Lees, Greater Manchester
| Lees | |
|---|---|
 Lees village centre |
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 Lees
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| Lees shown within Greater Manchester | |
| Population | 10,132 (2001 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SD955045 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | OLDHAM |
| Postcode district | OL4 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Lees is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which lies amongst the Pennines east of the River Medlock, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) east of Oldham, and 8.2 miles (13.2 km) east-northeast of Manchester. Historically on the Lancashire side of the ancient county boundary with the West Riding of Yorkshire, part of Lees is known locally as County End.
Lees is believed to have obtained its name in the 14th century from John de Leghes, a retainer of the local Lord of the Manor. For centuries, Lees was a conglomeration of hamlets, ecclesiastically linked with the township of Ashton-under-Lyne. Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom weaving in the domestic system. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lees had obtained a reputation for its mineral springs; ambitions to develop a spa town were thwarted by an unplanned process of urbanisation caused by the rise of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.
Lees expanded into a mill town in the late-19th century, on the back of neighbouring Oldham's booming cotton spinning. The former Lees Urban District, an area of 0.4 square miles (1 km2), had eleven cotton mills at its manufacturing zenith. People from Lees include Helen Bradley, a 20th-century oil painter.
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