Oldham - Geography

Geography

Further information: Geography of Greater Manchester

Oldham
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D 70 6 1 50 7 1 60 9 3 50 12 4 60 15 7 70 18 10 70 20 12 80 20 12 70 17 10 80 14 8 80 9 4 80 7 2 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: Records and averages, Yahoo! Weather, 2007, http://weather.yahoo.com/climo/UKXX0105_c.html
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D 2.8 43 34 2 45 34 2.4 48 37 2 54 39 2.4 59 45 2.8 64 50 2.8 68 54 3.1 68 54 2.8 63 50 3.1 57 46 3.1 48 39 3.1 45 36 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

At 53°32′39″N 2°7′0.8″W / 53.54417°N 2.116889°W / 53.54417; -2.116889 (53.5444°, −2.1169°), and 164 miles (264 km) north-northwest of London, Oldham stands 700 feet (213 m) above sea level, 6.9 miles (11.1 km) northeast of Manchester city centre, on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock. Saddleworth and the South Pennines are close to the east, whilst on all other sides, Oldham is bound by smaller towns, including Ashton-under-Lyne, Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, with little or no green space between them. Oldham experiences a temperate maritime climate, like much of the British Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year.

Oldham's topography is characterised by its rugged, elevated Pennine terrain. It has an area of 6.91 square miles (17.90 km2). The geology of Oldham is represented by the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures series of rocks. The River Beal, flowing northwards, forms the boundary between Oldham on one side and Royton and Shaw and Crompton on the other.

To the east of this river the surface rises to a height of 1,225 feet (373 m) at Woodward Hill, on the border with the parish of Saddleworth. The rest of the surface is hilly, the average height decreasing towards the southwest to Failsworth and the city of Manchester. The ridge called Oldham Edge, 800 feet (244 m) high, comes southward from Royton into the centre of the town.

Oldham's built environment is characterised by its 19th-century red-brick terraced houses, the infrastructure that was built to support these and the town's former cotton mills – which mark the town's skyline. The urban structure of Oldham is irregular when compared to most towns in England, its form restricted in places by its hilly upland terrain. There are irregularly constructed residential dwellings and streets loosely centred around a central business district in the town centre, which is the local centre of commerce. In 1849, Angus Reach of Inverness said:

The visitor to Oldham will find it essentially a mean-looking straggling town, built upon both sides and crowning the ridge of one of the outlying spurs which branch from Manchester, the neighbouring 'backbone of England'. The whole place has a shabby underdone look. The general appearance of the operatives' houses is filthy and smouldering. —Angus Reach, Morning Chronicle, 1849

In the 1870s, John Marius Wilson described Oldham as consisting of:

... numerous streets, and contains numerous fine buildings, both public and private; but, in a general view, is irregularly constructed, presents the dingy aspect of a crowded seat of manufacture, and is more notable for factories than for any other feature. —John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–1872)

Although Oldham had a thriving economy during the 19th century, the local merchants were broadly reluctant to spend on civic institutions, and so the town lacks the grandeur seen in comparable nearby towns like Bolton or Huddersfield; public expenditure was seen as an overhead that undermined the competitiveness of the town. Subsequently, Oldham's architecture has been described as "mediocre". The town has no listed buildings with a Grade I rating.

There is a mixture of high-density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Oldham. There is some permanent grassland but overwhelmingly the land use in the town is urban. The territory of Oldham is contiguous with other towns on all sides except for a small section along its eastern and southern boundaries, and for purposes of the Office for National Statistics, forms the fourth largest settlement of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, the United Kingdom's third largest conurbation. The M60 motorway passes through the southwest of Oldham, through Hollinwood, and a heavy rail line enters Oldham from the same direction, travelling northeast to the town centre before heading northwards through Derker towards Shaw and Crompton.