| Failsworth | |
|---|---|
 Failsworth Pole | |
  Failsworth Location withinGreater Manchester | |
| Population | 20,680 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SD895015 |
| • London | 163 mi (262 km)SSE |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M35 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
Failsworth (/ˈfeɪlzwɜːθ/) is a town in theMetropolitan Borough of Oldham,Greater Manchester, England,[1][2][3] 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east ofManchester and 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west ofOldham. TheM60 ring-road motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the2011 census was 20,680.[4][5] Historically inLancashire, Failsworth until the 19th century was a farmingtownship linked ecclesiastically with Manchester.[6] Inhabitants supplemented their farming income with domestichand-loom weaving. The humid climate and abundant labour and coal led to weaving of textiles as aLancashire Mill Town with redbrickcotton mills. A current landmark is the Failsworth Pole.Daisy Nook is acountry park on the southern edge.
Failsworth derives from theOld Englishfegels andworth, probably meaning an "enclosure with a special kind of fence".[7]
Early settlement rested on a road that runs today between Manchester and Yorkshire. This Roman secondary road formed part of a network from Manchester up north, probably toTadcaster nearYork.[8]: 5 The section that ran through Failsworth is still known as Roman Road. It was built above marshland and laid on brushwood with a hard surface. Roman Road has also been known as "Street", a Saxon term meaning "metalled road", indicating that it was also used that later period.[8]: 5
Early sources suggest the area was occupied in Saxon times.[8]: 5 The small hamlet of scattered dwellings made of rough local stone, mud and clay with thatched roofs, may have been stood on ground higher than the surrounding marshland. Daily life would have centred on animal husbandry and agriculture.[8]: 5
Unmentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086, Failsworth appears in a record of 1212 asFayleswrthe, a settlement was documented as athegnage estate or manor comprising fouroxgangs of land. Two oxgangs at an annual rate of 4shillings were payable by the tenant, Gilbert de Notton, to Adam de Prestwich, who in turn paid tax toKing John.[7][9] The other two oxgangs were held by the Lord of Manchester as part of hisfee simple. TheByron family came to acquire the whole township in the mid-13th century. Apart from a small estate held byCockersand Abbey, Failsworth passed to the Chetham family and was then sold on to smaller holders.[9]
By 1663, 50 households were registered.[8]: 6 Life centred on natural resources, agriculture and stock farming, with many were employed as labourers to work the land, though tradesmen such as a tailor, a felt maker, a shoemaker, a joiner and a weaver supported them. The earliest record of a place of worship is Dob Lane Chapel, dating from 1698.[8]: 6
In 1774, the 242 Failsworth households contained some 1.400 inhabitants,[8]: 6 of whom a high proportion were involved in cloth manufacture. Development of the English textile trade was backed by important legislation between 1500 and 1760: a number of acts were passed to encourage it by the compulsory growing of flax. Grants were made to flax growers and duties levied on foreign imports, though Manchester's extensive linen trade used yarn imported from Holland and Ireland.[8]: 6
In 1914 the regular Daisy Nook Easter Fair ceased with the outbreak of theFirst World War, but resumed in 1920. On 8 June 2007, a 1946 work byL. S. Lowry entitled "Good Friday, Daisy Nook" sold for £3,772,000, then the highest bid ever paid for one of his paintings.[10]
Lying within thehistoric county boundaries ofLancashire since the early 12th century, medieval Failsworth formed atownship in theparish of Manchester andhundred of Salford.[3]
After thePoor Law Amendment Act 1834, Failsworth joined the ManchesterPoor Law Union, asocial security unit.[3] Its first local authority was alocal board of health set up in 1863 and responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation.[3] The board constructedFailsworth Town Hall in 1880.[12] After theLocal Government Act 1894, the area becameFailsworth Urban District within theadministrative county of Lancashire.[3] In 1933 came a small exchange of land with neighbouring Manchester; in 1954, parts ofLimehurst Rural District were added to Failsworth Urban District.[3] Under theLocal Government Act 1972, Failsworth Urban District was abolished. Since 1 April 1974 it has formed anunparished area of theMetropolitan Borough of Oldham, a local government district within themetropolitan county ofGreater Manchester.[3][13] Failsworth contains two of the twenty wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham; Failsworth East and Failsworth West. TheFailsworth Independent Party is active in the area and holds two of the seats onOldham Council.
Failsworth lies inManchester Central (UK Parliament constituency), represented in theHouse of Commons byLucy Powell MP of the Labour Party.
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At53°30′37″N2°9′27″W / 53.51028°N 2.15750°W /53.51028; -2.15750 (53.5102°, −2.1575°) Failsworth lies 163 miles (262 km) north-north-west of London, as the southern tip of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, sharing borders withManchester (north to south-west) andTameside (south to east). It is traversed by theA62 road between Manchester and Oldham, by the former rail line of theOldham Loop and by theRochdale Canal, across its north-west corner. TheM60 motorway passes through. For theOffice for National Statistics, Failsworth counts as part of theGreater Manchester Urban Area.[14]
The land in Failsworth slopes gently from east to west away from thePennines and from brooks that bound it on the north-west (Moston Brook) and south-east (Lord's Brook). Failsworth has acountry park,Daisy Nook, on undulating wooded land on its eastern border largely belonging to theNational Trust. It is suited to walking, horse riding, fishing and other pursuits.
