Failsworth

Failsworth () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester and south-west of Oldham. The M60 ring-road motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the 2011 census was 20,680. Historically in Lancashire, Failsworth until the 19th century was a farming township linked ecclesiastically with Manchester. Inhabitants supplemented their farming income with domestic hand-loom weaving. The humid climate and abundant labour and coal led to weaving of textiles as a Lancashire Mill Town with redbrick cotton mills. A current landmark is the Failsworth Pole. Daisy Nook is a country park on the southern edge.

Toponymy

Failsworth derives from the Old English and worth, probably meaning an "enclosure with a special kind of fence".

History

thumb|left|[[Failsworth Town Hall]]

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 to Tadcaster near York. 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.

By 1663, 50 households were registered.

Timeline

1212 – First official record of Failsworth in King John's Great Inquest of Service
1212 – North-western portion of land held by the Lord of the Manor of Prestwick After the Local Government Act 1894, the area became Failsworth Urban District within the administrative county of Lancashire. Failsworth contains two of the twenty wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham; Failsworth East and Failsworth West. The Failsworth Independent Party is active in the area and holds two of the seats on Oldham Council.

Failsworth lies in Manchester Central (UK Parliament constituency), represented in the House of Commons by Lucy Powell MP of the Labour Party.

Geography

At (53.5102°, −2.1575°) Failsworth lies north-north-west of London, as the southern tip of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, sharing borders with Manchester (north to south-west) and Tameside (south to east). It is traversed by the A62 road between Manchester and Oldham, by the former rail line of the Oldham Loop and by the Rochdale Canal, across its north-west corner. The M60 motorway passes through. For the Office for National Statistics, Failsworth counts as part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area.

The land in Failsworth slopes gently from east to west away from the Pennines and from brooks that bound it on the north-west (Moston Brook) and south-east (Lord's Brook). Failsworth has a country park, Daisy Nook, on undulating wooded land on its eastern border largely belonging to the National Trust. It is suited to walking, horse riding, fishing and other pursuits.

Demography

Population change

{|class="wikitable" style="border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%;"

|+Population growth in Failsworth since 1901

!Year

!1901

!1911

!1921

!1931

!1939

!1951

!1961

!1981

!1991

!2001

|- style="text-align:center;"

!Population

|14,152

|15,998

|16,973

|15,726

|17,505

|18,032

|19,819

|20,951

|20,160

|20,007

|colspan="11" style="text-align:center;"|Source: A Vision of Britain through Time

Economy

Failsworth grew as a mill town around the hat-making industry, which continues in the town. This began as a cottage 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. Other activities include electrical goods manufacture (such as Russell Hobbs) by Spectrum Brands, formerly Pifco Ltd), and plastic production and distribution by Hubron Ltd.

In July 2007, the Tesco 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. Tesco's arrival had been expected to be a catalyst bringing other stores, bars and restaurants to Failsworth. The only other large store is a branch of Morrisons housed in a building constructed on the demolished site of Marlborough No. 2 Mill.

Landmarks

thumb|upright=0.75|The Parish Church of St John was founded in 1845

thumb|right|upright=0.75|Failsworth Pole

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 that maypoles 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 of Benjamin Brierley was placed in the gardens.

At the road junction of the A62 with Ashton Road West stands a cenotaph built in 1923 for over 200 Failsworth men who were killed in the First World War. Attendances at the cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday remain high at about 2,000. The annual parade is led by 202 Field Squadron, RE (TA), 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.

Education

The local comprehensive school is Co-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 specialist sports college status.

