Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of, Oldham rose to prominence in the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture.

[12] The earliest known evidence of a human presence in what is now Oldham is attested by the discovery of Neolithic flint arrow-heads and workings found at Werneth and Besom Hill, implying habitation 7–10,000 years ago.

[15] Although Anglo-Saxons occupied territory around the area centuries earlier,[11][16] Oldham as a permanent, named place of dwelling is believed to date from 865, when Danish invaders established a settlement called Aldehulme.

[11][17] From its founding in the 9th century until the Industrial Revolution, Oldham is believed to have been little more than a scattering of small and insignificant settlements spread across the moorland and dirt tracks that linked Manchester to York.

[11][18] Although not mentioned in the Domesday Book, Oldham does appear in legal documents from the Middle Ages, invariably recorded as territory under the control of minor ruling families and barons.

"[6] 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.

[20] At 700 feet (200 m) above sea level and with no major river or visible natural resources, Oldham had poor geographic attributes compared with other settlements for investors and their engineers.

As a result, Oldham played no part in the initial period of the Industrial Revolution,[3][18] although it did later become seen as obvious territory to industrialise because of its convenient position between the labour forces of Manchester and southwest Yorkshire.

[21] It overtook the major urban centres of Manchester and Bolton as the result of a mill building boom in the 1860s and 1870s, a period during which Oldham became the most productive cotton-spinning town in the world.

[25] By 1863 a committee had been formed, and with aid from central government, land was purchased with the intention of employing local cotton workers to construct Alexandra Park, which opened on 28 August 1865.

Platt Brothers became the largest textile machine makers in the world, employing over 15,000 people in the 1890s,[27] twice the number of their nearest rivals Dobson & Barlow in Bolton and Asa Lees on Greenacres Moor.

[3] He served a seven-year apprenticeship with Sir Charles Barry, before starting a structural engineering practice in Oldham in 1847 that went on to become the pre-eminent mill architect firm in Lancashire.

[31] Oldham's social history, like that of other former unenfranchised towns, is marked by politicised civil disturbances, as well as events related to the Luddite, Suffragette and other Labour movements from the working classes.

[33] On 20 April 1812, a "large crowd of riotous individuals" compelled local retailers to sell foods at a loss, whilst on the same day Luddites numbering in their thousands, many of whom were from Oldham, attacked a cotton mill in nearby Middleton.

Saddleworth and the South Pennines are close to the east, whilst on all other sides, Oldham is bound by other neighbouring towns, including Ashton-under-Lyne, Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton and Shaw and Crompton, with little or no green space between them.

In 1849, Angus Reach of Inverness said: The visitor to Oldham will find it essentially a mean-looking straggling town, built upon both sides and crowning the ridge of one of the outlying spurs which branch from Manchester, the neighbouring 'backbone of England'.

[64] Coldhurst, an area along Oldham's northern boundary with Royton, was once a chapelry and the site of considerable industry and commerce, including coal mining, cotton spinning and hat manufacture.

Due to the town's prevalence as an industrial centre and thus a hub for employment, Oldham attracted migrant workers throughout its history, including those from wider-England, Scotland, Ireland and Poland.

[74] During the 1950s and 1960s, in an attempt to fill the shortfall of workers and revitalise local industries, citizens of the wider Commonwealth of Nations were encouraged to migrate to Oldham and other British towns.

[80][81] Since the deindustrialisation of Oldham in the mid-20th century, these industries have been replaced by home shopping, publishing, healthcare and food processing sectors, though factory-generated employment retains a significant presence.

[7] It has been extensively redeveloped during the last few decades, and its two shopping centres, Town Square and the Spindles, now provide one of the largest covered retail areas in Greater Manchester.

It houses several of Europe's largest stained glass works, a series of ceilings and skylights created by local artist Brian Clarke in celebration of the life and music of one of Oldham's famous sons, composer and conductor Sir William Walton.

[85][86][87] The sometimes disputed claim of trade in deep-fried chipped potatoes is said to have been started around 1858–60 from an outlet owned by a John Lees, on what is the present site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market.

[91][92] Long existing as an industrial district, Hollinwood is home to the Northern Counties Housing Association,[93] Ferranti Technologies is an electronic, electromechanical and electrical engineering company based in Waterhead.

[101] A tour taken by local councillors and media concluded with an account that "chunks of masonry are falling from the ceilings on a daily basis ... the floors are littered with dead pigeons and ... revealed that the building is literally rotting away".

The Oldham Parish Church of St. Mary with St. Peter, in its present form, dates from 1830 and was designed in the Gothic Revival Style by Richard Lane, a Manchester-based architect.

[114] The geography of Oldham constrained the development of major transport infrastructure,[76] with the former County Borough Council suggesting that "if it had not grown substantially before the railway age it would surely have been overlooked".

The extensive use of glass and stainless steel maximises visibility, and there is a carefully co-ordinated family of information fittings, posters and seating, using robust natural materials for floors and plinths.

Notable media personalities from Oldham include Gold Logie award-winning television game show host Tony Barber, radio announcer, singer and media personality, presenter Nick Grimshaw, actors Eric Sykes, Bernard Cribbins, Christopher Biggins and Ricky Whittle, TV host Phillip Schofield,[84] actresses Shobna Gulati, Dora Bryan, Anne Kirkbride, Olivia Cooke, Sarah Lancashire and Cora Kirk, science educator Brian Cox, television presenter John Stapleton and comedy double act Cannon and Ball.

Notable musicians from Oldham include the Inspiral Carpets, N-Trance and Mark Owen of boyband Take That as well as the founding members of the rock band Barclay James Harvest.