Denton, Greater Manchester

Template:Infobox England place with map Denton is a town in the Tameside metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 1991 it had a population of 35,820.

People often think of Denton as the fictional town of Denton from the series of crime novels A Touch of Frost or the TV adaptation A Touch of Frost, whereas there is really no association.

History

Denton gets its meaning from being called a Valley Settlement, with Den meaning valley, and Ton meaning settlement.

Denton became a civil parish in 1866, having been formally a township in the parish of Manchester before then. From 1894 to 1974 it formed the Denton Urban District of Lancashire. The parish was expanded in 1894 by the abolition of the Haughton township; whose former area now covers the eastern part of the town, but the name now only lives on as local place names at Haughton Green and Haughton Dale, both in south Denton. Clues to the former township do still exist at Haughton Street, Haughton Hall Road, the Parish Church of St. Anne, Haughton, and etched onto an ancient boundary marker on Broomstair Bridge on the A57 Hyde Road - (CHESHIRE Township of Hyde | Township of Haughton LANCASHIRE).

Hat industry

Hat manufacturing made Denton and Haughton (now part of Denton) famous. During the 18th century, farmers began to supplement their income by making felt hats, for there was a plentiful supply of rabbits in the areas. Gradually, this cottage industry developed into hat factories that were established in various parts of the town with the heaviest concentration being in the vicinity of Wilton Street.

Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century, a wide range of hats was manufactured to suit all tastes and purses. The names used by the competing manufacturers to describe their products was bewildering and some of these were; felt hats, silk hats, fur hats, wear fur hats, soft hats, stiff hats, velour hats, wool hats, straw hats and, of course, the ubiquitous cloth cap. In the 1930s the ‘Attaboy’ trilby hat was introduced. This brand quickly became famous and it was in production for many years. Ladies’ hats were not forgotten either and at least one works specialised in making these and the hat master’s wife designed them at home. Hats were made for home consumption and for export.

The well-known saying, “if you want to get ahead, then get a hat” arose in Denton and, needless to say, anyone attending for a job interview not wearing a hat was quickly shown the door. Similarly, until the early 20th century, anyone entering a Denton shop without a hat would receive much cursing. The term, “mad as a hatter” also arose in Denton because the mercury was used in the felting process led to mercury poisoning.

In 2003, the prominent Wilsons Hat Factory on Wilton Street, together with the adjacent mill-workers' houses and other factories was demolished to make way for a new retail shopping park 'Crown Point North', part of a major town centre regeneration scheme. The shopping park has attracted the country's first Tesco Homeplus store, together with other major names, such as Bhs, Burton, River Island, TK Maxx, H&M, Boots, Jessops, Clarks, Mothercare and Virgin Megastore.

Other industries

After hatting, the most important industry in Denton was the manufacture of lead-acid batteries by Oldham Batteries (Oldham & Son Ltd). In 1865, Joseph Oldham established a millwright general engineering shop and by 1887 this company was manufacturing machinery for the hat-making industry. Another important industry in the area was coal mining and shortly after 1887 the company began making machinery and equipment for this industry, which included miners’ portable lamps. Up to this time, miners had always used the safety lamp devised in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy (1778 – 1829) but this new battery-powered Davy Lamp lamp eventually replaced the traditional safety lamp.

In 1920, the manufacture of automotive batteries for commercial vehicles, cars and motorcycles commenced and over the years this business expanded into the manufacture of traction batteries, which also included submarine batteries.

Nonetheless, the company never converted exclusively to the manufacture of batteries and they still continued to make machinery for the hatting industry, general engineering equipment, portable lamps and lighting systems as well as lamps and related equipment for mining. It also produced attachments for the mechanical handling industry.

Oldham Batteries became a major Denton employer with over 1,000 employees but by the beginning of 2002 the decision to close the factory had been made. The factory, which used to be off Lime Grove, Denton, is no longer there. It has been demolished, and a planning application for a further town centre retail park has been submitted to Tameside Council.

Twin town

On December 5, 1992, Denton became a twin-town to Montigny le Bretonneux, near Paris, France.

