Ashton-under-Lyne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ashton-under-Lyne | |
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  Ashton-under-Lyne shown within Greater Manchester |
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| Population | 43,236 |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | Tameside |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE |
| Postcode district | OL6, OL7 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Ashton-under-Lyne |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Ashton-under-Lyne is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England.[1] Lying on the River Tame under the Pennine hills, Ashton (as it is referred in shorthand) is 6.2 miles (10.0 km) east of Manchester City Centre, 3.8 miles (6.1 km) south-southeast of Oldham and 6.1 miles (9.8 km) north-northeast of Stockport. It has a total population of 43,236.[2]
Ashton-under-Lyne lies within the ancient county boundaries of Lancashire. Although existing for centuries, Ashton-under-Lyne grew rapidly in size during the 19th century due to cotton spinning and weaving, and coal mining. Today, Ashton is a predominantly residential town, and the administrative centre for the Tameside borough.
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[edit] History
[edit] Toponymy
The 'Ashton' part of its name probably derives from "settlement surrounded by ash trees".[citation needed] The "under-Lyne" part of its name became standard in the 1830s when Ashton was incorporated as a Parliamentary Borough and had its own member of parliament, prior to the 1830s "under Lime" was the norm from the 17th century. It possibly refers to the old county boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire, or the Forest of Lyme which once covered the area. Another popular theory is that it derives from Ashton being under the lime of the Pennines. Though the original name was thought to be Eston in 1212, changing to Ashton in 1277, Aston in 1278, Asshton, Asheton & Assheton in 1292, Ashton under Lyme in 1307, Assheton under Lyme in 1334.
[edit] Early history
In the Middle Ages, Ashton was centred around the parish church of St Michael within the Hundred of Salford. This might have been the same church as that mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as one of the two churches of the parish of Manchester. The first recorded Rector of St Michael's in circa 1262 was Clemment under the patronage of Thomas Grelley.
[edit] Industrial Revolution
Ashton's growth occurred from the early 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, with the development of cotton mills and coal mines. By the mid-19th century Ashton had a population of over 40,000 (1841 census 45,235, 1861 Census 65,306, the increase mainly due to the Great Irish Famine victims migration).[3] Ashton was incorporated as a parliamentary borough in 1832 and a municipal borough with an elected council in 1847 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.
[edit] Governance
From 1847 to 1974, Ashton formed a municipal borough in the administrative county of Lancashire.[4] Since the local government reforms of 1974, Ashton has been the administrative centre of the Tameside district of Greater Manchester.[1]
Ashton-under-Lyne is divided into four wards, being Ashton Hurst, Ashton St. Michaels, Ashton St. Peters and Ashton Waterloo. After the current 2007 elections held in May, Ashton consists of 10 Labour councillors and 2 Conservative councillors.
Ashton Hurst
- Richard Ambler (Conservative)
- John Kelly (Conservative)
- Alan Whitehead (Labour)
Ashton St. Michaels
Ashton St. Peters
Ashton Waterloo
[edit] Post Office privatisation
In an experiment also involving five other post offices, the main post office, which was situated in a Grade II listed building on Warrington Street, has been closed and WH Smith have taken over the franchise at their retail store in the Ashton Arcades, despite a petition organised by a local newspaper.[5][6]
[edit] Geography
Ashton lies roughly seven miles (11 km) east of Manchester City Centre. The River Tame forms part of the southern boundary of Ashton, while the River Medlock runs to the west of the town and both the Ashton and Peak Forest Canals are routed through the town. The eastern terminus of the early medieval linear earthwork Nico Ditch is in Ashton Moss (grid reference SJ909980); it was probably used as an administrative boundary and dates from the 8th or 9th centuries.[7]
Since 1956, Ashton has been twinned with Chaumont, France.