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 14,152 | 15,998 | 16,973 | 15,726 | 17,505 | 18,032 | 19,819 | 20,951 | 20,160 | 20,007 |
| Source:A Vision of Britain through Time[15][16][17] | ||||||||||
Failsworth grew as a mill town around thehat-making industry, which continues in the town. This began as acottage industry before the firm of Failsworth Hats was set up in 1903 to manufacture silk hats. For a time the company had a factory near the former Failsworth Council offices and it remains in the area to this day.[18] Other activities include electrical goods manufacture (such asRussell Hobbs) bySpectrum Brands, formerlyPifco Ltd), and plastic production and distribution by Hubron Ltd.
In July 2007, theTesco supermarket chain opened a 24-hour Extra branch superstore on the banks of the wharf. The move was opposed by shop-owners, who claimed they would have lost customers and may have been forced to close.[19][20][21][22] Tesco's arrival had been expected to be a catalyst bringing other stores, bars and restaurants to Failsworth.[23] The only other large store is a branch ofMorrisons housed in a building constructed on the demolished site of Marlborough No. 2 Mill.
A Failsworth Pole in Oldham Road was first raised in 1793 as a "political pole", although a local historian suggests there were others before and thatmaypoles probably stood there for centuries. It now stands on a site from which an earlier one blew down in 1950.
After a major restoration of the Pole, clock tower and gardens in 2006, a bronze statue ofBenjamin Brierley was placed in the gardens.[24]
At the road junction of the A62 with Ashton Road West stands acenotaph built in 1923 for over 200 Failsworth men who were killed in theFirst World War. Attendances at the cenotaph onRemembrance Sunday remain high at about 2,000.[25] The annual parade is led by202 Field Squadron, RE (TA),[26] which is based in Failsworth. In June 2007 the war memorial was rededicated after a £136,000 makeover and opened by Colonel Sir John B. Timmins.
The localcomprehensive school isCo-op Academy Failsworth, which moved to a new building in 2008 from two buildings known as Upper School and Lower School. It caters for students aged between 11 and 16. The £28-million project brought the town's secondary schooling to come under one roof. It has specialistsports college status.[27][needs update]
| School | Type/Status | Headteacher | OfSTED | Location | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Co-op Academy Failsworth | Secondary School | Phillip Quirk | 105735 | 53°30′27″N2°08′48″W / 53.507620°N 2.146614°W /53.507620; -2.146614 | [28] |
| Woodhouses VA Primary School | Primary School | Helen Woodward | 105688[permanent dead link] | 53°30′16″N2°08′03″W / 53.504482°N 2.134096°W /53.504482; -2.134096 | [29] |
| South Failsworth Community Primary School | Primary School | Vicki Foy | 105656[permanent dead link] | 53°29′57″N2°09′32″W / 53.499164°N 2.158921°W /53.499164; -2.158921 | [30] |
| Higher Failsworth Primary School | Primary School | Sam Forster | 134784[permanent dead link] | 53°30′51″N2°08′55″W / 53.514258°N 2.148734°W /53.514258; -2.148734 | [31] |
| St John's CE Primary School | Primary School | Louise Bonter | 146670 | 53°30′32″N2°09′03″W / 53.508982°N 2.150887°W /53.508982; -2.150887 | [32] |
| St Mary's RC Primary School | Primary School | Mary Garvey | 105727 | 53°30′17″N2°09′36″W / 53.504745°N 2.159996°W /53.504745; -2.159996 | [33] |
| Mather Street Primary School | Primary School | Martine Buckley | 105649[permanent dead link] | 53°30′35″N2°10′06″W / 53.509585°N 2.168270°W /53.509585; -2.168270 | [34] |
| Propps Hall Junior Infant and Nursery School | Primary School | Gillian Kay | 105663 | ||
| Spring Brook Academy (Upper School) | Special School | Sarah Dunsdon | 143472 | ||
| SMS Changing Lives School | Independent Special School | Hecabe DuFraisse | 146646 |
Failsworth's main thoroughfare is Oldham Road (A62) between Manchester and Oldham. TheM60 is anring-road motorway circling Greater Manchester, with access via Junction 22. Its completion around 1995–2000 saw the installation of a graded junction and other notable changes to the A62. It led to several rows of buildings around the junction being demolished.
There are frequent buses through Failsworth betweenManchester city centre and Oldham onStagecoach Manchester's 83Bee Network service. There is also a frequent service to Manchester city centre and toSaddleworth via Oldham, with service 84. Other bus destinations from Failsworth areAshton-under-Lyne,Chadderton, Huddersfield,Rochdale,Royton, Saddleworth,Shaw & Crompton andTrafford Centre.
Failsworth tram stop in Hardman Lane is on theOldham & Rochdale line of theManchester Metrolink. At peak times, trams run every 6 minutes south towardsEast Didsbury via central Manchester and north toShaw & Crompton orRochdale via Oldham. At off-peak times, trams run every 12 minutes to East Didsbury and Rochdale.[46] Previously this was an unstaffed rail station on theOldham Loop line serviced byNorthern Rail services toManchester Victoria or Rochdale via Oldham.[47] It closed in October 2009 under Phase 3a of Metrolink extension and re-opened as a tram stop in 2012.[48]
Failsworth Urban District wastwinned withLandsberg am Lech inBavaria, Germany from 1974 to 2008.[49]
. Retrieved22 September 2009.
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Media related toFailsworth at Wikimedia Commons| National | |
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