Royton 1179527 225979943 2008-07-16T08:51:27Z VolkovBot 3035831 robot Adding: [[pl:Royton]] {{infobox UK place| |country = England |latitude= 53.566 |longitude= -2.121 |official_name= Royton |population= 20,961 ([[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]]) |population_density= |metropolitan_borough= [[Metropolitan Borough of Oldham|Oldham]] |metropolitan_county= [[Greater Manchester]] |region= North West England |constituency_westminster= [[Oldham West and Royton (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham West and Royton]] |post_town= OLDHAM |postcode_district = OL2 |postcode_area= OL |dial_code= 0161, 01706 |os_grid_reference= SD919078 |london_distance= {{convert|165|mi|km|abbr=on}} [[Boxing the compass|SSE]] |static_image=[[Image:Royton Town Hall 1.jpg|240px]] |static_image_caption=<small>Royton Town Hall</small> }} '''Royton''' (pop. 21,000) is a town within the [[Metropolitan Borough of Oldham]], in [[Greater Manchester]], [[England]].<ref name="GM Gazetteer">{{cite web |url=http://www.gmcro.co.uk/guides/gazette/gazframe.htm |title=A select gazetteer of local government areas, Greater Manchester County|author=Anon|publisher=[[Greater Manchester County Records Office]]|accessdate=2008-06-17|date=[[2003]]-[[07-31]]}}</ref> It lies by the source of the [[River Irk]], on undulating land at the foothills of the [[Pennines]], {{convert|1.7|mi|km|1|lk=on}} north-northwest of [[Oldham]], {{convert|3.2|mi|km|1}} south-southeast of [[Rochdale]] and {{convert|7.6|mi|km|1}} northeast of the city of [[Manchester]]. [[Historic counties of England|Historically]] a part of [[Lancashire]], in 1780 Royton was a small [[Township (England)|township]] which "contained only a few straggling and mean-built cottages".<ref name="County of Lanc"/> However, the introduction of [[textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution]] facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, giving rise to Royton as a [[mill town]], marked architecturally by several large redbrick cotton mills. Royton has the reputed distinction of being the world's first town where a powered [[cotton mill]] was built; at Thorp in 1764.<ref>[http://www.oldham.gov.uk/working/economic_profile/innovation_technology.htm Oldham's Economic Profile - Innovation and Technology], www.oldham.gov.uk. URL accessed October 27, 2006.</ref><ref name="Spin">{{cite web|url=http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/a_display.php?irn=239&QueryPage=&lang=|title= Oldham Towns; Royton|publisher=spinningtheweb.org.uk|author=[[Manchester City Council]]|accessdate=2007-01-05}}</ref> It was also the town where the [[United Kingdom]]'s last mill ''Elk'' hailed as the most modern in the world was built in 1926, but demolished in 1999.<ref>[http://www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk/neighbourhood/royton/ Royton and Crompton], www.rochdaleobserver.co.uk. URL accessed October 27, 2006.</ref> ==History== {{Expand-section|date=June 2008}} Evidence of [[Stone Age]] dwellers exists, as does evidence of Romans and later [[Norsemen]], some of whom settled at Thorp.<ref>[http://www.british-publishing.com/Pages/OldhamOG/districts.html Oldham Borough Official Guide - Royton], British-publishing.com. URL accessed January 5, 2007.</ref> It has been suggested that the [[Rye]] crop gave the locality its name;<ref>{{cite web | author = University of Nottingham's Institute for Name-Studies | authorlink = University of Nottingham | title = Royton | publisher = nottingham.ac.uk | date = | url = http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/epncurrent/php/detailpop.php?placeno=12942 | accessdate = 2008-01-08}}</ref> 'Roy-' being derived from Rye, and the [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] suffix '[[List of generic forms in British place names|-ton]]' added to imply "rye farm" or "rye settlement". The first written record of the name Ryeton (or Ryton) was in a survey of 1212,<ref name="Spin"/> although the name is believed to date from the 7th century as a result of [[Angles|Anglian]] colonialisation which followed the [[Battle of Chester]] in around the year 616.