Tonge is a residential and industrial area of Middleton in the

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

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 ...

. It lies on the east side of Middleton between the town centre and its border with

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 ...

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 ...

. Tonge was formerly 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 ...

in its own right, until the area was incorporated into the

Municipal Borough of Middleton The Municipal Borough of Middleton was, from 1886 to 1974, a municipal borough in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, coterminous with the town of Middleton. Civic history By the nineteenth century the neighbouring townships of Mi ...

as part of local government reforms in the late 19th century. Its area includes localities such as Moorclose and part of the districts of

Mills Hill Mills Hill is an industrial and residential area that lies on the common border of Middleton and Chadderton in Greater Manchester, England. It lies 1.3 miles east of Middleton town centre and 1.4 miles to the west of central Chadderton. It ...

and Middleton Junction.

Tonge Hall Tonge Hall is a Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house in Tonge, Middleton, Greater Manchester, England. History The manor of Tonge belonged in medieval times to the Tonge family but passed into other hands. The hall was built around 1584 and ...

was the manor house for the township. The place-name of Tonge, although no longer widely used in the area, stills survives in the district in the names of several streets and a long standing sports club, Tonge Social & Bowling club, established in 1923.

Mills Hill railway station Mills Hill railway station is in the Mills Hill area of Middleton, Greater Manchester, Middleton in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England. The station is 5¾ miles (9 km) north of Manchester Victoria rai ...

is located in this district.

Middleton Technology School Middleton Technology School is a coeducational secondary school in the Middleton area of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. Since 1995 the school has specialised in technology, vocational education and Raising ...

lies within this district.

History

This township occupied, as its name implies, a tongue of land between the

River Irk The River Irk is a river in the historic county of Lancashire in the North West England that flows through the northern most Lancastrian towns of the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester. It rises to the east of Royton and runs west past ...

on the north and its affluent, the Wince Brook, on the south. The area is 392 acres. The surface is mostly above the 300 ft.level—360 ft. is reached at

. The township has long been a suburb of Middleton, to which borough it was added for local government purposes in 1861. In 1894 Tonge lost its status as a township or civil parish, and became completely merged with Middleton. Tonge Church (St Michael's) was founded in 1839. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's line from Manchester to Rochdale passes through the eastern side - (See

Caldervale Line The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes ...

). A branch to Middleton opened in 1857, the line closing in the mid 1960s. From this the part of Tonge called Middleton Junction takes its name, though the junction itself is in

. The former Middleton Railway Station was in Tonge.

Landmarks

St Michael's Church, Middleton St Michael's Church is in Townley Street, Middleton, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Heywood and Middleton, the archdeaconry of Rochdale, and the diocese of Manchester. The church is record ...

has been a church at Townley Street since 1839. It was built to serve a new population created by the Industrial Revolution. During the 19th century changes occurred, including the coming of the railways and the growth of work in the area. The local community grew in numbers. By the end of the century it became clear that the church building was too small. The church was pulled down and a bigger building erected – its foundation stone was laid in 1901. In 1926, a daughter church was built on Kenyon Lane and called Holy Innocents’ Church. This was to serve the people of Tonge and remained open until 1978, when its congregation joined with those at St Michael’s. There have been a number of changes to the existing building since the beginning of the 20th century – the nave was built in 1912, the tower was added in 1926 and the Holy Innocents’ Chapel and Memorial area were completed in 1981.

Sports

Tonge AFC were an

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club formed in 1887 and has it origins at St Michael's School. They originally played on a field behind the Old Cock Inn, Oldham Road but by 1890 the club had moved to a ground near Tonge Hall. The pitch was set in a natural bowl which was partially terraced to accommodate spectators. The club joined the

Manchester Football League The Manchester Football League is a football league in England, affiliated with Manchester FA, covering a 30-mile radius from Manchester Town Hall. It was formed in 1893, although play ceased between 1912 and 1920. Currently it consists of fiv ...

in 1896 and were an immediate success, winning the League championship in four of their first five league campaigns, finishing in second place to Newton Heath Athletic in their third season. The club also won five League Cups. The team could not sustain this level of success however, and in 1911 resigned from the league after finishing in bottom place. The club continued at a lower level until finally disbanding in 1923. A housing development, Tonge Meadow, now occupies the site of the football ground.''Middleton in Retrospect'', Morris Garratt, John Cole,

References

External links

The parish of Prestwich with Oldham: TongeTonge Township BoundariesSt Michael's Church (Middleton) Tonge-cum-Alkrington
{{Geographic Location , title = Neighbouring localities. , Northwest = Middleton , North = Boarshaw , Northeast = Chadderton Fold , West = Middleton , Centre = Tonge , East =

, Southwest =

Alkrington Alkrington Garden Village is a suburban area of Middleton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester England. Historically a part of Lancashire, in the Middle Ages Alkrington was a township in the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldh ...

, South = Greengate , Southeast = Middleton Junction Areas of Greater Manchester Middleton, Greater Manchester