Westwood is an

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

, in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England. It occupies a hillside known as North Moor in the western part of Oldham, close to its boundary with

Royton Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...

and

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. ...

. Westwood, which has no formal boundary or extent, is bisected by the A6048 road . Historically a part of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, Westwood was formerly an electoral ward of the County Borough of Oldham, but is now split between the wards of Coldhurst and Werneth, which lie to the north and south respectively. Apart from its industrial and commercial units, Westwood's built environment is "almost entirely" composed of

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

terraces, with some small pockets of

housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

and

council house A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

properties. The

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, The borough had a population of 237,628 making it the seventh-largest district by population ...

has the largest population of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom outside of London. Sixty percent of the borough's Bangladeshi community live in Westwood. Most of them immigrated from the

Sylhet Division Sylhet Division ( bn, সিলেট বিভাগ) is the northeastern division of Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura to the north, east and south respectively, and by the Bangladeshi divisions ...

of Bangladesh. Westwood features a replica of the '' Shaheed Minar'' national monument, which commemorates those killed in the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations in 1952. In the 1980s, unemployment in Westwood experienced a "massive increase", significantly higher than the "modest increase" seen in Oldham as a whole. Ethnicity was attributed as a factor.. Westwood Moravian Church congregation was founded in 1865. A church building for the congregation dating from 1869 still stands in the locality. The congregation now worships in

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

frequented Westwood's Conservative club. Churchill orated at the club during his period as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

. Westwood Primary is a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

located in the area. Westwood Metrolink station opened in 2012 in Phase 3b of the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...

extension. It was funded by the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund. The

Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) was England’s largest waste disposal authority, responsible for the management and disposal of municipal waste from Greater Manchester. It dealt with 1.1 million tonnes of waste produced ...

operate a transfer loading station at Westwood Industrial Estate. Anchor Retail Park occupies Anchor Mill, a former

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...

References

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Bibliography

* * * {{Areas of Oldham Areas of Oldham