<ref name="Ballard">{{cite book | last=Ballard |first=Elsie |title=A Chronicle of Crompton |publisher=Burnage Press Limited| location= [[Royton]] |date= 1986 |origyear=1967 |isbn= 5-00-096678-3 |edition= 2nd }}</ref> [[Image:Tandle Hill, Royton.jpg|thumb|left|Rehersals by [[Radicalism (historical)|Radicals]] at Royton's [[Tandle Hill]] (pictured) led to increased tentions surrounding the ill-fated political demostration now known as the [[Peterloo Massacre]].]] Nationally, the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in 1815 had resulted in periods of [[famine]] and [[unemployment|chronic unemployment]], exacerbated by the introduction of the first of the [[Corn Laws]]. By the beginning of 1819 the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the lack of [[suffrage]] in [[northern England]], had enhanced the appeal of [[Radicalism (historical)|political Radicalism]].<ref>Frangopulo (1977), p.&nbsp;30.</ref> The Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, began to organised a mass public demonstration in [[Manchester]] to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. A spy reported that "seven hundred men drilled at [[Tandle Hill]] as well as any army regiment would";<ref>McPhillips (1997), pp.&nbsp;22&ndash;23.</ref> a few days later, a royal proclamation forbidding the practice of drilling was posted in Manchester on 3 August.<ref>Reid (1989), p.&nbsp;125.</ref> On [[16 August]] [[1819]], Royton (like its neighbours) sent an organised contingent of its townsfolk to [[Manchester]] to join the mass political demonstration now known as the [[Peterloo Massacre]] (owing to the 15 deaths and 400–700 injuries that followed).<ref>Marlow (1969), p.&nbsp;95.</ref> Royton's contingent was was of particular note, in that it sent a sizable female section to the demostration.<ref>Marlow (1969), p.&nbsp;118.</ref> Royton was a significant element of the local cotton spinning industry with 30 mills in production at its zenith.<ref>[http://www.british-publishing.com/Pages/OldhamOG/districts.html Oldham Borough Official Guide - Royton], British-publishing.com. URL accessed January 5, 2007.</ref> By 1901, cotton manufacture still remained Royton's chief industry.<ref>[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Royton Royton], www.1911encyclopedia.org. URL accessed January 5, 2007.</ref> ==Governance== [[Image:Royton Town Hall.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Royton Town Hall]] Lying within the [[Historic counties of England|ancient county boundaries]] of [[Lancashire]] since [[History of Lancashire|a very early time]], Royton formed a [[township (England)|township]] within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of [[Prestwich-cum-Oldham]], in the [[Salford (hundred)|hundred of Salford]].<ref name= "County of Lanc"/> Following the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834]], Royton formed part of the Oldham poor law Union.<ref name="GM Gazetteer"/> In 1863 Royton [[Local board of health|Local Board of Health]] was formed to ensure high or higher standards of [[sanitation]] in the township.<ref name="GM Gazetteer"/> In 1871 Royton was noted as a large village-[[chapelry]], and a sub-district of the Oldham [[registration district]].<ref>Wilson J. M., (1870-72), ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales''.</ref> In 1879 part of the neighbouring township of [[Thornham, Greater Manchester|Thornham]] included within the area of the Local Board. Following the [[Local Government Act 1894]], the area of the Local Board became the [[Royton Urban District]], local government district within the [[Administrative counties of England|administrative county]] of Lancashire.<ref name="GM Gazetteer"/> In 1933, a part of the [[Municipal Borough of Middleton]] was added to Royton Urban District.<ref name="GM Gazetteer"/> The urban district council was based at Royton Town Hall. Under the [[Local Government Act 1972]], the town's [[Urban District]] status was abolished, and Royton has, since [[1 April]] [[1974]], formed part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Oldham]], within [[Greater Manchester]].<ref name="GM Gazetteer"/><ref>HMSO. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70.</ref> Since From 1832 until 1950, the town lay within the parliamentary constituency of [[Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham]], which was represented in the House of Commons by [[Winston Churchill]] between 1900 and 1906.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=710|title=Churchill and...Politics; All the Elections Churchill Ever Contested|author=The Churchill Centre|publisher=winstonchurchill.org|date=|accessdate=2007-07-07}}</ref> Today, Royton forms part of the parliamentary constituency of [[Oldham West and Royton (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham West and Royton]], and is represented in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] by [[Michael Meacher]], a member of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]. Royton has two of the twenty wards of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Oldham]]: Royton North and Royton South.