Middleton,

Middleton, a town of Lancashire, on the Irk, 3 miles W. of Oldham and 6 NNE. of Manchester. Dating mainly from 1791, when it received a charter for a weekly market, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1886, the borough area including the townships of Middleton, Tonge, and Alkrington, with parts of Hopwood and Thornham. It is chiefly dependent upon its manufactures of silk and cotton, and has an interesting parish church, a grammar-school (1572), public baths and libraries, &c. Pop. (1851) 5740; (1891) 21,310.