Freehold is an urban area of
Werneth in
Oldham
Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England. It occupies an area in the west of Werneth along the Oldham township boundary 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. The ...
. It is contiguous on all sides with other urban areas, including parts of Werneth to the north and east, and
Cowhill,
Block Lane, and
Butler Green/Washbrook in Chadderton.
Freehold is centred on Oxford Street and is broadly bounded by Manchester Road, Edward Street, the former
Oldham Loop Line
The Oldham Loop Line was a suburban-line 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 line c ...
railway, Block Lane, and Suffolk Street.
The area was redeveloped, to some extent, as part of the government's
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 Pat ...
– the Werneth Freehold Masterplan – comprising Freehold, Block Lane, and some small adjacent parts of north Werneth and south Chadderton. However, some parts of Freehold have remained derelict since the early 2000s following loss of funding for the initiative.
Freehold tram stop opened in 2012 at the Oldham/Chadderton boundary at Block Lane, and serves both the Freehold area of Oldham and the Cowhill/Block Lane areas of Chadderton. The station's position on the boundary means it lies partially in both Chadderton and Oldham.
History
In the early 1860s,
John Platt (MP), the son of Henry Platt who founded
Platt Brothers textile machinery manufacturers in 1770, purchased the land now known as Freehold from the Lees family, incumbents of the manorial Werneth Hall. Platt, at that time Mayor of Oldham, commenced a programme of house building, enabling workers of Platts and other local manufacturers to become
forty-shilling freeholders
Forty-shilling freeholders were those who had the parliamentary franchise to vote by virtue of possessing freehold property, or lands held directly of the king, of an annual rent of at least forty shillings (i.e. £2 or 3 marks), clear of all ...
, thus giving the workers the right to vote. Platt Bros were for a time the largest manufacturers of machinery for the cotton industry in the world, employing some 15,000 people.
A footpath linking Manchester Road with the ancient road of
Block Lane was built up to become Oxford Street. The opening of Oxford Street led to the construction of numerous side streets linking to Manchester Road and Block Lane, and by 1914 the area was entirely filled with rows of terraced housing.
Freehold once had a number of public houses, all of which have now closed. The Royal Oak, on Manchester Road, which opened in 1825 was the last surviving pub in Werneth when it closed in 2023. The district also had its own cinema: The Gem Cinema, on Suffolk Street, which opened in 1920. The cinema closed down in the early 1960s and it later became a cabaret club, known as the Consul Club, which had limited success. By the early 2000s, the building was occupied by a soft furnishing company, but it had been demolished by 2009 and the site was cleared for housing development.
The now demolished
Hartford Mill was a Grade II listed building in the area, dating from 1907. After cotton production ceased in 1969, the mill was abandoned and fell into dereliction; an application to have the building de-listed and demolished was approved by the owners and the local authority in 2015. Another Grade II listed building located in the Freehold area is Werneth Lodge, a former coach house dating from c. 1790, now used as a private residential care home.
Freehold Community School was built in 1982 on the site of
Blackridings Mill, which was demolished in 1975. The school has a history dating to 1880, having been originally located on Derby Street close to the junction with Manchester Road. The school also used the Stanley Road School building in the Butler Green area for a period up until the construction of the new school.
Religion
Freehold is part of the parish of
Christ Church (Church of England), Block Lane. Christ Church was built in 1870 and remains an active Anglican church with many community projects in addition to its primary school well into the 21st century.
Freehold's increasing population in the mid 19th century saw
Cowhill Methodist Church expand its ministry into this area and a decision was made to build a chapel in Rutland Street, Werneth, half a mile away from Cowhill, and in 1861 the foundations were laid for one of the largest churches in Oldham, Brunswick Wesleyan Methodist church which opened in 1862. The church closed in 1954. Cowhill became prolific at building churches. Two more building projects including a new school for Brunswick, on Oxford Street, opened in January 1890.
The congregation moved to Edward Street Methodist Church (500 yards from Rutland Street) which itself dates back to 1861. That church closed in 1967 when it amalgamated with several other local churches, including Cowhill Methodist Church, to form South Chadderton Methodist Church at
Butler Green.
Freehold is home to a large Muslim population and three mosques serve the area, the Werneth Jamia Masjid, Manchester Road, the Markazi Mosque (capacity 1,600), Suffolk Street and Jamia Islamia Ghausia Mosque on Warwick Street.
Werneth Jamia Masjid was the first masjid to be established in the Werneth area of Oldham. The building was previously used as a grocery store and was purchased in 1976 to be converted into a much needed place of worship. The local community helped raise the £7,200 required to purchase the property through donations.
Transport
Bee Network
The Bee Network is an integrated transport network for Greater Manchester, comprising bus, tram, cycling and walking routes. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is expected to have commuter rail services joining the network in 2028. Initial ...
operate the follwing bus services in the Freehold area -
81 and 83 linking Freehold with
Oldham
Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
town centre and with
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
City centre, via
Moston and
Failsworth
Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester and south-west of Oldham. The M60 motorway, M60 ring-road motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the United Kingdom C ...
.
159 to Oldham via Chadderton town centre and to Middleton via
Hollinwood, Woodhouses, Failsworth and
New Moston.
396 providing links to
Ashton-U-Lyne and to
Middleton via Chadderton town centre.
Freehold tram stop provides direct tram links to
East Didsbury via Manchester Victoria and to
Rochdale railway station and town centre.
References
External links
Werneth Freehold MasterplanWerneth and Freehold Community Development ProjectFreehold Community SchoolWerneth Jamia Masjid
{{Areas of Oldham
Areas of Oldham