- published: 25 Aug 2014
- views: 87
Coordinates: 53°33′N 2°00′W / 53.55°N 2°W / 53.55; -2
Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets amongst the west side of the Pennine hills: Uppermill, Greenfield, Dobcross, Delph, Diggle and others. Saddleworth, which lies east of the large town of Oldham and 11 miles (17.7 km) east-northeast of the city of Manchester, is broadly rural, has a scattered population of 24,351, making it one of the larger civil parishes in the United Kingdom.
Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, for centuries Saddleworth was a centre of woollen cloth production in the domestic system. Following the Industrial Revolution, Saddleworth became a centre for cotton spinning and weaving during the 18th and 19th centuries, so much so that by the end of Queen Victoria's reign, mechanized textile production had become a vital part of the local economy. The boom in industry called for greater transport links, including the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and several railways.