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Blackley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Blackley | |
|
  Blackley shown within Greater Manchester |
|
| Population | 50,000[citation needed] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | City of Manchester |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M9 |
| Dial code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Blackley (Pronounced blake-ley (/'bleɪklɪ/)) is a district of Manchester, in North West England. It is about two and a half miles northeast of Manchester City Centre.
Blackley is on the east side of Rochdale Road just south of Boggart Hole Clough. Rochdale Road is a major route from the Manchester to the north and the M60 motorway (about a mile and a half away).
In the middle of the 17th century, Blackley_a hamlet mentioned in the Domesday Book—was a village of just 107 inhabitants. Today the area is home to more than 50,000 residents.[citation needed]
Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Blæclēah = "dark wood" or "dark clearing".
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Blackley is well served in terms of green space and parks with significant open spaces such as Tweedale Common, Irk Valley, Blackley Forest, and Nutbank Common as well as Heaton Park and Boggart Hole Clough. Heaton Park, at 259 hectares (641 acres), comprises 25% of the city's total green space. It is sometimes claimed to be one of Europe's largest, though it is considerably less than half of the size of parks such as Phoenix Park in Dublin, the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, Sutton Park in Birmingham, and Richmond Park in London.
Blackley Golf Club Whilst originally situated several miles closer to the centre of Manchester, Blackley Golf Club has occupied its present site close to the New M60 Motorway since 1937 following the acquisition of the original course by Manchester City Council. The current Club House, formally White Moss Farm, dates from the turn of the Century.
It was also an industrial centre of international status. Here is found Avecia, successor to Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and AstraZeneca. It was in the ICI laboratories that not only dyestuffs but also medical breakthroughs such as the anti-malarial drug Paludrine, and Antrycide to combat African sleeping sickness were discovered. The area is currently being redeveloped with modern housing for the 21st century.
Blackley has a number of primary schools which include:
- Crab Lane Primary School
- St Clare's RC Primary School
- Camberwell Park School
- Victoria Avenue Community Primary School
- Bowker Vale Primary School
Blackley has two secondary state schools, which are Plant Hill Arts College (Specialist Arts College) and Our Lady's RC Sports College (Roman Catholic Sports College). Both schools, however, rank poorly in the Manchester district in terms of results achieved and attendance. Also, both schools have in excess of 800 pupils each. blackley was also served until the 1960's by the now defunct Blackley Technical High School.
This is an area with a mix of housing but mainly council homes—owner-occupied, private renting and housing association. It is part of the "North Manchester Regeneration Area"—a special project set up by the City Council and private company Bellways to improve existing housing, build new homes and improve the environment. There are about 240 council homes, all managed by Northwards Housing. About 150 are flats in small blocks. The rest are houses (mostly two- or three-bedroom, with a handful of larger properties).
Buses: There are very frequent buses along Rochdale Road from Manchester to Middleton and Rochdale. The vibrant city centre, with its shops, entertainment and leisure facilities is just a few minutes journey. Local buses also run along Moston Lane.
Metrolink: There also frequent trams from Bowker Vale Metrolink station and Heaton Park Metrolink station, rail stations to and from Manchester city center and as far as Altrincham and to the north as far as Bury—see Manchester Metrolink.
Taxis: Blackley is served by a number of local and city taxi services, including Avenue Cars.
By car: Served by main roads that include Roachdale road, Victoria Avenue, it is also relatively easy to get to Manchester's motorway (M60).
Labour first won this seat during their landslide victory of 1945, only to lose it again in 1951 when Winston Churchill led the Conservatives back to power. The next time Labour wrestled the seat from the Tories was in 1964 when the party again formed a new government. Since then, Blackley has ceased to be a weather vane seat which swings with the country and instead has stayed with Labour in every subsequent election.
The seat lies in the north of Manchester and borders the suburbs of Prestwich (in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury) to the west and Moston, Chadderton and Failsworth (in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham) to the east. Alkrington (in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale) borders to the north and the Manchester district of Harpurhey borders to the south. It is mainly a residential area of declining suburbs, with deprivation particularly noticeable to the north of the seat. The current MP is Graham Stringer (Labour).
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