Westwood, Greater Manchester

Westwood is an urban area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies a hillside known as North Moor in the western part of Oldham, close to its boundary with Royton and Chadderton. Westwood, which has no formal boundary or extent, is bisected by the A6048 road .

Westwood
Featherstall Road South, the main thoroughfare of Westwood
Westwood is located in Greater Manchester
Westwood
Westwood
Location within Greater Manchester
OS grid referenceSD915055
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townOLDHAM
Postcode districtOL9
Dialling code0161
PoliceGreater Manchester
FireGreater Manchester
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament

Historically a part of Lancashire, Westwood was formerly an electoral ward of the County Borough of Oldham, but is now split between the wards of Coldhurst and Werneth, which lie to the north and south respectively. Apart from its industrial and commercial units, Westwood's built environment is "almost entirely" composed of Victorian era terraces, with some small pockets of housing association and council house properties.[1]

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham has the largest population of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom outside of London.[2] Sixty percent of the borough's Bangladeshi community live in Westwood.[3] Most of them immigrated from the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. Westwood features a replica of the Shaheed Minar national monument, which commemorates those killed in the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations in 1952.[2]

In the 1980s, unemployment in Westwood experienced a "massive increase", significantly higher than the "modest increase" seen in Oldham as a whole. Ethnicity was attributed as a factor.[4]

Westwood Moravian Church congregation was founded in 1865. A church building for the congregation dating from 1869 still stands in the locality. The congregation now worships in Royton.

Winston Churchill frequented Westwood's Conservative club. Churchill orated at the club during his period as Member of Parliament for Oldham.[5]

Westwood Primary is a primary school located in the area.[6]

Westwood Metrolink station opened in 2012 in Phase 3b of the Manchester Metrolink extension.[7] It was funded by the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund.[8]

The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority operate a transfer loading station at Westwood Industrial Estate.[9] Anchor Retail Park occupies Anchor Mill, a former cotton mill.[10]

References

Notes
  1. Hills 1996, p. 297.
  2. Eade, John; Garbin, David (2006). "Competing visions of identity and space: Bangladeshi Muslims in Britain". Contemporary South Asia. 15 (2): 182. doi:10.1080/09584930600955291. S2CID 145533105.
  3. "Structure / Breakdown". compasslearningcentre.org. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  4. Pacione 1997, p. 194.
  5. James 1974, p. 97.
  6. "Westwood Primary School". westwood.oldham.sch.uk. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  7. Light Rail Transit Association (24 November 2007). "Manchester to Oldham and Rochdale". lrta.org ork. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  8. Marsden, Carl (30 July 2008). "It's in your hands". oldhamadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  9. Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. "Operational Sites". gmwaste.co.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  10. "Anchor Retail Park". easternconcept.com. Retrieved 25 November 2008.

Bibliography
  • Hills, John (1996). New Inequalities: The Changing Distribution of Income and Wealth in the United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55698-8.
  • James, Robert Rhodes (1974). Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963. Vol. 1. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-8352-0693-9.
  • Pacione, Michael (1997). Britain's Cities: Geographies of Division in Urban Britain. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-13775-6.
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