Oldham Above Town was, from 1851 until c.1881, a statistical unit used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 information. It was a sub-district of the larger registration district

Registration district

A registration district in the United Kingdom is a type of administrative region which exists for the purpose of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths and civil partnerships...

 of Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

, in the then registration county

Registration county

A registration county was, in Great Britain and Ireland, a statistical unit used for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and for the output of census information. In Scotland registration counties are used for land registration purposes....

 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...

, in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The sub-district has since been abolished and is thus now obsolete. The area which the unit covered having been amalgamated finally (due to urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

 and successive legislation) as part of the town of Oldham, in the wider 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...

, in 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...

.

Unlike neighbouring Oldham Below Town

Oldham Below Town

Oldham Below Town was, from 1851 until c.1881, a statistical unit used for the gathering and organising of civil registration information, and output of census information. It was a sub-district of the larger registration district of Oldham, in the then registration county of Lancashire,...

, the area was broadly rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 and encompassed a number of small settlements and hamlets in the Pennine hills and moorland

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

, north east of Oldham town centre. The district stretched from parts of Mumps, through Greenacres to Lees, including the areas of Salem, Waterhead, New Bank, Watersheddings, and part of what is now considered 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...

.

Oldham Above Town appears on several England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

 census transcripts/returns as a place of birth and dwelling for many people of Oldham.

See also

• Districts of England
• United Kingdom Census 1851
  United Kingdom Census 1851
  The United Kingdom Census of 1851 recorded the people residing in every household on the night of 30 March 1851, and was the second of the UK censuses to include details of household members...
  
  
• Prestwich-cum-Oldham
  Prestwich-cum-Oldham
  Prestwich-cum-Oldham was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England...