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. Historically part of Lancashire, Chadderton's early history is marked by its status as a manorial township, with its own lords, who included the Asshetons, Chethams, Radclyffes and Traffords. Chadderton in the Middle Ages was chiefly distinguished by its two mansions, Foxdenton Hall and Chadderton Hall, and by the prestigious families who occupied them. Farming was the main industry of the area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system. Chadderton's urbanisation and expansion coincided largely with developments in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era. A late-19th century factory-building boom transformed Chadderton from a rural township into a major mill town and the second most populous urban district in the United Kingdom. More than 50 cotton mills had been built in Chadderton by 1914. Although Chadderton's industries declined in the mid-20th century, the town continued to grow as a result of suburbanisation and urban renewal. The legacy of the town's industrial past remains visible in its landscape of red-brick cotton mills, now used as warehouses or distribution centres. Some of these are listed buildings because of their architectural, historical and cultural significance. The name Chadderton derives from Caderton, which is believed to be a combination of the Brythonic word Cader or Cater (modern Caer), indicating a fortified place amongst the hills, or the cadeir, "chair, throne", and the Old English suffix -ton meaning a settlement. The University of Nottingham's Institute for Name-Studies has offered a similar suggestion, that the name Chadderton means "farm or settlement at the hill called Cadeir". This name is believed to date from the 7th century, when Angles colonised the region following the Battle of Chester.