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Ashton-under-Lyne (pop. 43,200) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines. Ashton (as it is often shortened to) is south-southeast of Oldham, north-northeast of Stockport, and east of the city of Manchester. Historically a part of Lancashire, Ashton-under-Lyne and its surrounding area have provided evidence of Stone Age, Romano-British and Viking activity. The "Ashton" part of its name probably dates from the Anglo-Saxons, and derives from Old English meaning "settlement by ash trees", while the "under-Lyne" element is less clear,[1] possibly deriving from the British lemo meaning elm or else from Ashton's proximity to the Pennines.[2] During the Middle Ages, Ashton-under-Lyne formed a parish and township centred on Ashton Old Hall which was held by the de Asshetons, the Lords of the Manor. Granted a Royal Charter in 1414, the manor spanned a broad rural area comprising marshland, moorland and a variety of villages and hamlets. Until the introduction of the cotton trade in 1769, Ashton was "bare, wet, and almost worthless". The factory system, and textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Ashton had emerged as an important mill town at a convergence of newly constructed canals and railways. Ashton-under-Lyne's transport network allowed for an economic boom in cotton spinning, weaving, and coal mining, so much so that it was granted borough status in 1847. Imports of cheaper foreign goods led to the decline of Ashton's heavy industries during the mid-20th century. However, the town itself has continued to thrive as a centre of commerce, and is "considered the hub of Tameside, providing the perfect setting for the town hall, council offices and 19th-century market hall".[3] Ashton Market is one of the largest outdoor markets in the United Kingdom. The , two-floored Ashton Arcades shopping centre opened in 1995, and in 2006 IKEA opened the then tallest store in the country. History
Prehistoric activity in the area centres around Ashton Moss, a peat bog covering . A single Mesolithic flint was found in Ashton Moss, which is the only one of 22 Mesolithic sites in Tameside not located in the hilly uplands in the north east of the borough. A collection of nine Neolithic flints were also unearthed from Ashton Moss. There was further activity in or around the bog in the Romano-British period. In around 1911 an adult male skull was found in the moss. A precise date for the skull cannot be ascertained, however it was probably linked to the cult of the head which was responsible for the Lindow Man bog body. The eastern terminus of the early medieval linear earthwork Nico Ditch is in Ashton Moss; it was probably used as an administrative boundary and dates from the 8th or 9th centuries. Legend claims it was built in a single night in 869–870 as a defence against Viking invaders. Further evidence of Dark Age activity in the area comes from the name of the town. The "Ashton" part of its name probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon meaning "settlement by ash trees", while the "under-Lyne" element is less clear, possibly deriving from the British lemo meaning elm or else to Ashton's proximity to the Pennines.[2] This means that Ashton probably became a settlement sometime after the Romans left Britain. An early form of the town's name, which included a burh element, indicates that in the 11th century, Ashton-under-Lyne and Bury were two of the most important towns in Lancashire. The "under-Lyne" facet of the name was not widely used until the mid-19th century when it became useful as a means of distinguishing the town from other places named Ashton. Ashton was not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey of 1086, perhaps because only a partial survey of the area was taken. It is thought that St Michael's Church, mentioned in the entry for the ancient parish of Manchester in the Domesday Survey, was in Ashton. The town itself was first mentioned in the 12th century when the manor was part of the barony of Manchester.[4] By the late 12th century, a family who adopted the name Assheton held the manor on behalf of the Barons of Manchester. Ashton Old Hall was a manor house and the seat of the Assheton family, the administrative centre of the manor. With three wings, the hall was "one of the finest great houses in the North West" of the 14th century and antiquarian John Aikin described it as "a building of great antiquity".[5] It has been recognised as important for being one of the few great houses in south-east Lancashire and possibly one of the few halls influenced by French design in the country.[5] In 1414, Ashton was granted a Royal Charter allowing it to hold a fair twice a year and a market on every Monday, making the settlement a market town. According to popular tradition Sir Ralph de Assheton, who was Lord of the Manor in the mid-14th century and known as the Black Knight, was an unpopular and cruel lord. After his death, his unpopularity led the locals to parade an effigy of him around the town each Easter Monday and collect money. Afterwards the effigy was hung up and shot before being set on fire. It was then torn apart and thrown into the crowd. On this day, shops in the town would remain closed; the tradition continued into the 1830s. The first recorded occurrence of this is in 1795, although the tradition may be even older. The manor of Ashton remained in the hands of the Ashton family until 1514 when the line ended; it was later acquired by Sir George Booth and descended with the Booth family until 1758 when the Earls of Stamford inherited it through marriage. The earls then held the manor until the 19th century. The lords' consistent absence from the manor is said to have been the stimulus for Ashton's growth of a large scale domestic-based textile industry in the 17th century. Pre-industrial Ashton-under-Lyne was centred around four roads: Town Street, Crickets Lane, Old Street, and Cowhill Lane. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries, the town was re-planned, with a grid pattern of roads. This meant that very little remains of the previous town.[6] In 1730 a workhouse was established which consisted of a house and two cottages; it later came to be used as a hospital. The Ashton Canal was constructed in the 1790s to transport coal from the area to Manchester, with a branches to the coal pits at Fairbottom.
In 1837 the Ashton Poor Law Union was established and covered most of what is now Tameside. A new workhouse was built in 1850 which provided housing for 500 people. It later became part of Tameside General Hospital.[8] Construction on the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway (SA&MR) began in 1837 to provide passenger transport between Manchester and Sheffield. Although a nine-arch viaduct in Ashton collapsed in April 1845, the line was fully opened on 22 December 1845. The SA&MR was amalgamated with the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway, the Great Grimsby & Sheffield Railway, and the Grimsby Docks Company in 1847 to form the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). In 1890, Ashton Old Hall was bought and demolished by the MS&LR to make way for the construction of new sidings.[5] In the late 19th century, public buildings such as the market hall, the town hall, the public library, and public baths were built.[9] The baths built in 1870–1871 were funded by donation from Hugh Mason. The Ashton-under-Lyne Improvement Act was passed in 1886 which gave the borough influence over housing and allowed the imposition of minimum standards such as having drainage. Coal mining was a secondary industry in the town compared to the textile industry, but in 1882 the Ashton Moss Colliery had the deepest mine shaft in the world at .[10] Ashton's textile industry remained constant between 1865 and the 1920s. Although some mills closed or merged, the number of spindles in use increased.[11] With the collapse of the overseas market in the 1920s, the town's cotton industry went into decline, and by the 1930s most of the firms and mills in the area had closed.[11] Ashton became a part of the newly formed metropolitan borough of Tameside in 1974. In May 2004, the Victorian market hall was ravaged by a massive fire and a temporary building called "The Phoenix Market Hall" was built on Old Cross Street on the opposite side of the old market hall. Plans are now under way to rebuild the market hall and outdoor market with the work scheduled for completion by November 2008. Research Tips
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