Grotton
Coordinates: 53°32′02″N 2°03′04″W / 53.534°N 2.051°W
Grotton is a relatively wealthy hamlet in Saddleworth, a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Grotton is a suburban area located along the A669 road, and forms a continuous urban area with Austerlands and Springhead, which in turn link to Lees and Oldham, all of which are to Grotton's west.
The village of Grotton is not to be confused with the fictional County and Borough of the same name and almost the same location.[1]
Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Grotton was anciently a rural hamlet close to the boundary with Lancashire, and was centred on Grotton Hall, a former manor house. Although some buildings date from the 17th and 18th century, the urbanisation of Grotton broadly took place following the Industrial Revolution; Grotton effectively became an upmarket suburb of Oldham following a residential building boom in the 1930s.
Before the inter-war residential development, Grotton was home to light industry, including a brickworks and a couple of textile mills. All of these are now closed and demolished. The former railway line to Oldham Mumps railway station has been converted into a linear country park, providing a largely traffic-free walk for most of the way into Oldham. The old Grotton and Springhead railway station is also preserved. The platforms are visible, and the buildings are now a private house. East of Grotton, the line ran to join the current trans-pennine railway line at Greenfield railway station, but while it is possible to walk east from the station to the western portal of Lydgate Tunnel, the tunnel itself is blocked off and impassable, although it is maintained by the former British Railways Property Board in order to prevent subsidence.
Grotton had one public house, the Grotton Hotel, which has become a co-op supermarket. There are also a small number of shops in the village including a newsagent, a sandwich shop which offers catering services (Relish), a florist, a hair salon, a barber's shop, a butcher, and a beauty salon. There are no doctors or dental surgeries, nor is there a library, although Oldham's mobile library does make a weekly visit.
References
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- ↑ Ankers, Kaiserman & Shepley, Grotton Revisited: Planning in Crisis?, Routledge, 2010