On one side of the Town Hall, there is a 'French road sign' which states how far it is to Montigny le Bretonneux from Denton. However this points north, implying that Denton's French twin-town is located in the sea somewhere to the west of Orkney. Tameside MBC have known about this mistake for more than 10 years, albeit Market Street, the side of the Town Hall where the sign is located, is a 'one way street' and so techically the sign points in the correct direction for vehicles, (for about 20 yards).

Local transport

One of Denton's claims to fame is that it, along with Reddish South, has the UK's least frequent train service, at once per week, in one direction, from Stockport to Stalybridge. It runs on a Saturday only, and departs from Stockport at 11:20 by request only for Stalybridge, arriving at Denton station at 11:32.

There are also frequent bus links to Manchester City Centre and Ashton-under-Lyne operated by Stagecoach.

Politics

Andrew Gwynne is Denton's Member of Parliament. He was elected in 2005 to represent the Denton and Reddish (UK Parliament constituency) seat, after long-serving MP Andrew Bennett retired.

Famous people from Denton

Notable people to come from Denton, Greater Manchester, include:

• Private Albert Hill who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during World War I. He was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Russian Cross of St George for his bravery on the 20 July,1916.

• Sir Geoff Hurst the footballer lived there until he was 8-years old. His proud grandfather lived on Cemetery Road until his death.

• Jimmy Armfield OBE, England footballer. Freeman of the borough of Blackpool.

• Mick Hucknall, who became the lead singer of Simply Red.

• Brian Statham, regarded as one of the greatest Lancashire/England bowlers ever.

Schools in Denton

Primary schools

• Corrie Primary School
• Dane Bank Primary School
• Denton West End Primary School
• Greswell Primary School
• Linden Road Primary School
• Manor Green Primary School
• Russell Scott Primary School
• St. Anne's Primary School
• St. John Fisher RC Primary School
• St. Mary's RC Primary School

• Denton Central (Duke Street) Primary School closed in 2004 due to falling pupil rolls.

Secondary schools

• Egerton Park Arts College
• St. Thomas More Roman Catholic School (A specialist Mathematics and IT College)
• Two Trees Sports College

War memorial

There is one main war memorial, or cenotaph, in Denton, located in Victoria Park. This memorial commemorates people from Denton and Haughton that served in two world wars.

The names on the war memorial were collected from their relatives who wrote to the council with details of their loved ones who served in either war. The war memorial was unveiled on July 23, 1921.

Figures from the Denton section of the Tameside council website, state that 3,500 Denton men served in the Great War, of that number, 369 people were killed.

Sport

Denton is home to no less than three semi-professional cricket clubs all of which play in the Lancashire County League.

Denton CC play at Egerton Street and they were league champions in 1994 and 1995 (runners up in 1998) with previous professionals including West Indies players Malcolm Marshall and Kenneth Benjamin.

Denton West CC play at Windsor Park. They have a long history of Sri Lankan professionals and the incumbent for 2004 and 2005 was Niroshan Bandaratilleke. They were league champions in 1996, 1997, 2002 & 2003.

Denton St Lawrence CC play at Sycamore Park and their 2005 professional was West Indian Ryan Nurse. In July 2005 they won the Walkden Cup for the first time in 30 years defeating Flowery Field Cricket Club.

Scenery and environment

Greenery

Much of Denton used to be rural, until the town's rapid growth from the late 1940s onwards. There are still at least three farms in Denton.

Victoria Park in Denton town centre was set out as a formal recreation space circa 1900. It retains many of its original features, including the listed - and still used - Bandstand, floral gardens and bowling greens. The park is very well maintained and has been awarded a Green Flag Park Award consecutively in every year since 2000.

The River Tame runs through most of Denton, through Jet Amber fields, Glass House Fold, Hulme's Wood, past the Arden Arms public house, towards Reddish Vale and Hyde Hall Farm, and can be seen from the M60 motorway.

Churches

The oldest church in Denton is St. Lawrence's. It is almost 500 years old, originally built in 1531. It is a listed grade II* building. The church is also known locally as "Th'owd Peg" (the old peg) due to the fact, as a timber-framed building, it was built without nails. Wooden pegs were used to hold the frame work together instead.

The magnificent Victorian Church of St. Anne, Haughton is a grade I listed building, and is built in Dutch and Norwegian styles.

External links

• Tameside Council website - Section about Denton
• Virtual Tameside site - Information about St. Lawrence's Church