Droylsden
| Droylsden | |
|---|---|
 Droylsden town centre |
|
 Droylsden
|
|
| Droylsden shown within Greater Manchester | |
| Population | 22,689 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SJ8998 |
| • London | 161 miles (259 km) SSE |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M43 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Droylsden is a town in Greater Manchester, England, 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the east of Manchester city centre and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west-southwest of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population of 23,172. This had decreased slightly at the 2011 Census for both Wards (North and South) to 22,689.
Historically in Lancashire, in the mid-19th century Droylsden grew as a mill town on the Ashton and Peak Forest canals. Beginning in the early 1930s, Droylsden's population expanded rapidly as it became a housing overflow area for neighbouring Manchester.
Since 1785, the Fairfield area of Droylsden has been home to a Moravian Church.
Droylsden was settled around AD 900. Before Droylsden became a part of Greater Manchester, it was popularly referred to by Mancunians as "The Silly Country". One suggestion as to the source of that nickname is that once a year, some of the townsfolk used to watch an annual carnival by bringing a pig and sitting it on a wall to watch the passing entertainment with them. The Pig on the Wall public house, converted from a farm in 1978, takes its name from that story.
The first machine woven towel in the world – the terry towel – was produced by W. M. Christy and Sons of Fairfield Mills, in Droylsden, in 1851. William Miller Christy's son, Henry Christy, had brought back a looped towel from Turkey in the 1840s, which Christy's managed to copy on an adapted loom. Their Royal Turkish towels became famous, with Queen Victoria having a regular order. The mill closed at the end of the 1980s, and in 1997 Tesco opened a supermarket on the site.
...
Wikipedia