Radcliffe, United Kingdom

At 53°33′41″N 2°19′36″W (53.5615°, −2.3268°) and 170 miles (274 km) northwest of central London, Radcliffe lies in the Irwell Valley on the course of the River Irwell. The towns of Bury and Bolton lie to the northeast and northwest. For the purposes of the Office for National Statistics, Radcliffe forms a northerly part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, with Manchester city centre 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the south-southeast.

Radcliffe's position on the River Irwell has proved important in its history and development as the river provided a source of water for local industry. Radcliffe E'es, a level plain formed along the north bank of the Irwell during the previous ice age, is now derelict and the planned location of a new school. From a highpoint of 500 feet (152 m) above sea level in the northwest of Radcliffe, the surface gradually descends, particularly in the south and east, being the lowest along the River Irwell. The geology is represented by coal measure.

Radcliffe's first market was built by the Earl of Wilton and opened in 1851. The town was home to twelve Co-op stores, the largest of which was on Stand Lane. The four-storey structure, built in 1877, had shops and offices on the ground floor, and a large area for public meetings on the second floor. The building was truncated to two stories in June 1971, and eventually demolished. Two more Co-op stores were located on Bury Street and Cross Lane. The current market hall, built in 1937 on a different site to the old market, suffered a devastating fire in 1980 but was later restored. Radcliffe was once served by several banks including the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, the Union Bank of Manchester, and Parr's Bank ltd.

Radcliffe has two weekly newspapers, the Radcliffe Times, based in Bury since its merger with the Bury Times Group, and the Salford-based The Advertiser, which also covers the neighbouring areas of Prestwich and Whitefield. The main gates to the East Lancashire Paper mill (mill closed in 2001) were, in May 2018, installed in the centre of Radcliffe's Festival Gardens off Church Street.

Radcliffe's wealth as a mill town gave rise to many outlets for the entertainment of its population. These included cinemas and public houses. Several cinemas were built in the town, including the Picturedrome in Water Street, and an Odeon cinema, built in 1937 along Dale Street. Whittaker Street public baths were built in 1898 and demolished in 1971. The swimming pool on Green Street which replaced the old Whittaker Street baths was itself closed down after storm damaged the main facilities in 2013 disclosing high levels of asbestos in the building super-structure. As a replacement a new £945,000 25-metre length modular above-ground swimming pool was erected in 2015 at the recently closed Riverside High School

on Spring Lane (formally Coney Green High School). The pool complex also includes a fully equipped public gymnasium. A public library was opened in 1907 on a site donated by Andrew Carnegie, who also contributed £5,000 (£520,000 today) towards the cost of the building. Two branch libraries were opened in Ainsworth between 1933 and 1935. A museum was located in the upper rooms of Close House before it was demolished in March 1969.

One of the earliest schools in the parish was the Close Wesleyan Day School, a Dame school opened around 1840. St Thomas's day school was opened on 4 March 1861, and housed over 500 children. Due to overcrowding and the risk of subsidence caused by local mining activity, the school was rebuilt on a new site along School Street, provided by the Earl of Wilton. It was opened in October 1877 by Lady Wilton. On the opposite side of the town St John's school started life in 1860 as an institute along Irwell Street, and by 1864 contained 120 children. The buildings were enlarged in 1869. In 1897 eight teachers and a monitor taught 358 children. In 1899 the school leaving age was twelve, and many of the senior class were "half-timers" who would spend half the day at school, and the other half at work. This system was abolished in 1919. Regular epidemics of scarlet fever, chicken pox, mumps, and especially measles, meant that in 1897 and 1903 the school was temporarily closed. St John's School and the nearby church were demolished in the 1970s. Radcliffe also had a technical school on Whittaker Street. Formally opened by Lord Stanley on 7 November 1896, it adjoined the public baths on Whittaker Street. The building is now used as council offices.