Westwood, Greater Manchester

Westwood

Featherstall Road South, the main thoroughfare of Westwood
Westwood
 Westwood shown within Greater Manchester
OS grid referenceSD915055
Metropolitan boroughOldham
Metropolitan county Greater Manchester
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town OLDHAM
Postcode district OL9
Dialling code 0161
Police Greater Manchester
Fire Greater Manchester
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
UK ParliamentOldham West and Royton
List of places
UK
England
Greater Manchester

Coordinates: 53°32′46″N 2°07′39″W / 53.5462°N 2.1275°W

Westwood is an urban area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside known as North Moor in the western part of Oldham, close to its boundary with Royton and Chadderton. Westwood, which has no formal boundary or extent, is bisected by the A6048 road.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Westwood was formerly an electoral ward of the County Borough of Oldham, but is now split between the wards of Coldhurst and Werneth, which lie to the north and south respectively. Apart from its industrial and commercial units, Westwood's built environment is "almost entirely" composed of Victorian era terraces, with some small pockets of housing association and council house properties.[1]

Westwood is the home of 60% of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham’s Bangladeshi community.[2] This amounts to the second largest concentration of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom, after Banglatown in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.[2][3] Most of these have immigrated from the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. Westwood features a replica of the Shaheed Minar national monument, which commemorates those killed in the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations in 1952.[3][4]

In the 1980s, unemployment in Westwood experienced a "massive increase", significantly higher than the "modest increase" seen in Oldham as a whole. Ethnicity was attributed as a factor.[5]

Westwood Moravian Church congregation was founded in 1865. A church building for the congregation dating from 1869 still stands in the locality. The congregation now worships in Royton.

Winston Churchill frequented Westwood's Conservative club. Churchull orated at the club during his period as Member of Parliament for Oldham.[6]

Westwood Primary is a primary school located in the area.[7]

Westwood Metrolink station opened in 2012 in Phase 3b of the Manchester Metrolink extension.[8] It was funded by the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund.[9]

The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority operate a transfer loading station at Westwood Industrial Estate.[10] Anchor Retail Park occupies Anchor Mill, a former cotton mill.[11]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Hills 1996, p. 297.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Structure / Breakdown". compasslearningcentre.org. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dr David Garbin (17 June 2005). "Bangladeshi Diaspora in the UK : Some observations on socio-culturaldynamics, religious trends and transnational politics" (PDF). University of Surry. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  4. ↑ "Shaheed Minar National Monument". bangladesh.com. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  5. ↑ Pacione 1997, p. 194.
  6. ↑ James 1974, p. 97.
  7. ↑ "Westwood Primary School". westwood.oldham.sch.uk. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  8. ↑ Light Rail Transit Association (2007-11-24). "Manchester to Oldham and Rochdale". lrta.org ork. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  9. ↑ Marsden, Carl (2008-07-30). "It's in your hands". oldhamadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  10. ↑ Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. "Operational Sites". gmwaste.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  11. ↑ "Anchor Retail Park". easternconcept.com. Retrieved 2008-11-25.

Bibliography

Neighbouring localities.
Busk Boundary Park Coldhurst
Chadderton Town Centre Oldham Town Centre
   Westwood  
Cowhill Werneth Coppice