Glodwick

Toponymy The name Glodwick was recorded first as Glodic in the 1190s. The first element may be a Brittonic word related to Welsh clawdd, meaning "ditch, hedge". The other parts of this estate were Crompton, Oldham, Sholver and Werneth. Glodwick later formed part of the township of Oldham within the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, in the hundred of Salford. Riots In May 2001, Glodwick was the centre of controversy as it was at the heart of the Oldham Riots - large scale rioting said to be fuelled by long-term under-lying racial tensions between local white and South Asian communities. The rioting gained international media coverage, and were said to be the worst racially-motivated riots in the United Kingdom for fifteen years prior, briefly eclipsing the sectarian violence seen in Northern Ireland. ==Landmarks==

One of Glodwick's best-known features is Alexandra Park. Greengate Street Mosque is Oldham's largest mosque. St Mark's Church stands on the hill above Oldham at Glodwick. It is the parish church for the area. Lowside Brickworks Close to Glodwick is a disused quarry that has been designated as a Site of special scientific interest (SSSI) known as Lowside Brickworks. The site is only but has considerable geological interest. It has yielded bivalves from the Carboniferous period showing how they interacted with the sediment, which also helps understanding of their morphological variation. Lowside Brickworks is one of 21 SSSIs in the Greater Manchester area. ==Second World War==

On 24 December 1944, at 5.50am, a V-1 flying bomb fell on Abbey Hills Road near to the junction with Warren Lane. The explosion killed 32 people and destroyed a large number of houses. The bomb was one of over thirty released that morning by a large formation of German Heinkel He 111 bombers just off the North East coast of England. ==Transport==

Bee Network operate the following services in Glodwck 425 service runs through Glodwick to Holts Estate via Abbeyhills and to Oldham Bus Station There is no railway station nearby, Glodwick Road station having closed in 1955, but there is a nearby Metrolink stop, which is Oldham Mumps, currently providing links to Manchester and Chorlton. ==Notable people==

• William Joyce, was a short-term resident of Glodwick. • Joseph Lees (1748–1824) - regional dialect poet from Glodwick, who wrote Jone o Grinfilt. He was a hand-loom weaver and schoolteacher accustomed to "study on his seatboard, and when he had thrown a few ideas into rhyme he stopt picking-o'er and wrote it down". ==References==