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} ==Geography== {{further|[[Geography of Greater Manchester]]}} At {{coor dms|53|33|57|N|2|7|16|W|city}} (53.566°, -2.121°) and {{convert|165|mi|km|0}} north-northwest of [[London]], Royton lies at the foothills of the [[Pennines]]. The larger towns of [[Rochdale]] and [[Oldham]] lie to the north and south respectively. For purposes of the [[Office for National Statistics]], Shaw and Crompton forms part of the [[Greater Manchester Urban Area]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/census2001/ks_urban_north_part_5.pdf|format=PDF| title=Census 2001:Key Statistics for urban areas in the North; Map 3|author=[[Office for National Statistics]]|publisher=statistics.gov.uk|accessdate=2007-07-09|date=2001}}</ref> with [[Manchester City Centre]] itself {{convert|7.6|mi|km|1}} southwest of Royton. Described in [[Samuel Lewis (publisher)|Samuel Lewis]]'s ''A Topographical Dictionary of England'' (1848) as being in "aspect rather wild",<ref name="Top of England">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|title=A Topographical Dictionary of England; 'Roydon-Rudyard'|publisher=Institute of Historical Research|date=1848|pages=707–711|isbn=978-0806315089}}</ref> Royton lies in a valley amongst undulating land by the source of the rivers [[River Irk|Irk]] (to the northeast) and [[River Beal|Beal]] (to the east). The general slope of the land is one that decreases in hight from east to west, reaching a height of {{convert|825|ft|m|0}} at the summit of Oldham Edge, a ridge leading to Oldham.<ref name="County of Lanc">{{cite book |last=Brownbill|first=J|coauthors=William Farrer|title=A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5|publisher=Victoria County History|date=1911|pages=112–115|isbn=978-0712910552}}</ref> The soils of the town are broadly sand with subsoils of clay.<ref name="County of Lanc"/> {| align="right" |+'''Neighbouring towns, villages and places.''' | {{compass-table|place=Royton |N = [[Rochdale]] |NE= [[Shaw and Crompton]] |E = Beal Valley |SE= [[Oldham]] |S = [[Oldham]] |SW= [[Chadderton]] |W = [[Middleton, Greater Manchester|Middleton]] |NW= [[Heywood, Greater Manchester|Heywood]] }} |} Royton's [[built environment]] follows the [[urban structure]] of most [[List of towns in England|towns in England]], consisting of residential dwellings centred around a [[High Street]] in the [[town centre]], which is the local centre of commerce. There is a mixture of low-density [[urban areas]], [[suburb]]s, semi-rural and [[rural]] locations in Royton, but overwhelmingly the [[land use]] in the town is residential. Suburban localities in Royton include [[Thornham, Greater Manchester|Thornham]], Haggate, Holden Fold, Heyside, Thorp, Oozewood, Salmon Fields, Long Sight (or Longsight), Royley, Higginshaw and Stott Field.<ref name="County of Lanc"/> ==Economy== Since [[deindustrialisation]], Royton's economic activity has been focused around a {{convert|22|acre|adj=on}} [[business park]] at Salmon Fields which includes distribution companies such as [[3663]] and Holroyd Meek, manufacturing firms including bed manufacturers [[Slumberland]], and vehicle assembly at [[Seddon Atkinson]].<ref name="Salmon">{{Citation|last =Anon|title=How Salmon 'sacrilege' became business hub|newspaper=[[Oldham Advertiser]]|pages=37|year=2008|date=[[2008-07-10]]|last=Sykes|first=Lee}}</ref> Formerly an area of "green fields", the Salmon Fields Business Village was proposed in 1983, and developed into a business park in the late 1980s, amid controversy that the estate would ruin a "beautiful area", and cause [[noise pollution]].<ref name="Salmon"/> There are retail parks in the locality. ==Landmarks== ===War memorial=== [[Image:TandleHillMemorial.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Royton War Memorial]] The Royton War Memorial is found at the summit of [[Tandle Hill]], and is dedicated to the men of Royton who gave their lives during the [[First World War]]. It is an obelisk that had a sculpture of winged victory on it. Commissioned by the Royton War Memorial Committee and unveiled on [[October 22]] [[1921]], by the [[Earl of Derby]]. Originally the memorial, which is constructed from [[Portland stone]], bore plaques listing the fallen and a bronze statue of an [[angel]]. The original plaques were stolen in 1969, and replacements were later installed in the grounds of [[St Paul’s Church, Royton]].