Tameside, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge. Its western border is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Manchester city centre. Tameside is bordered by the metropolitan boroughs of Stockport and Oldham to the south and north respectively, the city of Manchester to the west and the borough of High Peak in Derbyshire to the east across Longdendale.

History The history of the area stretches back up to 10,000 years; there are 22 Mesolithic sites in Tameside, the oldest dating to around 8000 BC; 21 of the 22 sites are in the hilly uplands in the north east of the borough. Evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity is more limited in the borough, although the Bronze Age Stalybridge Cairn is the most complete prehistoric funerary monument in the borough. The people in the area changed from hunter-gatherers to farmers around 2500 BC–1500 BC due to climate change. Werneth Low is the most likely Iron Age farmstead site in the borough, probably dating to the late 1st millennium BC. Before the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, the area was probably part of the territory of the Brigantes, the Celtic tribe controlling most of what is now north west England.

The area came under control of the Roman Empire in the second half of the 1st century. Roads through the area were established from Ardotalia fort in Derbyshire to Mamucium (Manchester) west of Tameside and Castleshaw Roman fort in the north. Romano-British finds in the borough include a bog body in Ashton Moss, occupation sites at Werneth Low, Harridge Pike, Roe Cross, and Mottram. A 4th-century coin hoard was found in Denton and is one of only four hoards from the 4th century in the Mersey basin. A Byzantine coin from the 6th or 7th centuries, also found in Denton, indicates continued or renewed occupation once the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century.

Nico Ditch, an earthwork stretching from Stretford to Ashton-under-Lyne, is evidence of Anglo-Saxon activity in Tameside. It was probably dug between the 7th and 9th centuries and may have been used as a boundary between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. Further evidence of Anglo-Saxon era activity in Tameside comes from the derivation of settlement names from Old English such as -tun, meaning farmstead, and leah meaning clearing.

According to the Domesday Survey of 1086, Tameside was divided into four manors, those of Tintwistle, Hollingworth, Werneth, and Mottram. The land east of the River Tame was in the Hundred of Hamestan in Cheshire and held by the Earl of Chester while to the west of the river was in the Hundred of Salford under Roger de Poitevin. These manors were divided to create further manors, so that by the 13th century most of them were owned by local families and remained in the hands of the same families until the 16th century. Manorialism continued as the main form of administration and governance until the mid-19th century.

The Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on Tameside; the area, whose main towns had previously been Ashton-under-Lyne and Mottram-in-Longdendale, was transformed from a collection of the rural, farming communities into mill towns. The towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge have been described as "amongst the most famous mills towns in the North West". With only a brief interruption for the Lancashire Cotton Famine of 1861 to 1865, factories producing and processing textiles were the main industry in Tameside from the late-18th century until the mid-20th century.

In 1964, Dukinfield Borough Council convened a meeting of neighbouring local authorities with the aim of formulating a policy of cross-authority social improvement for the districts in the Tame Valley. Following deindustrialisation, the area had suffered "gross-neglect" and had large areas of housing unsuitable for human habitation. This joint enterprise comprised the nine districts that would become Tameside ten years later, plus the County Borough of Stockport. This collective agreed on creating "a linear park in the valley [of the River Tame] for the use of the townspeople and as a major recreational resource within the Manchester metropolis".

Tameside was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 as one of the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester. The new district covered the territory of nine former districts which were abolished at the same time: • Ashton-under-Lyne Municipal Borough • Audenshaw Urban District • Denton Urban District • Droylsden Urban District • Dukinfield Municipal Borough • Hyde Municipal Borough • Longendale Urban District • Mossley Municipal Borough • Stalybridge Municipal Borough

Dukinfield, Hyde, Longendale and Stalybridge had been in the administrative county of Cheshire prior to the 1974 reforms, whilst the other five districts had been in the administrative county of Lancashire.

A name for the metropolitan borough proved problematic. The Redcliffe-Maud Report had used the name Ashton-Hyde, but double-barrelled names were prohibited for the new districts. Had Ashton-under-Lyne been a county borough, or had had a less common name, "it might have been chosen as the new name" for the new district. The eight other towns objected, adamant that "a new name should be found". Thirty suggestions were put forward, including Brigantia, Clarendon, Hartshead, Kayborough, Tame, Ninetowns, and West Pennine, with Hartshead (with reference to Hartshead Pike) being the most popular throughout most of the consultation period. However, the name Tameside (with reference to the River Tame, but a concocted name with no historical basis) won 15 votes to Hartshead's 10 in a final stage of voting. The new district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chairman of the council to take the title of mayor. In 1986 Tameside effectively became a unitary authority with the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council.

