Ashton-under-Lyne, Gtr Manchester - Stamford Park, tulips - 1970s postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Tulip time at Stamford Park, Ashton-under-Lyne, [Greater Manchester, formerly Lancashire]
• Publisher:  Dennis
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Ashton-under-Lyne (pop. 43,200) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England.^[1] Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines. Ashton (as it is often shortened to) is 6.2 miles (10.0 km) east of Manchester city centre.

Evidence of Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Viking activity has been discovered in Ashton-under-Lyne and its surrounding area. The ""Ashton"" part of the town's name probably dates from the Anglo-Saxon period, and derives from Old English meaning ""settlement by ash trees"". The origin of the ""under-Lyne"" suffix is less clear,^[2] and it possibly derives from the British lemo meaning elm or from Ashton's proximity to the Pennines.^[3] During the Middle Ages, Ashton-under-Lyne formed a parish and township centred on Ashton Old Hall which was held by the de Asshetons, the Lords of the Manor. Granted a Royal Charter in 1414, the manor spanned a broad rural area consisting of marshland, moorland, and a number of villages and hamlets.

Until the introduction of the cotton trade in 1769, Ashton was considered ""bare, wet, and almost worthless"".^[3] The factory system, and textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution triggered a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Ashton had emerged as an important mill town at a convergence of newly constructed canals and railways. Ashton-under-Lyne's transport network allowed for an economic boom in cotton spinning, weaving, and coal mining, which led to the granting of honorific borough status in 1847.

During the mid-20th century, imports of cheaper foreign goods led to the decline of Ashton's heavy industries, but the town has continued to thrive as a centre of commerce, and is ""considered the hub of Tameside, providing the perfect setting for the town hall, council offices and 19th-century market hall"".^[4] Ashton Market is one of the largest outdoor markets in the United Kingdom. The 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m²), two-floored Ashton Arcades shopping centre opened in 1995, and in 2006 IKEA opened what was then the tallest store in the country.

After the Ashton Canal closed in the 1960s, it was decided to turn the Portland Basin warehouse into a museum. In 1985, the first part of the Heritage Centre and Museum opened on the first floor of the warehouse.^[99] The restoration of building was complete in 1999; the museum details Tameside's social, industrial, and political history.^[100] The basin next to the warehouse is the point at which the Ashton Canal, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Peak Forest Canal meet. It has been used several times as a filming location for Coronation Street, including a scene where the character Richard Hillman drove into the canal.^[101]

The earliest parts of Ashton Town Hall, which was the first purpose-built town hall in what is now Tameside, date to 1840 when it was opened. It has classical features such as the Corinthian columns on the entrance facade. Enlarged in 1878, the hall provides areas for administrative purposes and public functions.^[102] It is a Grade II listed building.^[103] After the Ashton-under-Lyne municipal borough was abolished in 1974, the town hall was no longer required and became the home of the Museum of the Manchester Regiment. The museum exhibits relics related to the Manchester Regiment including five Victoria Crosses awarded to its members.^[104]

There are five parks in the town, three of which have Green Flag Awards.^[105] The first park opened in Ashton-under-Lyne was Stamford Park on the border with Stalybridge. The park opened in 1873, following a 17-year campaign by local cotton workers;^[106] the land was bought from a local mill-owner for £15,000 (£1.3 million as of 2014)^[107] and further land was donated by George Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford.^[108] A crowd of between 60,000 and 80,000 turned out to see the Earl of Stamford formally open the new facility on 12 July 1873. It now includes a boating lake, and a memorial to Joseph Rayner Stephens, commissioned by local factory workers to commemorate his work promoting fair wages and improved working conditions. A conservatory was opened in 1907, and Coronation gates installed at both the Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge entrances in 1953.^[106]

Hartshead Pike is a stone tower on top of Hartshead Hill overlooking Ashton and Oldham.^[109] The current building was constructed in 1863 although there has been a building on the site since at least the mid-18th century, although the original purpose is obscure. The pike may have been the site of a beacon in the late 16th century.^[110] It has a visitor centre and from the top of the hill it is possible to see the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, the Welsh hills, and the Holme Moss transmitter in West Yorkshire.^[111]

The Witchwood public house, in the St Petersfield area of the town, has been a music venue since the 1960s, hosting acts such as Muse, The Coral, and Lost Prophets.^[112] In 2004 The Witchwood came under threat when the area was being redeveloped, but was saved from demolition after a campaign by locals and led by Tom Hingley, drawing support from musicians such as Bert Jansch, The Fall, and The Chameleons.^[113]

The main Ashton-under-Lyne War Memorial, in Memorial Gardens, consists of a central cenotaph on plinth, surmounted by sculpted wounded soldier and the figure of ""Peace who is taking the sword of honour"" from his hand.^[114] It commemorates the 1,512 people from the town who died in the First World War and the 301 who died in the Second World War.^[115] The cenotaph is flanked on both sides by two bronze lions. The plinth is decorated with military equipment representing the services, as well as bronze tablets listing the Roll of Honour from World War I. Commissioned by the Ashton War Memorial Committee, the statue was sculpted between 1919 and 1922 by John Ashton Floyd, and unveiled on 16 September 1922 by General Sir Ian Hamilton.^[114]

type=printed

city/ region=ashton under lyme

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)