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 England. Its largest town is Rochdale and the wider borough covers other outlying towns and villages, including Heywood, Greater Manchester, Heywood, Littleb ...

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. ...

. 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. The ...

in 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 ...

. Tonge was formerly 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 ...

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 M ...

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, Greater Manchester, Middleton and Chadderton in Greater Manchester, England. It lies 1.3 miles east of Middleton town centre and 1.4 miles to the ...

and Middleton Junction. Tonge Hall 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 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 North West England that flows through the northern part of Greater Manchester. It rises to the east of Royton and runs west past Chadderton, Middleton and Blackley before mer ...

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

. Tonge was formerly a

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ...

, in 1866 Tonge 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 1886 it became part of the

, on 31 December 1894 the parish was abolished and merged with Middleton. In 1891 the parish had a population of 8099. 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 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 association football, football league in England, affiliated with Manchester Football Association, Manchester FA, covering a 30-mile radius from Manchester Town Hall. It was formed in 1893, although play ceased ...

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. Alkrington lies on the northern edge of the city of Manchester with the suburb of Blackley directly to the south. ...

, South = Greengate , Southeast = Middleton Junction Areas of Greater Manchester Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester Middleton, Greater Manchester