Geography Tameside borders High Peak in Derbyshire to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham to the north, the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport to the south, and the City of Manchester to the west. Tameside features flat lowlands in the west and highlands in the east where the western edge of the Pennines encroaches on the borough. The hills in the east include Hartshead Pike and Werneth Low which is also a country park. As well as coal measures running north–south through the centre of the borough, there are areas of peat in the north east and there are large areas of boulder clay all over Tameside. Ashton Moss is a peat bog covering about 107 hectares (260 acres) and Denton Moor is an area of about 81 hectares (200 acres) of peat.

Waterways in Tameside include the rivers Medlock and Etherow, which form parts of Tameside's western and eastern boundaries respectively, and the River Tame crosses the borough north to south, giving Tameside its name. The Ashton Canal, the Hollinwood Branch Canal, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, and the Peak Forest Canal all run through the borough. There are also several reservoirs, including the Audenshaw Reservoirs. Greenspace accounts for 63.5% of the Tameside's total area, domestic buildings and gardens comprise 17.4%, and the rest is made up of roads and non-domestic buildings.

Localities within the boundaries of Tameside include: Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Broadbottom, Carrbrook, Copley, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Flowery Field, Gee Cross, Godley, Godley Green, Guide Bridge, Hartshead Green, Hattersley, Haughton Green, Hazelhurst, Heyrod, Hollingworth, Hyde, Landslow Green, Luzley, Millbrook, Mossley, Mottram in Longdendale, Newton, Park Bridge, Roe Cross, Stalybridge, Warhill, and Woolley Bridge.

Economy Tameside is currently undergoing redevelopment through the Vision Tameside project which should be completed by 2018.

Vision Tameside – a partnership between Tameside council and Tameside College – is a redevelopment strategy.

Three "advanced learning centres" are being built in central Ashton town and at the college's Beaufort Road home.

Phase one comprises two sites. The new Clarendon Sixth Form College, which began taking students in the autumn of 2015, was officially opened by Coronation Street actress Brooke Vincent on 9 March 2016. The college theatre was named in Brooke's honour.

An "advanced technologies centre" is being built on Stamford Street, Ashton. When it opens in 2017 it will provide a learning facility to support the growth of advanced engineering and technology in Tameside.

Phase two of VisionTameside will create an advanced skills centre for Tameside College alongside a new joint service centre for Tameside Council and partners. The skills centre will provide facilities for students studying a wide range of vocational subjects including hair and beauty, hospitality and catering, bakery and confectionery, travel and tourism and business skills.

Ashton's Victorian town hall and the old water board offices, which are both listed buildings, are being retained. Work should be completed in early 2018.

Phase three will ensure the Beaufort Road campus offers learners modern, inspirational learning spaces. Alongside the new advanced technologies centre, they will have access to facilities for engineering, construction and the built environment, motor-vehicle, sport and public services and health and social care provision

Provision for students with severe learning difficulties and/or disabilities will continue to be based at the Beaufort Road where a new sports academy was opened in February, 2015, by former Manchester United and England footballer Paul Scholes.

In addition, Ashton's old public baths, which lay derelict for many years, has been reborn as a "high-tech business incubator" with help from the European Regional Development Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Work at the mid-Victorian building, which closed as a swimming baths in 1975, has involved cleaning, repairs and the replacement of external stonework. The new office space is housed inside a free-standing timber-clad pod within the former main pool.

At the same time, Ashton's market has been refurbished with the installation of kiosks alongside traditional stalls.

The Ashton Arcades shopping centre opened in 1995. The centre covers 13,000 square metres (140,000 sq ft) on two floors with over 40 shops. In 2006, after failing twice to gain permission to develop a site in the neighbouring borough of Stockport, IKEA announced plans to build its first town centre-store in Ashton-under-Lyne. The store is expected to create 500 new jobs as well as attract other businesses to the area. The store opened on 19 October 2006 and covers 27,500 square metres (296,000 sq ft) At the time of its creation, the store was the tallest in Britain.

Life science industries have been identified as growth industries in Greater Manchester and are concentrated in Oldham and Tameside.

Average house prices in Tameside are the 5th lowest of the ten boroughs in Greater Manchester and are prices just 60% of the average price for the England.