Copster Hill
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Copster Hill is a locality in the town of
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
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 ...
, lying 1.6 miles to the south of Oldham town centre. Archaically a hamlet and private estate set in open moorland and farmland along Hollins Road, the 19th-century growth of Oldham saw Copster Hill form a contiguous urban area with
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, respect ...
, Hollins,
Garden Suburb The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...
and
Coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
. The area is served by Copster Park which opened to the public in 1911. Two long-standing public houses survive in this locality: The Falconers Arms and the King George. The King George was built in 1911 but can trace its roots to an earlier inn on the same site, The Noggins, which dates from the early 1700s.


History

Copster Hill features prominently on maps of Oldham. Whilst being part of the town it was often referred to as the little village south of the town on the old road from Oldham to Manchester. Historical references can be traced back to 1428 when Copster Hill formed part of the lands of John de Assheton and the Roman road from Manchester to York passed through the area. A small excavation by Manchester University in the area of Copster Hill House failed to find anything dating back before the 17th century. although the remains of a number of structures representing numerous phases of buildings spanning two centuries were found on the site By the mid 18th century the Copster Hill estate seems to have been jointly owned by the Bent and Kershaw families, with both families having substantial properties on the estate. The Bent family occupied Gate Field House, owned by John Bent prior to his death in 1778, while the Kershaw family lived at Copster Hill. John Kershaw, the owner of the house in 1778, rebuilt Cospter Hill renaming it Copster House. Sometime before 1791 John Kershaw built a cotton mill. on land between what is now Copster Place and Copster House. (Copster House was recently demolished to make way for Cop Thorn estate.) The mill was small compared to later mills and probably used horses to power the machinery. However, by 1829 steam power had been introduced. The mill was notable for a 225 foot high chimney which was demolished in the 1930s. A number of cottages built during the 1820s, known as Copster Place, still survive today. Built for workers at the Copster Mill, the look of the cottages with the sandstone flagged roofs, colour washed front and back with old fashioned style of light fittings, give a quaint appearance more in keeping with the open countryside. The inconsistency between the cottages and their surroundings is the result of unprecedented industrial expansion with corresponding house building that swallowed up the green fields. Copster Hill was also a coal mining area and until the late 19th century a tram road existed between Copster Hill Colliery and Hollinwood where the coal was transported from the
Hollinwood Branch Canal The Hollinwood Branch Canal was a canal near Hollinwood, in Oldham, England. It left the main line of the Ashton Canal at Fairfield Junction immediately above lock 18. It was just over long and went through Droylsden and Waterhouses to termi ...
.


Transport

First Greater Manchester First Greater ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 28186 ...
provides the following bus services along Hollins Road: 180 providing services to Greenfield via Oldham and to
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 ...
via
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 ...
. 184 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 ...
via Oldham and
Uppermill Uppermill is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies on the River Tame in a valley amongst the South Pennines wit ...
and to
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 ...
via Failsworth.
Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654
provides service 76 to Oldham and to Manchester via Limeside and
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 ...
.https://tis-kml-stagecoach.s3.amazonaws.com/PdfTimetables/XJAO076.pdf, Retrieved 29 November 2016


References

{{Reflist Areas of Oldham