Crossbank is an area of Lees

Lees, Greater Manchester

The village consists of a small cluster of shops and businesses on either side of the A669 Lees Road, surrounded by some terraced houses and some small estates...

, a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It has a population of 219,600, and spans . The borough is named after its largest town, Oldham, but also includes the outlying towns of Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, the village of...

, Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England.

Historically

Historic counties of England

The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...

 a part of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, the name Crossbank is thought to derive from the days of the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 when a cross was etched into an earthen bank to denote lands granted to them.

Prior to 1894, Crossbank had formed a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 linked with the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne

Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...

, and lying within the Oldham parliamentary borough

Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)

Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

. Following the Local Government Act 1894

Local Government Act 1894

The Local Government Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level under the Local Government Act 1888...

, Crossbank constituted one of seven civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

es within the Limehurst Rural District

Limehurst Rural District

Limehurst was, from 1894 to 1954, a rural district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England.-History:Ashton-under-Lyne Rural Sanitary District was created in 1872 and included parishes in both Cheshire and Lancashire. The Local Government Act 1894 redesignated rural sanitary districts as...

 and administrative county

Administrative counties of England

Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...

 of Lancashire. Unlike the other six parishes, Crossbank was an exclave of Limehurst lying to the north, bordering Lees and Waterhead in Oldham

Waterhead, Greater Manchester

Waterhead , is an area of Oldham, and an electoral ward of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England...

. In 1914, owing to urbanisation, the civil parish was abolished and its area incorporated into the Lees Urban District

Lees Urban District

Lees was from 1894 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England.It was created an urban district in 1894 by the Local Government Act 1894 and included the civil parish of Lees and part of the Crossbank hamlet...

.