SADDLEWORTH - a piece of Yorkshire stranded on the Lancashire side of the Pennines.

Prior to 1974 Saddleworth was a semi-autonomous Urban District in the West Riding of Yorkshire embracing seven Pennine villages, with its administrative centre in the village of Uppermill. The population of just over 25,000 is spread over 18,485 acres of which 12,000 acres is moorland and it has often jokingly (but probably accurately) been asserted that there are more sheep than people.

Despite the area's geography, the villages share a real community of interest and its rural heritage has left it rich in all manner of clubs and societies.

Fortunately, on the demise of the Urban District in 1974, it was replaced by a successor Parish Council so that whilst it is now a part of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Saddleworth still preserves its separate identity and is proud of its Yorkshire roots.