The Town of Oldham in the County of -- Lancashire --

Oldham in the 18th century was a rural community and despite its increasing employment in textiles, coal mining and hatting, the landscape of the region retained an essentially agricultural appearance and only towards the end of the century would the "Industrial Revolution" show its way to restructure the town and its economies.

This is reflected in the Hamlets around Oldham. Small farms had grown as family members had married, or labourers had moved in and built houses. These retained the names of the original farms, or houses. But new areas took convenient names.

Greenacres moor was a large area of moorland between Oldham and Saddleworth, so places were Side of moor, Top of moor, bottom of moor, etc.

Matgate lane was the lane to Chadderton, and a small hamlet grew up there. Maygate lane was later renamed Chadderton road, and is now Chadderton way, just below Featherstall road.

Oldham did not become a true urban environment until the early to mid nineteenth century. Many occupations remained primarily home- based. Here, as in most of Lancashire, although population was increasing it remained throughout the countryside in scattered hamlets. The village which had grown up on the hill around St. Mary's church still amounted to no more than a few hundred houses with a population of around 2,800 at the time of the first census in 1801, just over 20% of the population within the extensive Oldham township.

The lifestyles of the inhabitants seemingly reflected the communal values of an essentially rural, even hierarchical society. Some households still relied on home produce, cultivating pear orchards, rearing poultry and growing gooseberries.

Despite the uncertain prosperity and strains inherent in weaving, it was largely responsible for sustaining the expansion of population throughout the district from the mid 18th century. The Oldham chapelry or parish which constituted the townships of Oldham, Chadderton, Royton and Crompton had a population of circa 8000-10,000 people in 1778, circa 13,916 by 1789, and circa 15,776 by 1792 and by the time of the first census in 1801 the figure stood at 21,677.

This burgeoning population, largely divorced from the land, placed considerable strains on food supply and with poor weather conditions for local growing leading to a food supply which was very inadequate to the supply of inhabitants. Much food had to be bought in and with the profits of middlemen and transportation costs, food prices were above average for the country.

The afore mentioned hamlets now began to grow. Eventually merging into the town of Oldham as it is now.