Oldham, a town, a township, several chapelries, two sub-districts, and a district, in Lancashire. The town stands on an elevation between the rivers Irk and Medlock, near the source of the former and near the W bank of the upper part of the latter, on branches of the Northwestern and the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways, at the junction-terminus of the Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne and Guide-Bridge railway, and at a branch canal from the Rochdale and other canals, 7 miles N E of Manchester. The Roman road from Westmoreland into Yorkshire passed through its site, and can still be traced in the vicinity; but scarcely any other vestiges of antiquity about it either meet the eye or figure on record. The town, in despite of its name, is all comparatively modern, and makes little or no appearance in history. It originated in the introduction of textile manufactures, seemingly in the time of Charles I.; it acquired an impulse by the introduction of the factory-system about the year 1770; it acquired a still greater impulse by the expiration of Arkwright's patents in 1783 and 1789, and by the introduction of the steam-engine; it got great advantage from the existence of numerous and valuable coal mines in the immediate vicinity; it reaped benefit from successively the water-power of the neighbouring streams, the formation of the canals, and the formation of the railways; and, under combination of these advantages with local enterprise and skill, it rose, within the limits of the township, from a pop. of 12,024 in 1801 to a pop. of 72,333 in 1861.