Saddleworth - Governance

Governance

Although on the western side of the Pennine watershed, Saddleworth, or Quick as it was once known, has lain within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire since the middle ages. From a very ancient time, the area formed part of the Agbrigg Wapentake, in the "Land of the King in Eurvicsire" (Yorkshire).

For a time, during the 17th century, Saddleworth constituted a chapelry within the ancient parish of Rochdale in Salfordshire, which was otherwise entirely in the ancient county of Lancashire.

In 1866 it became a civil parish in its own right and in 1889 became part of the administrative county of the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1894 the parish's boundaries were altered somewhat, with the parts in Quickmere Middle Division (Springhead), Mossley and Uppermill becoming Urban Districts. The residue became a single-parish rural district.

In 1872, Saddleworth was recorded to be "a hamlet, a chapelry, a township, and a district, in Rochdale parish and West Riding of Yorkshire". At this time, a post office for the area was found under the name of Uppermill which was under Manchester.

In 1900 the boundaries were changed again with the inclusion of Uppermill, and the single-parish rural district being instead replaced by the "Saddleworth Urban District". In 1937 it incorporated Springhead Urban District.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, the West Riding of Yorkshire was abolished and Saddleworth was incorporated into the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

Unlike neighbouring Shaw and Crompton, Saddleworth is a Successor parish, and thus was automatically granted civil parish status in 1974 when its urban district status was abolished.

Up until 1996, Saddleworth's official postal county was Lancashire, due to it forming part of the Oldham post town. Postal counties were abolished in 1996 however.