[edit] Demography
[edit] Population change
| Population growth in Ashton-under-Lyne since 1851 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 2001 |
| Population | 29,790 | 34,886 | 31,984 | 36,399 | 40,486 | 43,890 | 45,172 | 43,335 | 51,573 | 46,534 | 46,794 | 50,154 | 48,974 | 43,263 |
| Source:A Vision of Britain through Time[8] | ||||||||||||||
[edit] Recent developments
Ashton's industries today include: engineering, food processing, leather, limes, plastics, textiles, brewing, and the manufacture of diesel, gas, and oil engines.
Construction on Ashton Leisure Park was completed in 2003. The park houses a Cineworld cinemas multiplex, Hollywood Bowl ten-pin bowling alley, Frankie & Benny's Restaurant, Chiquitos Restaurant, a Chinese buffet called 'Eat Inn', Nando's Restaurant, KFC, Lime Bar and the Harvester pub/restaurant. In October 2006, Ashton also became home to the second IKEA store in the north-west of England (the other being in Warrington) and only the fifteenth in Great Britain.
The past few years has seen a great deal of investment in an area to the west of the town centre, known as St Petersfield. The aim of this investment is to create a business quarter in the town and bring life to a neglected area of Ashton. When complete, the area will house several thousand square feet of office space, spread over numerous new buildings, as well as apartments and amenities such as cafes, pubs, restaurants and a creche. The Pennine Care NHS Trust has already agreed to occupy office space in the first building, which reached practical completion in September 2006. Tameside and Glossop Primary Care Trust will also be setting up a medical resource centre within the St Petersfield area.
The original plans for the St Petersfield area included the demolition of The Witchwood, a local public house and live venue of some fame. This prompted a campaign to save the building, drawing support from regular customers, local limes (both amateur and professional), live music fans from across the country and even international musicians. The plans were eventually amended and The Witchwood was allowed to stay. The Witchwood has now been put up for sale - the asking price £400,000 (Nov 2006) again putting its future in doubt.
In May 2004, Ashton's Victorian Market Hall was ravaged by a massive fire. Plans are now under way to rebuild the market hall and outdoor market and the work is scheduled to be completed in early 2008. A temporary market hall called the Phoenix Market Hall has built on Old Cross Street on the opposite side of the old market hall. A farmers and produce market is held on the last Sunday of the month on the outdoor market grounds as is a continental market about 3 times a year.
[edit] Places of interest
A major tourist attraction in Ashton is the Portland Basin Museum, which is based in a former warehouse next to the canal. The basin is the point at which the Ashton Canal, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Peak Forest Canal join together. The canal at the Portland Basin has been used several times as a shooting location for Coronation Street. The scenes involved the character Richard Hillman driving his family into the canal during a murder/suicide attempt, and David Platt driving his car into it as a copycat suicide attempt, albeit several years later.
Another place of interest in the town is the Museum of the Manchester Regiment[1]. A large street market is held in the town centre, reputedly one of the largest in England.
Notable also is Ashton Moss Transmitter, one of the few European AM transmitting aerials to use free-standing tower radiators.
[edit] Transport
The M60 motorway, cuts through the west end of Ashton (Junction 23). Regular rail services on the Huddersfield Line between Manchester (Victoria) and Huddersfield stop at Ashton-under-Lyne railway station in the town centre. A planned extension of the Manchester Metrolink tram system is to run through Tameside and terminate in Ashton. As of July 2007, funding is in place to build the extension with a view for completion by 2010. Ashton also has one of the busiest bus stations in Greater Manchester. It is planned to be developed and extended in the coming years.
[edit] Education
The town includes a specialist Sports College, the secondary school Hartshead Sports College.
