Tonge, Middleton
Tonge is a residential and industrial area of Middleton in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It lies on the east side of Middleton between the town centre and its border with Chadderton in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.
Tonge was formerly a township in its own right, until the area was incorporated into the Municipal Borough of Middleton as part of local government reforms in the late 19th century. Its area includes localities such as Moorclose and part of the districts of Mills Hill and Middleton Junction.
Tonge Hall was the manor house for the township. The place-name of Tonge, although no longer widely used in the area, stills survives in the district in names of several streets and a long standing sports club, Tonge Social & Bowling club, established in 1923.
Mills Hill railway station is located in this district.
Middleton Technology School lies within this district.
This township occupied, as its name implies, a tongue of land between the River Irk on the north and its affluent, the Wince Brook, on the south. The area is 392 acres. The surface is mostly above the 300 ft.level—360 ft. is reached at Mills Hill.
The township has long been a suburb of Middleton, to which borough it was added for local government purposes in 1861. In 1894 Tonge lost its status as a township or civil parish, and became completely merged with Middleton.
Tonge Church (St Michael's) was founded in 1839.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's line from Manchester to Rochdale passes through the eastern side - (See Caldervale Line). A branch to Middleton opened in 1857, the line closing in the mid 1960s. From this the part of Tonge called Middleton Junction takes its name, though the junction itself is in Chadderton.
...
Wikipedia