County Borough of RochdaleRochdale was, from 1856 to 1974, a local government district coterminate with the town of Rochdale in the northwest of England. In January 1856 the inhabitant householders of the Parliamentary Borough of Rochdale, Lancashire, petitioned the Privy Council for the grant of a charter of incorporation under the Municipal Corporations Act constituting the town as a municipal borough. The petition was successful and the charter was granted in September 1856.
County Borough of OldhamOldham was, from 1849 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England coterminous with the town of Oldham. Oldham was anciently a township in the large ecclesiastical parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham. Prior to the 19th century the government of the town was divided between the parish vestry and the county magistrates of Lancashire. In 1828 the Oldham Police Act (7 Geo. IV, cap. 117) established a board of improvement commissioners.
LancashireLancashire (ˈlæŋkəʃər , -ʃɪər ; abbreviated Lancs) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is Blackpool, and the county town is the city of Preston. The county has an area of and a population of 1,490,300. The north and southwest are generally rural, while the centre, southeast, and coast are more densely populated.
Manchester city centreManchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a population of 17,861 at the 2011 census. Manchester city centre evolved from the civilian vicus of the Roman fort of Mamucium, on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. This became the township of Manchester during the Middle Ages, and was the site of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819.
Textile manufacture during the British Industrial RevolutionTextile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines in the United Kingdom. The main drivers of the Industrial Revolution were textile manufacturing, iron founding, steam power, oil drilling, the discovery of electricity and its many industrial applications, the telegraph and many others. Railroads, steamboats, the telegraph and other innovations massively increased worker productivity and raised standards of living by greatly reducing time spent during travel, transportation and communications.
Cotton millA cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven by animal power, most early mills were built in rural areas at fast-flowing rivers and streams using water wheels for power. The development of viable steam engines by Boulton and Watt from 1781 led to the growth of larger, steam-powered mills allowing them to be concentrated in urban mill towns, like Manchester, which with neighbouring Salford had more than 50 mills by 1802.
