Town Scenes, UK

A short walk around Oldham taking in Union Street, Yorkshire Street, Church Lane, High Street and Mumps on 8 February 2010. There is much more to see but it was too cold to linger. All townscapes look the better for some sunshine but on this day there were leaden skies so my pictures don't do full justice to the town. Oldham was formerly in Lancashire but since 1974 has been part of Greater Manchester.


School of Art on Union Street		Lyceum Entrance

Front of the Prudential Building		Prudential, Union Street

Union Street Church		Bank

Library & Museum, Union Street		Queen Street

Town Hall built 1841 enlarged 1879/80		View of War Memorial

Part of the Roll of Honour		St. Mary's, 1823/7

Window of old County Court in Church Lane		Corner of Lord St. & High St.

Hilton Arcade, 1893 on High Street.		Inside the arcade

Former District Bank tower		Derelict former warehouse

The School of Art and Lyceum on the north side of Union Street was built by N. G. Pennington between 1855 and 1856. The Prudential Assurance Buildings on Union Street were designed by A. Waterhouse and Son in 1901. Waterhouse was the architect of Manchester Town Hall. The Free Library and Museum on the south side of Union Street built in 1883. The Town Hall, built in 1841 was enlarged in 1879/80 with facades in Frith Street and Greaves Street by the architects George Woodhouse of Bolton and Edward Potts of Oldham. There is a blue plaque on the Town Hall noting that Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) began his political career here when he won the parliamentary seat of Oldham in 1900, having returned from the Boer War.

Near the war memorial is a plaque marking the three Oldham men who won the Victoria Cross: Sgt. John Hogan, 1884-1943 of the 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment; Pte. Walter Mill, 1894-1917, 1/10th Battalion, Manchester Regiment; Sgt. Thomas Steele, 1891-1978, 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. The plaque was unveiled in 2003 by the Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Valerie Sedgwick.

St. Mary's church was built between 1823 and 1827, replacing a medieval church known to have existed as early as 1448. It was designed by Richard Lane

In Church Lane is the County Court Building of 1894 designed by Sir Henry Tanner using red brick and yellow terracotta.

At the east end of Union Street, near the Mumps roundabout, is the now derelict former District Bank with its Baroque tower. It was built between 1902 and 1903 by architects Mills and Murgatroyd. There are now plans for redevelopment as apartments. Adjacent to is is the redbrick building, formerly a carpet warehouse and scheduled in 2010 to be part of the redevelopment plans of the Mumps area.