Royton

Royton is one of the Boroughs of Oldham. Situated between Oldham and Rochdale, running along the A671, it is bounded by Chadderton to the South and Shaw to the North.

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Once a thriving cotton spinning town with its own town hall and shopping centre, Royton has suffered something of a loss of identity since the demise of the Lancashire cotton industry and 1974's assimilation into Oldham Metropolitan Borough. Nevertheless, it is believed by many to be one of the more desirable areas of Oldham, the eastern parts of the area in particular having some attractive housing, framed by green belt countryside. Royton is conveniently placed for the M62 motorway and, in Tandle Hill Park, has one of the area's finest country parks.

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Its library was donated by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 and is still a fine building and excellent resource.

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Adjacent to the library and undoubtedly the focus of Royton is the town hall, with its fine clock tower, topped by a copper cupola. The tower has an unusual feature in that the clock on the North facing is noticeably smaller than the other three. The story goes that it was built this way to stop the citizens of Shaw enjoying Royton's civic time-piece, and to encourage them to build one of their own. This is an indication of a rivalry still felt between the neighbouring areas.

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Royton boasts a swimming pool, an amateur cricket club, which plays in the Central Lancashire League, and Oldham Athletic Football Club's ground lies partly within Royton. In fact Boundary Park lies at the meeting point of Royton and Chadderton, hence the name. The local athletics club is Royton Harriers.

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Oldham: Oldham is a large town in North West England, on the north-eastern edge of the Greater Manchester conurbation, with a population of around 220,000. Traditionally part of Lancashire, it began as a mill town, and is most recently well-known for inter-racial problems. It is the largest settlement in t...

Rochdale: This article is about the English town. For other Rochdales see, Rochdale (disambiguation)...

A671: REDIRECT A671 road...