tandle Hill was formally designated as a country park on 1 July 1971.

War Memorial

The war memorial commemorating the men of Royton who died during the

stands at the highest point in the park, and was unveiled on 22 October 1921 by the

Earl of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

. Originally the memorial, which is constructed from Portland stone, bore plaques listing the fallen and a bronze statue. The original plaques were stolen in 1969, and replacements were later installed in the grounds of St Paul's,

Cultural references

Tandle Hill is mentioned in one of the

Alan Partridge Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, h ...

shows for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Alan recalls ascending the hill during a cross-country run. Partridge's creator Steve Coogan grew up in Middleton, though Alan himself was supposedly from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. Coogan attended Cardinal Langley Grammar School, Middleton, where cross country runs occasionally saw pupils being sent to the monument and back. Tandle Hill is mentioned in the lyrics of "Mill Boys" on the album ''

Everyone Is Everybody Else ''Everyone Is Everybody Else'' is the fifth studio album by British Rock Band Barclay James Harvest released in June 1974. This was their first album for the Polydor label after they had parted company with EMI. The album was produced by Rodg ...

'' by Barclay James Harvest. The album cover '' Script of the Bridge'' by

The Chameleons The Chameleons are an English rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band's classic line-up consisted of lead vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever. Th ...

has a sketch, by the band's guitarist Reg Smithies, of Tandle Hill, and the song "View From a Hill" relates to an experience singer/songwriter Mark Burgess experienced on Tandle Hill.See "A View from a Hill" by Mark Burgess, pages 159–162 published by Guardian Angel, , 2007

References

Bibliography

*Stott, Frances (1994) ''Looking Back at Royton''. Oldham Arts and Heritage Publication, Oldham. {{coord, 53.574, N, 2.144, W, type:landmark, display=title Mountains and hills of the Pennines Mountains and hills of Greater Manchester Parks and commons in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Country parks in Greater Manchester