Thornham is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

an area straddling Middleton,

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 Ol ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

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. The area crosses the border of the

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham. The borough had a population of in , making it the sixth-largest district by population in Greater Manch ...

and 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 ...

and is divided at a constituency and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

level.

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

part 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 ...

, Thornham was once 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 parish of Middleton, encompassing the outlying

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Slattocks, Stake Hill, Buersill Head and Tandle Hill, before being divided between Middleton, Royton, and Rochdale by the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

. Part of this area was known as Gravel Hole, because of large

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

pits, and is still referred to as such on some maps.

Governance

Lying within the historic county boundaries of

since the early 12th century, Thornham was a

in the ecclesiastical parish of Middleton and Oldham

poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

. In 1866 Thornham 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 1879, part of the township was included in the area of the commissioners for the improvement of Middleton and Tonge townships, and in 1886 became part of the

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

of Middleton. In 1879, other parts of the township were included in the

and Castleton-by-Rochdale local boards of health. In 1894 the parish was dissolved and its area divided between Royton and Middleton, part also went to form Castleton by Rochdale, with Castleton by Rochdale Urban District divided between the

County Borough of Rochdale Rochdale was, from 1856 to 1974, a local government district coterminate with the town of Rochdale in the northwest of England. Municipal borough In January 1856 the inhabitant householders of the Parliamentary Borough of Rochdale, Lancashir ...

and

Municipal Borough of Heywood The Municipal Borough of Heywood was, from 1881 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, with borough status and coterminate with the town of Heywood. Civic history The first local government in ...

in 1900. In 1891 the parish had a population of 1895.

Transport

The intersection of the M62 and the A627(M) is known as Thornham Interchange.

Education

Thornham is served by "Thornham St. James Cof E Primary School" (which lies within the border of Royton and is thus administered by Oldham L.E.A) and "St John's CE Primary Thornham" (which lies within Rochdale), and thus administered by Rochdale L.E.A.St John's CE Primary Thornham – Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
For secondary education,

St Cuthbert's RC High School St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic High School is a coeducational secondary school located in the Thornham area of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. History St Cuthbert's was founded as Bishop Henshaw School in 1968 and was Rochdale's first ...

is also located in the Rochdale part of the area.

Notable people

Sir Harry Platt, 1st Baronet Sir Harry Platt, 1st Baronet, FRCS, KStJ (7 October 1886 – 20 December 1986) was an English orthopaedic surgeon, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1954–1957). He was a founder of the British Orthopaedic Association, of ...

orthopaedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

References

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