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Revision as of 15:34, 30 September 2006 by Arrievaulx (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Radcliffe is one of the constituent towns of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in northwest England. The town was detached from the administrative county of Lancashire in 1974 and is currently included in the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester . The town is south-west of Bury proper, and is served by a station on the Manchester Metrolink. The town is located on the River Irwell, which was originally used for industrial purposes in the town.
History
There are few places in the northwest of England with a history as long as Radcliffe's, stretching back more than 6,000 years to Mesolithic times, Roman associations and a mention in the Doomsday Book.
It became an urban district in 1894, and received a charter as a municipal borough in 1935. It became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972.
Radcliffe was originally a coal and cotton area, and is Bury's most westerly town and takes its name from 'red cliff' (rock) on the River Irwell. Medieval buildings in Radcliffe include the Parish Church, a Tithe barn and Radcliffe tower, which was a manorial residence in the kingdom in ancient times.
Present and future developments
Radcliffe is home to Radcliffe Borough Football Club and to Radcliffe Cricket Club who play in the Central Lancashire Cricket League. Sir Frank Worrell played for Radcliffe Cricket Club for many years. A street near the cricket ground was named in his honour.
The town is currently undergoing a multi-million pound revamp (Reinventing Radcliffe), which will include town centre living, and a new state-of-the-art school which will replace Coney Green High School and Radcliffe High School.
Until the new school is built, the two high school sites have been renamed Radcliffe Riverside East Campus (Coney Green) and Radcliffe Riverside West Campus (Radcliffe High).
The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal, which runs through Radcliffe is to be cleaned up as part of a wider scheme across Greater Manchester. Work was started in Salford earlier in 2005, and it is hoped it will reach Radcliffe by 2010.
Prior to the Metrolink being opened in the 1990s, the town was served by the Bury to Manchester branch line. There was also a line to Bolton via Little Lever, though this was closed in the 1960s, with little trace left now.
In the past couple of decades, the town's shopping area has declined, with many smaller businesses closing their doors forever. The town has retained its Boots and there is a large Asda Supermarket. Up until last year Radcliffe had a Kwik Save store (housed in a former cinema). Work had begun in late 2005 to demolish this, to make way for the new Reinventing Radcliffe development.
Radcliffe was the birthplace of Canadian author Donald Jack and also the home of Olympic medal winning cyclist Harry Hill who took bronze at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Radcliffe was also the birthplace of film director Danny Boyle and snooker player John Spencer (snooker player).
Radcliffe has two weekly newspapers, the Radcliffe Times, based at the Bury Times offices, in Bury, and Salford-based The Advertiser, which also covers the neighbouring areas of Prestwich and Whitefield.
Radcliffe has recently been given a multi million pound grant to renew and renovate existing buildings and to improve its reputation in the area.
External links
- Radcliffe.info The official site for Radcliffe, run by Bury MBC