<ref>[http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/MR/MR-OLD12.htm Royton War Memorial] Public Monument and Sculpture Association - URL accessed December 31, 2006</ref> ===Library=== Royton's [[library]] was donated by [[Andrew Carnegie]] in 1911.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peakdistrictview.com/?page=place&placeid=571|title=Royton|publisher=Peak District View|accessdate=2007-02-28}}</ref> ===Town hall=== Adjacent to the library and undoubtedly the focus of Royton is the [[town hall]], with its clock tower, which is topped by a copper cupola. The tower has an unusual feature in that the clock on the east face is noticeably smaller than the other three. Local legend has it that civic rivalry with neighbouring Shaw and Crompton led to the reduced size of the east face, though topography strongly suggests that people in the more populous areas of Shaw would in any case be unable to see the clock tower. Three inscriptions are to be found on the tower:‘Tempus Fugit’ (time flies), ‘Sic Labitur Aetas’ (so the years pass by) and ‘Finem Respice’ (have regard to the end). ==Education== Royton has two [[secondary school]]s; [[Our Lady's R.C. High School]] and [[Royton and Crompton School]]. Royton also has several [[Primary School|primary schools]]. Including Thorp Primary School, situated on Thorp Estate and S.s. Aidan and Oswalds Primary. ==Religion== {{Expand-section|date=July 2008}} [[Image:Royton Parish Church.jpg|thumb|upright|The Parish Church of St Paul, Royton]] Royton has several places of worship. ==Community facilities== Royton boasts a swimming pool, an [[Royton Cricket Club|amateur cricket club]], which plays in the [[Central Lancashire League]] (winning it on two occasions in 1914 and 1980),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roytoncc.co.uk/records.htm |title=Records |publisher=roytoncc.co.uk |author= |date= |accessdate=2007-05-01 }}</ref> and [[Oldham Athletic A.F.C.|Oldham Athletic Football Club's]] ground lies partly within Royton; [[Boundary Park]] lies at the meeting point of Royton and [[Chadderton]], hence the name. ==Transport== Royton is accessed on the roads, with the [[A671 road]] linking Rochdale and Oldham and the A627(M), just outside the centre of Royton, which links with the [[M62 motorway]] at Junction 20. There are frequent buses running through Royton towards Rochdale and towards Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne on [[First Manchester]]'s 409 service. There is also frequent services running towards Manchester with services 24, 181 and 182 plus the 20 which runs at peak times. Other destinations which can be reached from Royton are Chadderton, Middleton, Shaw and Stalybridge. There is currently no train station in Royton. There used to be a [[royton railway station|train station]] in the town with the line running towards the main [[Oldham Loop Line]] where the line joined up just north at [[Derker railway station|Derker]]. ==Notable people== Local celebrities from the Royton area include glamour model [[Michelle Marsh (model)|Michelle Marsh]], football manager [[Les Chapman]]{{Fact|date=June 2007}}, and the [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] nominated ''[[Oliver!]]'' actor, [[Jack Wild]]. ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|1}} ===Bibliography=== *{{cite book |last=Frangopulo |first=N. J. |date=1977 |title=Tradition in Action: The Historical Evolution of the Greater Manchester County |publisher=EP Publishing, Wakefield |isbn=0-7158-1203-3}} *{{cite book |first=Joyce |last=Marlow |title=The Peterloo Massacre |publisher=Rapp & Whiting |date=1969 |isbn=0-85391-122-3}} *{{cite book |first=K.|last=McPhillips |year=1977|title=Oldham: The Formative Years|publisher=Neil Richardson |isbn=1-85216-119-1 }} *{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Reid |year=1989 |title=The Peterloo Massacre |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |isbn=0-434-62901-4}} ==External links== *[http://www.eroyton.co.uk www.eroyton.co.uk], a community forum for Royton.. *[http://www.royton-online.co.uk/ www.royton-online.co.uk], resource and information site for Royton. *[http://www.zen42299.zen.co.uk/index.htm www.zen42299.zen.co.uk], Royton Local History Society. {{Greater Manchester}} {{DEFAULTSORT:}} [[Category:Towns in Greater Manchester]] [[Category:Geography of Oldham]] [[pl:Royton]]