Place:Lees, Lancashire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Lees (pop. 10,100) is a suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground on the east side of the River Medlock, east of Oldham, and east-northeast of Manchester. Historically, Lees has been positioned on the Lancashire side of the ancient county boundary with the West Riding of Yorkshire, giving rise to a part of Lees being known locally as County End.

Lees is believed to have obtained its name in the 14th century from John de Leghes, a retainer of the local Lord of the Manor. For centuries, Lees was a conglomeration of hamlets, ecclesiastically linked with the township of Ashton-under-Lyne. Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom weaving in the domestic system. At the beginning of the 19th century Lees had obtained a reputation for its mineral springs; ambitions to develop Lees into a spa town were thwarted by an unplanned process of urbanisation caused by introduction and profitability of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.

Lees expanded into a factory village during the late-19th century on the back of neighbouring Oldham's booming cotton spinning sector. The former Lees Urban District, an area of , had eleven cotton mills at its manufacturing zenith. People from Lees include Helen Bradley, a 20th century oil painter.

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