A rail service was provided by the Oldham Loop Line that was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

Oldham's soils were too thin and poor to sustain crop growing, and so for decades prior to industrialisation the area was used for grazing sheep, which provided the raw material for a local woollen weaving trade.

[6] It was in the second half of the 19th century, that Oldham became the world centre for spinning cotton yarn.

[8][9] By 1871 Oldham had more spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined.

The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 to attempt to rationalise and save the industry.

He received an OBE for "service to the cotton industry" in 1987, a result of the health and safety record he built up in Manor Mill.

Since 1997, Manor Mill has been the home of Ultimate Products, a brand house owning household names like Beldray and Salter.

[14] In March 2021, Ultimate Products announced a £1.8m investment into a new 4th floor office area at their Manor Mill headquarters completed in the summer of the same year.

[15] Designed by George Stott, the Manor Mill was erected in 1906, and is characterised by its impressive copper-covered dome after the Byzantine style.