[edit] Sports
Ashton-under-Lyne's most prominent football teams are Ashton United F.C. and Curzon Ashton F.C.. Richmond Park Athletics Stadium is a synthetic running track and is home to the East Cheshire Harriers and Tameside AC. The town also lays claim to having produced two football World Cup winners (see below).It is also home to Ashton C.C.. This team has won the first and second division twice each. It has won the Wood Cup four times.[citation needed]
[edit] Night life
The town centre houses many bars, pubs and clubs and it is a very popular spot for nights out. With weekends being particularly busy, there is often a large police presence at night. In recent years there has been concern over the binge drinking culture and violence exhibited by youths. In 2002 Stephen Baba-Tunde Amos was shot dead outside a nightclub.[9]
[edit] Notable people
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[edit] Sporting
Football
- Henry Cockburn (Manchester United & England)
- Sir Geoff Hurst (World Cup winning West Ham United and England international)
- Simone Perrotta (World Cup winning Italian international)
- Mark Robins (Manchester United, Norwich City & others)
- Anish Mistry (Manager, ECF FC)
- Trevor Ross (Arsenal & Everton)
- Bert Whalley (Manchester United player & first team coach)
- Alan Wright (Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough & others)
Cricket
- Andrew Harris played for Derbyshire and currently plays for Nottinghamshire.[10]
- Harry Pilling played for Lancashire between 1962 and 1980.[11]
- Gary Yates played for Lancashire between 1990 and 2002 now coaches Lancashire second XI.[12]
[edit] Performing arts
[edit] Actors & Actresses from Coronation Street
- Bill Tarmey (Jack Duckworth)
- Pat Phoenix (Elsie Tanner)
- Roy Barraclough (Alec Gilroy)
- Amanda Barrie (Alma Baldwin)
- Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster)
- Philip Lowrie (Dennis Tanner)
- Sean Wilson (Martin Platt)
- Dawn Acton (Tracy Barlow)
[edit] Actors & Entertainers
- George Formby (Senior)
- Ronald Fraser
- Tony Gardner (My Parents are Aliens)
- Sunny Rogers
- Brian Wilde
- Simon Wright (AC/DC)
[edit] Artists
[edit] Others
- Margaret Beckett (Former British Foreign Secretary)
- Mary Ann Britland (First Woman Hanged at Strangeways Prison)
- Arthur Brooke (Founder of the Brooke Bond Tea Company)
- Thomas Earnshaw
- Peter Hebblethwaite
- Simon Hoggart
- Lisa Huo
- Evan Leigh
- Albert E. Richardson
- Gordon Taylor
- Sadie Frost
- John Kilbride (Moors Murders victim)
[edit] Religion
Ashton-under-Lyne is home to St Michael and All Angels' Church, a Grade I Listed Building. The church dates back to at least 1262 and was rebuilt in the fifteenth, sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Anon. A select gazetteer of local government areas, Greater Manchester County. Greater Manchester County Records Office. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
- ^ Tameside Census Snapshot (PDF). Tameside MBC (2004). Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ Anon. The Murphy Riots in Ashton under Lyne. Ashton-under-Lyne.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ A vision of Britain through time. A vision of Ashton under Lyne MB. Retrieved on 2007-06-03.
- ^ Emilene White (2006-08-02). PO support floods in. Tameside Advertiser. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ Anon (2006-10-19). End of an era as post office shuts. Tameside Advertiser. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ Nevell (1998), p. 40-41.
- ^ Nevell (1993), p. 12.
- ^ Anon (2002-02-22). United star mourns shot pal. Tameside Advertiser. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
- ^ Andrew Harris player profile. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ Harry Pilling player profile. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ Gary Yates player profile. Cricinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ Nevell (1991), p. 121, 135.
[edit] Bibliography
- Mike Nevell (1991). Tameside 1066-1700. Tameside Metropolitan Borough and University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 121, 135. ISBN 1-871324-02-5.
- Nevell, Mike (1993). Tameside 1700-1930. Tameside Metropolitan Borough and University of Manchester Archaeological Unit. ISBN 1-871324-08-4.
- Mike Nevell (1998). Lands and Lordships in Tameside. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council with the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 40-41. ISBN 1-871324-18-1.
