Droylsden

Coordinates: 53°28′58″N 2°09′30″W / 53.4828°N 2.1582°W / 53.4828; -2.1582

Droylsden is a town in Greater Manchester, England, 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the east of Manchester city centre and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west-southwest of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population of 23,172. This had decreased slightly at the 2011 Census for both Wards (North and South) to 22,689.

Historically in Lancashire, in the mid-19th century Droylsden grew as a mill town on the Ashton and Peak Forest canals. Beginning in the early 1930s, Droylsden's population expanded rapidly as it became a housing overflow area for neighbouring Manchester.

Since 1785, the Fairfield area of Droylsden has been home to a Moravian Church.

History

Droylsden was settled around AD 900. Before Droylsden became a part of Greater Manchester, it was popularly referred to by Mancunians as "The Silly Country". One suggestion as to the source of that nickname is that once a year, some of the townsfolk used to watch an annual carnival by bringing a pig and sitting it on a wall to watch the passing entertainment with them. The Pig on the Wall public house, converted from a farm in 1978, takes its name from that story.

Droylsden (UK Parliament constituency)

Droylsden was a parliamentary constituency in the historic county of Lancashire in the North West of England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1955 general election. Before 1950 the area had formed part of the Mossley constituency.

The former MP for Mossley, the Rev. G.S. Woods, was elected as a Labour Co-operative member in the first election for this constituency in 1950. He sat in Parliament until he died, shortly before the 1951 election. A new Labour MP, W.R. Williams, was elected in 1951 and represented the seat for the rest of its existence.

Boundaries

The constituency was formed by combining four Urban Districts, situated to the north east of Manchester. They were Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, and Failsworth.

In 1955 the constituency was abolished. Audenshaw and Denton became part of Manchester Gorton constituency. Failsworth was attached to the division of Manchester Openshaw. Droylsden became part of the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, which in the 1955 redistribution extended west to the borders of Manchester.