Northenden
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (November 2006) |
| Northenden | |
  Northenden shown within Greater Manchester |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan borough | City of Manchester |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M22 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Northenden is an area within the district of Wythenshawe in the City of Manchester, in North West England.
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[edit] Geography and administration
Northenden is located in the south end of the city of Manchester, seven miles from the city centre, and literally on the south bank of the River Mersey. It was incorporated into the City of Manchester in 1931 along with Baguley and Northern Etchells, all of which were previously in the county of Cheshire.
Northenden is now situated within a small triangle between two motorways (the M56 and M60) and a main dual carriageway (the Princess Parkway). Manchester Airport is approximately 4 miles away southwards by road. Regeneration and expansion of the Sharston Industrial Estate (next to Northenden to the south) has attracted many new companies and employment.
[edit] History
Northenden has a long history, having been mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was then a small farming community with a manor house and woodland. The name means "northern dale or valley", presumably a reference to its close proximity to the River Mersey.[1]
There was a weir on the Mersey there in the 14th century (where Mill Lane stands now) and a mill was set up to grind corn. The mill belonged to the Tatton family of Wythenshawe Hall, but was demolished in the 1960s.
As Northenden is on a major (and very old) crossing of the Mersey on the Salt Road from Cheshire to Manchester, it prospered in medieval times. The ford was an important passageway north out of and into Manchester (now Ford Lane), as there was no bridge over the Mersey between Sale and Stockport, until in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army built a troop-bridge out of big poplar tree trunks where the B5095 (Manchester Road, Didsbury) now crosses the Mersey, south of Didsbury, in his abortive attempt to seize the crown of England. The Northenden ford was unusual because its northern and southern ends were not opposite each other, but people using the ford had to wade approximately 500 feet along the riverbed. The Simon's Bridge was built at the ford in 1901 to help access to Poor's Field, and the rent from this field was used by the church to buy blankets and clothes for the needy.
Distance from Manchester enabled Northenden to avoid the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The nearest it came to industrialisation was a cottage industry in flax spinning. In the 1980s the area became part of the Mersey Valley Park, and the banks of the river form part of the Mersey Valley Trail.
Northenden is often referred to as a village by the locals, but was engulfed in suburban housing as the very large Wythenshawe housing estate was built. Northenden rapidly developed a shopping centre along Palatine Road to service the new neighbourhood with shops, schools, large cinema (closed 1974), hotels, churches, small businesses, and service industries. Eventually, Wythenshawe got its own shopping and commercial centre, though Northenden still remains a busy locality.
[edit] Places of interest
In Northenden is the largest Jehovah's Witness Assembly hall in the local area: the area also has places of worship for Methodists, the Church of England, Roman Catholics, Mormons and Quakers. The Northenden Social Club is unique in that rather than build a new social club after World War II the townsfolk converted the village air-raid shelter into a new social club; in front of the club is the Northenden War Memorial. The area is maintained by Manchester City Council and members of the Northenden Civic Society.
[edit] References
- ^ Northenden. Districts and Suburbs of Manchester. Manchester UK. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
[edit] External links
- Derick Deakin. History of the Estate. Wythit. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
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