Geography

Oldham lies in the foothills of the Pennines, seven miles north-east of Manchester. It is made up of seven small townships which merged in 1974 to create the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, one of the ten districts of Greater Manchester.

Oldham itself is at the borough's centre, with Chadderton and Failsworth to the west and south-west, Shaw and Royton to the north, and Lees and Saddleworth to the north-east.

All but Saddleworth are products of the borough's roots as a cotton-spinning centre. Much of the industrial legacy remains, though most of the cotton mills have been demolished. Red-brick housing predominates and the borough merges with Manchester itself to the south-west, Rochdale to the north-west and Tameside to the south.

Saddleworth is a collection of villages in the steep-sided valleys which rise up to Pennine moorland. Uppermill, Delph, Dobcross, Denshaw and Greenfield have a different industrial history as the many stone three-storey weavers' cottages show.

Oldham Metropolitan Borough straddles two counties. Most of Oldham is in Lancashire, but Saddleworth and its villages are in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The administrative county of Greater Manchester, created in 1974, was abolished in 1984, though certain of its functions are still jointly run by the district councils.

Communications

Oldham lies at the heart of the North-West's motorway network. The A627(M) and Oldham by-pass lead motorists to the centre of the borough from the M62 and Manchester Road (A62) from the M60. Manchester International Airport is now only 25 minutes away from Oldham town centre.

Rail travellers can reach Oldham Mumps station via Manchester Victoria or Rochdale, though a Metrolink extension is planned. Within easy reach of Oldham are many renowned beauty spots, including the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire Moors, the Trough of Bowland, the Peak District and the South Pennines.

To the west there are good motorway connections to Blackpool, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales.

History

Oldham's wealth was built on cotton spinning and the manufacture of textile machinery. In its heyday it was the greatest cotton-spinning town in the world, boasting more spindles than the whole of the United States and providing a home to the most famous of all textile machinery-makers, Platt Bros.

It was also the home of other world-famous companies - electrical engineer Ferranti and plane-maker A V Roe, which became part of British Aerospace.

The cotton industry gradually declined; Ferranti is now a shadow of its former self. British Aerospace is still a major employer, though it, too, has had to shed jobs.

Now Oldham is the home of Zetex plc, the UK's biggest computer chip manufacturer; Park Cake Bakeries, part of Northern Foods; Fulfilment Logistics Centre, part of the N Brown Group plc, in the Lilac and Briar Mills, Shaw, as well as Littlewoods retail in the Durban Mill, Chadderton.

Dew Construction, SSI International (originally the Oldham-born Seton's), Glynwebb, Pilgrim International and James Briggs Ltd are all Oldham firms. Money Controls Ltd and Innovative Technology, world leaders in the verification of coins and banknotes, are both Oldham companies.