Discover Littleborough, Greater Manchester

The Rochdale Canal in Littleborough: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Rochdale_Canal_at_Littleborough.jpg
Author: Tim Green


Littleborough is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale on the northeastern part of Greater Manchester, England. Located in the upper Roch Valley, some 20 km to the northeast of downtown Manchester, Littleborough has a population of 13,000 people (2012 estimate). Until 1974, when Greater Manchester was created, it was part of Lancashire.

The area surrounding Littleborough bears evidence of human settlement in the Neolithic, Celtic, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. It lies at the cross road of two ancient routes over the Pennines, one of which may have been a Roman road. The town that is known today was little more than a cluster of village houses in 1472.

Littleborough was just a village of farmers and cottage industries until the late-18th century, when it experienced rapid infrastructure development. This came in the form of the Rochdale Canal and the Manchester to Leeds Railway. A man-made lake was also created to serve as a feeder reservoir for the canal. The improvement to the infrastructure spured the industrialization of Littleborough's cloth industry into modern textile mills. As such, the 19th century was a time of prosperity and urbanization.

Skye Road Chapel, Littleborough: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syke_Road_Chapel,_Littleborough_-_geograph.org.uk_-_400450.jpg
Author: Paul Glazzard


Bythe mid-20th century, the industrial growth was in decline. Stiff overseas competition prompted the gradual deindustrialization of Littleborough. However the town reinvented itself, moving away from its traditional industries and successfully keeping at bay the economic depression that is experienced elsewhere in the region.

Today the stone-built town center of Littleborough is a designated Conservation Area with a number of well-preserved historic buildings.

Visiting Littleborough

Take the M66 motorway out from Manchester. at Junction 2, head east on the A58 road. Continue on the A58 until you arrive in Littleborough.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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