{|class="wikitable"

!School !!Type/Status !!Headteacher !!OfSTED !!Location !!Reference

|Co-op Academy Failsworth

|Secondary School ||Phillip Quirk ||105735 ||' ||

|Woodhouses VA Primary School

|Primary School ||Helen Woodward ||105688 ||' ||

|South Failsworth Community Primary School

|Primary School ||Vicki Foy ||105656 ||' ||

|Higher Failsworth Primary School

|Primary School ||Sam Forster ||134784 ||' ||

|St John's CE Primary School

|Primary School ||Louise Bonter ||146670 ||'||

|St Mary's RC Primary School

|Primary School ||Mary Garvey ||105727 ||'||

|Mather Street Primary School

|Primary School ||Martine Buckley ||105649 ||'||

|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

Religious sites

{|class="wikitable"

!Name !!Denomination !!Location !!Reference

|The Holy Family

|Church of England ||' ||

|St John's

|Church of England ||' ||

|St Mary's

|Roman Catholic ||' ||

|Hope Methodist Church

|Methodist || ' ||

|Roman Road Independent Methodist Church

|Independent Methodist ||' ||

|New Life Church

|Assemblies of God ||' ||

|Dob Lane Unitarian Chapel

|Unitarianist ||' ||

|Macedonia

|United Reformed Church ||' ||

|Zion

|Old Baptist Union ||' ||

|Faithworks

|Evangel ||' ||

Transport

thumb|right|The [[M60 motorway from Cutler Hill, Failsworth]]

Failsworth's main thoroughfare is Oldham Road (A62) between Manchester and Oldham. The M60 is a ring-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 between Manchester city centre and Oldham on Stagecoach Manchester's 83 Bee Network service. There is also a frequent service to Manchester city centre and to Saddleworth via Oldham, with service 84. Other bus destinations from Failsworth are Ashton-under-Lyne, Chadderton, Huddersfield, Rochdale, Royton, Saddleworth, Shaw & Crompton and Trafford Centre.

Failsworth tram stop in Hardman Lane is on the Oldham & Rochdale line of the Manchester Metrolink. At peak times, trams run every 6 minutes south towards via central Manchester and north to Shaw & Crompton or Rochdale via Oldham. At off-peak times, trams run every 12 minutes to East Didsbury and Rochdale. Previously this was an unstaffed rail station on the Oldham Loop line serviced by Northern Rail services to Manchester Victoria or Rochdale via Oldham. It closed in October 2009 under Phase 3a of Metrolink extension and re-opened as a tram stop in 2012.

Twin town

Failsworth Urban District was twinned with Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria, Germany from 1974 to 2008.

Notable people

thumb|right|upright=0.75|[[Benjamin Brierley statue at Failsworth]]

Bonnie Prince Charlie (1720–1788), stayed overnight at the Bull's Head public house in 1745.
Sir Elkanah Armitage (1794–1876), a 19th-century industrialist, Liberal Party politician and former Lord Mayor of Manchester.
Benjamin Brierley (1825–1896), weaver, poet, essayist and writer in the Lancashire dialect. There is a bronze statue of him in the public gardens by The Pole.
Roy Fuller (1912–1991), an English writer, known mostly as a poet.
Harry Boardman (1930–1987), the Lancashire folk singer was born locally
Sir James Ratcliffe (born 1952), chemical engineer and businessman, chairman and CEO of the INEOS chemicals group, born locally.
Darren Wharton (born 1961), singer and songwriter; member of Thin Lizzy, now fronts Dare
Gary Mounfield (1962-2025), a musician known as Mani, formerly with the band the Stone Roses during the Madchester period and later joined Primal Scream.
Jim McMahon (born 1980), politician, MP has represented Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton since 2015, former leader of Oldham Council
Agyness Deyn (born 1983), supermodel, real name Laura Michelle Hollins, brought up locally before her family moved to Ramsbottom.
Amy James-Kelly (born 1995), actress played Maddie Heath in Coronation Street grew up locally.

Sport

Mike Atherton (born 1968), broadcaster, journalist and former test cricketer, was brought up locally and played 115 Test cricket matches. Has a road, (Atherton Close), named after him, opposite the cricket club in Woodhouses where he played in his youth.
Ronnie Wallwork (born 1977), footballer, played 178 games, mainly for West Bromwich Albion, lived in Woodhouses
Anthony Farnell (born 1978), Boxer, former WBU Middleweight champion known as the Woodhouse Warrior. He has since become a fight trainer and owns a gym (Arnie's Gym) in nearby Newton Heath
Katie Zelem (born 1996), footballer, has played over 180 games, including 115 for Manchester United W.F.C. and 12 for England
Jamie Stott (born 1997), an English footballer who has played over 250 games