Ashton-under-Lyne, United Kingdom

The eastern terminus of the early medieval linear earthwork Nico Ditch is in Ashton Moss; it was probably used as an administrative boundary and dates from the eighth or ninth century. Legend claims it was built in a single night in 869 or 870, as a defence against Viking invaders. Further evidence of Dark Age activity in the area comes from the town's name. The "Ashton" part probably derives from the Anglo-Saxon meaning "settlement by ash trees"; the origin of the "under-Lyne" element is less clear: it could derive from the British lemo meaning elm, or refer to Ashton being "under the line" of the Pennines. This means that Ashton probably became a settlement some time after the Romans left Britain in the fifth century. An early form of the town's name included the morpheme "burh"; this indicates that, in the 11th century, Ashton and Bury were two of the most important towns in Lancashire. The "under Lyne" suffix was not widely used until the mid-19th century, when it became useful for distinguishing the town from other places called Ashton.

The Domesday Survey of 1086 does not directly mention Ashton, perhaps because only a partial survey of the area had been taken. There is doubt whether the St Michael's Church mentioned in the Domesday entry for the ancient parish of Manchester was in Ashton.

The town itself was first mentioned in the 12th century when the manor was part of the barony of Manchester. The town was also spelt Asheton, Asshton and Assheton in this period. By the late 12th century, a family who adopted the name Assheton held the manor on behalf of the Gresles, barons of Manchester. Ashton Old Hall was a manor house, the administrative centre of the manor and the seat of the de Ashton or de Assheton family. With three wings, the hall was described by historians Nevell and Walker as "one of the finest great houses in the North West" of the 14th century. It has been recognised as important for being one of the few great houses in south-east Lancashire and possibly one of the few halls influenced by French design in the country. The town was granted a royal charter in 1414, which allowed it to hold a fair twice a year, and a market on every Monday, making the settlement a market town.

According to popular tradition, Sir Ralph de Assheton, who was lord of the manor in the mid-14th century and known as the Black Knight, was an unpopular and cruel feudal lord. After his death, his unpopularity led the locals to parade an effigy of him around the town each Easter Monday and collect money. The effigy would then be hung up, shot and set on fire, before being torn apart and thrown into the crowd. The first recorded occurrence of the event was in 1795, although the tradition may be older; it continued into the 1830s.

The manor remained in the possession of the Assheton family until 1514, when their male line ended. The lordship of the manor passed to Sir George Booth, great-great-grandson of Sir Thomas Ashton, devolving through the Booth family until the Earls of Stamford inherited it through marriage in 1758. The Booth-Greys then held the manor until the 19th century; their patronage, despite being absentee lords, was probably the stimulus for Ashton's growth of a large-scale domestic-based textile industry in the 17th century. In the medieval period, farming was important in Ashton, particularly arable farming.

With the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century, the textile industry in the town boomed. It continued to expand until the cotton famine of 1861–65, after which the industry remained steady until it collapsed after the overseas markets shut down in the 1920s. Until the introduction of the cotton trade in 1769, Ashton had been considered "bare, wet and almost worthless", but the introduction of the trade transformed the town's economy; in the 1700s, 33% of those with jobs worked in textiles and 36% in agriculture. Pre-industrial Ashton was centred on four roads: Town Street, Crickets Lane, Old Street and Cowhill Lane. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the town was replanned, with a grid pattern of roads. As a result, very little remains of the previous town. In 1730, a workhouse was established that consisted of a house and two cottages; it later came to be used as a hospital. The Ashton Canal was constructed in the 1790s to transport coal from the area to Manchester, with a branch to the coal pits at Fairbottom.

Domestic fustian and woollen weaving have a long history in the town, dating back to at least the Early Modern period. Accounts dating from 1626 highlight that Humphrey Chetham had dealings with clothworkers in Ashton. Coal has been mined in the area since at least the 17th century, but it was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that demand for coal increased, which led to an expansion of the town's coal industry. The produce of the collieries was transported by canal to Manchester. The industry began to decline during the late 19th century and, by 1904, only the Ashton Moss Colliery was still operational, the last colliery to be opened in the area.