Local History
Ashton-u-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Longdendale, Mossley, Stalybridge
The collection of the Local Studies and Archives includes:
- Books
- Archives
- Newspapers
- Maps
- Images
- Oral History and Sound Recordings
- Census Records
- Parish Registers
- Electoral Registers
- Other Sources on Microfilm
- Online Enquiries
Books
- A comprehensive collection of books about the towns of Tameside.
- A research collection for relevant aspects of social and economic history such as textiles, transport, labour history, women's history, Lancashire dialect.
- General works relating to the history of Lancashire, Cheshire and the North West of England.
The Tameside Bibliography 
lists some of these titles.
Archives
A wide range of records which document the history of the Tameside area including:
- Local authority records for the nine towns which made up Tameside
- Churches
- Hospitals
- Schools
- Mechanics Institutes
- Trade unions
- Turnpike trusts
- Tramway companies
- Public undertakings
- Manchester Regiment
- Family and personal papers
- Local organisations
- Local businesses
Newspapers
We hold full runs for most of the editions of the Reporter published from 1855 for the towns of Tameside and Gorton, including the Evening Reporter. The Reporter was a large newspaper publishing enterprise in Victorian times and the early 20th century.
Other locally published papers including short run titles such as the Ashton News, Denton and Haughton Green Examiner, etc.
Labour papers including the Cotton Factory Times, variant editions of the Workman's Times, journals and newspapers edited by Joseph Rayner Stephens, the Northern Star, other short run Chartist and radical papers and alternative press publications such as Tameside Eye.
Maps
- Small scale printed maps from 1577
- Wide range of Ordnance Survey plans from 1843 to date (scales from 1" to 120")
- Copies of tithe maps for the Cheshire townships of Tameside
- Back copies of Goad plans
- A range of subject maps
- Manuscript maps are included in the archive collection
Images
- A large collection of photographs, old and new, of the area and its people - most are available online at our image archive
- Smaller collections of prints, posters and broadsheets
- A small collection of touring exhibitions is available for loan
Oral History & Sound Recordings
- Oral history interviews with elderly residents of Tameside in life story format. The collection started in the mid 1970s.
- Manchester Studies oral history tapes recorded 1974-1984 exploring such themes as domestic service, the cotton industry, the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
- Commercially produced sound recordings by local musicians.
Please visit the Sound Recordings page for more details
Census Records
Enumerators returns for all the districts now in Tameside for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 are held on microfilm with street indexes.
The records are most often used by family historians - See ourFamily History page for a full list.
Census returns are an invaluable source for studies of small areas giving information about family and social structure, migration patterns etc
Parish Records
Registers for many local churches including nonconformist chapels - see our Church Records page for a full list.
Although mainly used by family historians registers give us information about birth and death rates before formal figures were kept. Study of literacy levels, levels of illegitimate births etc is also possible.
We also hold other records of local churches (mainly nonconformist chapels) such as committee minutes, membership rolls, church magazines, Sunday school records in the archive collection.
Electoral Registers
Electoral registers and Burgess rolls can be useful for finding previous residents at an address.
See the online catalogues for details of our holdings
Other Sources on Microfilm
We hold copies of records held elsewhere on microfilm. These include:
- Womens Trade Union League papers
- Land Tax returns for the Cheshire townships of Tameside
- Home Office interviews with Chartist prisoners
- 1851 religious census
- Canal company records
- Butterworth papers
- Material relating to the Christian Israelites
- Poor Law Union Correspondence
- Hearth Tax returns
- Protestations returns
We are always adding to the collection and are anxious to obtain local material. if you have any photographs, postcards, records of local organisations or items of local interest you are invited to deposit them with Tameside Local Studies and Archives. If you do not wish to donate pictures arrangements can be made to copy them.
Online Enquiries
Use the details below to contact the Local Studies and Archives Unit for help and advice if you are interested in finding out about the history of the place where you live; writing a thesis or essay on any aspect of the history of the area; doing a school project on a local theme; planning anniversary celebrations for a local club or organisation; wishing to use local material in reminiscence work.
There is a minimum charge of £1.50 for photocopies sent by post. Additional sheets are 12p each for A4 photocopies, 22p each for A3 photocopies and 75p each for copies from microfilm.
Important: Please include your name and postal address when you send us a message as this will help us provide a full response to your enquiry.
Contact information
Cotton Street East
Ashton-under-Lyne
OL6 7BY