Hopwood is a suburb of Heywood, a town within the

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. Its largest town is Rochdale and the wider borough covers other outlying towns and villages, including Heywood, Greater Manchester, Heywood, Littleb ...

, in

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 is north of the

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east Pennines, trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route Concurrency (road), is shared with the M60 motorway, ...

. Hopwood has a primary school and a fire station for the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. It also has a dentist, petrol station/shop and a cafe.

History

During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Hopwood formed a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

within the Middleton ecclesiastical parish of the Salfordshire hundred of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. In 1866 Hopwood became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, in 1894 the parish was abolished to form Heywood, parts also went to Middleton and Castleton by Rochdale. In 1891 the parish had a population of 4774. John Rhodes was one of the victims of the

Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Eighteen people died and 400–700 were injured when the cavalry of the Yeomen charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who ...

of 1819. He died several weeks after the event and his body was dissected by order of magistrates wishing to prove his death was not a result of Peterloo.

Transport

Hopwood is served by a number of buses including the 163 (Bury-Manchester), 475 (Heywood-Bury) and 125 (Heywood-Middleton). Hopwood is also a short distance from

Heywood railway station Heywood railway station serves the town of Heywood, Greater Manchester, Heywood, in Greater Manchester, England. Formerly a stop on the national railway network, it is now the southern terminus of heritage East Lancashire Railway services. His ...

which is part of the East Lancashire Railway.

References

Areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester Heywood, Greater Manchester {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub