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{{Infobox England county| name = Greater Manchester | motto = | map = ]
''Shown within [England'' | status = [Metropolitan county &
[Ceremonial counties of England | origin = 1974
([Local Government Act 1972) | region = [North West England | arearank = [List of ceremonial counties of England by area | area_km2 = 1276 | adminarearank = | adminarea_km2 = | adminhq = | iso = | ons = 2A | nutscode = 2 | nuts3 = UKD3 | poprank = [List of ceremonial counties of England by population | popestdate = 2005 | pop = 2,547,700 | density_km2 = 1997 | adminpoprank = | adminpop = | ethnicity = 91.1% White
5.6% S.Asian
1.2% Black British
2.1% Mixed Race and Chinese | council = ''No [county council since 1986.'' | mps = | subdivname = Metropolitan Boroughs | subdivmap = {{Greater Manchester imagemap--> | subdivs =
  • Manchester
  • Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
  • Tameside
  • Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
  • Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
  • Metropolitan Borough of Bury
  • Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
  • Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
  • City of Salford
  • Trafford
    • -->

    Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England by population. Corrected - 20/12/05 - T 09: Quinary age groups and sex for local authorities in the United Kingdom; estimated resident population; Mid-2004 Population Estimates, National Statistics Online, 2006. URL accessed February 28, 2007. It was created as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. The county consists of ten metropolitan boroughs, including the Manchester and the City of Salford.

    Greater Manchester is landlocked, and as a Ceremonial counties of England borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Merseyside. The Greater Manchester Urban Area is the List of conurbations in the United Kingdom, and spans across most of the county's territory.

    Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authority. However, the metropolitan county, which is some , Greater Manchester Fire Service, stockport.gov.uk URL accessed December 22, 2006. continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference. Office of National Statistics - Gazetteer of the old and new geographies of the United Kingdom, p48. URL accessed December 14, 2006. Metropolitan Counties and Districts, Beginners' Guide to UK Geography, Office for National Statistics, September 17, 2004. URL accessed January 11, 2007. North West England Counties, The Boundary Commission for England. URL accessed February 14, 2007.

    Prior to the creation of the metropolitan county, the name SELNEC was used for the area from the initials 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire'. Parts of the Historic counties of England of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire covered the area that is now Greater Manchester.

    History Origins The modern county of Greater Manchester was created in 1974. However, the history and heritage of its constituent settlements and parts stem back for centuries. Manchester is home to a c.2000 year old Roman fort in Castlefield, and other towns (such as Oldham and Bolton) played a central role during the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, due to the economic and industrial success of the modern Greater Manchester towns and cities, the connurbation has been forming for the last few centuries and the need for local government and geo-administrative change to reflect this, was postulated in as early as the 1910s.

    The first known recorded use of the term Greater Manchester was in 1914 as part of a report put forward as a response to what was considered a successful creation of the County of London in 1889. The report suggested that a county should be set up to recognise the "Manchester known in commerce" and referred to the areas that formed Cottonopolis, or that of South-Lancashire and part of Cheshire.Swarbrick, J., (February 1914), Greater Manchester: The Future Municipal Government of Large Cities, pp.12-15.

    Conurbations in England tend to build-up at the Historic counties of EnglandDearlove, J., (1979), The reorganisation of British local government. and Greater Manchester is no exception.

    Most of Greater Manchester lies within the ancient county boundaries of Lancashire; those areas south of the River Mersey and River Tame, Greater Manchester in Cheshire. The Saddleworth area and a small part of Mossley are historically part of Yorkshire and in the south-east a small part in Derbyshire. The areas which were incorporated into Greater Manchester in 1974 previously formed parts of the Administrative counties of England of Cheshire, Lancashire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and of various independent county boroughs.

    Greater Manchester is today made up of some seventy former Local government in the United Kingdom from these former boundaries, and is the only urban area in the United Kingdom outside Greater London ever to officially bear the name "Greater".

    Redcliffe-Maud Report The Local Government Act 1958 designated the "South East Lancashire" area (which despite its name included north east Cheshire as well), a Special Review Area. The Local Government Commission for England (1958 - 1966) never completed its report before it was abolished in favour of the Redcliffe-Maud Report. Draft recommendations were presented in December 1965 and would have seen a new county based on the Manchester conurbation, with nine most-purpose boroughs, corresponding to the modern Greater Manchester boroughs (excluding Wigan).

    The Royal Commission's 1969 report, known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report, proposed a 'SELNEC' (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire) 'metropolitan area'. This had roughly the same northern boundary as today's Greater Manchester, but covered much more territory in north-east Cheshire including Macclesfield and Warrington, and also covered Glossop in Derbyshire. The metropolitan area was to be divided into nine metropolitan districts, based on Wigan, Bolton, Bury/Rochdale, Warrington, Manchester (including Salford and Old Trafford, Manchester), Oldham, Altrincham, Stockport and Tameside.

    In 1969 a SELNEC Passenger Transport Authority was set up, which covered an area smaller than the proposed SELNEC, but different to the eventual Greater Manchester. Compared to the Redcliffe-Maud area it excluded Macclesfield, Warrington, and Knutsford, but still including Glossop and Saddleworth, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It excluded Wigan, which was in both the Redcliffe-Maud area and in the eventual Greater Manchester (but had not been part of the SEL special review area).

    Although the Redcliffe-Maud report was rejected by the Conservative Party (UK) government after the United Kingdom general election, 1970, it was committed to local government reform, and accepted the need for a metropolitan county centred on the conurbation surrounding Manchester. Its original proposal was much smaller than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's SELNEC, but further fringe areas such as Wilmslow, Warrington and Glossop were trimmed from the edges and remained instead in the shire counties. Other late changes included the separation of the proposed Bury/Rochdale authority (retained from the Redcliffe-Maud report) into the Metropolitan Borough of Bury and the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale.

    Post 1974 Greater Manchester was eventually established on 1 April 1974. It is the largest of all the Metropolitan counties of England in that it contained ten boroughs (whilst Greater London is clearly larger with 32 London boroughs and the City of London, it is not officially a metropolitan county).

    Some noted historians of Manchester have claimed that "With the creation of the Greater Manchester county, came statutory recognition to what was already as a result of natural evolution, a distinct and recognised region, bound together by innumerable ties extending back over the centuries. Greater Manchester... is the logical outcome of centuries of shared tradition."Frangopulo, N.J., (1977), Tradition in Action: The Historical Evolution of the Greater Manchester County, EP Publishing, Wakefield.

    On 31 March 1986, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished as part of the Local Government Act 1985. Upon its abolition, most of the functions of the council were devolved to the ten Greater Manchester metropolitan district councils, and some of its functions such as emergency services and public transport were taken over by Local government in the United Kingdom#joint-boards and continued to be run on a county-wide basis. After its abolition, the Association of Greater Manchester Local Authorities was established to continue much of the county-wide services of the county council. The metropolitan county itself however continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference. Office of National Statistics - Gazetteer of the old and new geographies of the United Kingdom, p48. URL accessed December 14, 2006. Metropolitan Counties and Districts, Beginners' Guide to UK Geography, Office for National Statistics, September 17, 2004. URL accessed January 11, 2007. North West England Counties, The Boundary Commission for England. URL accessed February 14, 2007. Greater Manchester metropolitan county is also used as a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics geocode standard for referencing the administrative division of European Union countries for statistical purposes. Regional Portrait of Greater Manchester - 5.1 Spatial Structure, BISER Europe Regions Domain Reporting, 2003. URL accessed February 17, 2007.

    Unlike most other modern counties (including Merseyside and Tyne and Wear), Greater Manchester was never adopted as an official Postal counties of the United Kingdom by Royal Mail for postal addresses and delivery. As part of the Post Office's policy review in 1973, it was noted that "Greater Manchester" would be unlikely to be adopted because of confusion with the M postal area. And so the component areas of Greater Manchester held on to their pre-1974 postal counties until 1996, when they were abolished.

    On 1 July 1997, the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester further became a Ceremonial counties of England by way of the Lieutenancies Act 1997. These ceremonial counties are increasingly being seen as the main geographic frames of reference within England.

    Geography satellite image of Greater Manchester.Greater Manchester is a landlocked county. The Pennines rise along the eastern side of the county, through parts of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside. The West Pennine Moors, as well as a number of coalfields (mainly sandstones and shales) lie in the west of the county.

    The rivers River Mersey and River Tame, Greater Manchester run through the county boundaries, both of which rise in the Pennines. Other rivers run through the county, including the River Beal, the River Douglas and the River Irk.

    Black Chew Head is the highest point (List of English counties by highest point) of Greater Manchester, rising 542 metres (1778.2 ft) above sea-level, within the parish of Saddleworth.Dawson, A., (1992),The Relative Hills of Britain - Chapter 6: The County Tops, Cicerone Press, Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

    There is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Greater Manchester, but overwhelmingly the land use in the county is urban. It has a strong regional central business district, formed by Manchester City Centre and the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford. However, Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts, each of which has a major town centre - and in some cases more than one.

    Greater Manchester is arguably the most complex urban area in the United Kingdom outside London, and this is reflected in the density of its transport network and the scale of needs for investment to meet the growing and diverse movement demands generated by its development pattern.

    Climate The climate of Greater Manchester is generally temperate, with few extremes of temperature or weather. The mean temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom; whereas annual rainfall and average amount of sunshine is slightly below the average for the UK. These are average temperature and rainfall figures taken between 1971 and 2000 at the Met Office weather station at Manchester Airport:

    Governance ).

    Metropolitan boroughs Local government in the United Kingdom in Greater Manchester is currently provided by the councils of ten Districts of England, known as metropolitan boroughs, these are: Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Metropolitan Borough of Bury, the Manchester, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, the City of Salford, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.

    Each Metropolitan Borough comprises a large town (usually having formed a county borough before 1974) together with the surrounding smaller towns, villages and countryside. Most of the names are self explanatory, for example the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is centred on the town of Stockport, though includes other smaller towns, such as Cheadle, Gatley, and Bramhall. Manchester: Historical geography, www.genuki.org.uk, May 31, 2006. URL accessed March 28, 2007.

    The names of two of the metropolitan boroughs are not as obvious however. For these, a neutral name was chosen because, at the time they were created, there was no agreement on the town to be put forward as the central business district. These boroughs are Tameside and Trafford, centred today on Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford, respectively. Manchester: Historical geography, www.genuki.org.uk, May 31, 2006. URL accessed March 28, 2007.

    For the first twelve years after the county was created in 1974, the county had a two-tier system of local government in the United Kingdom, and the metropolitan borough councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. However in 1986, along with the five other metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs, which effectively became unitary authorities.

    Various civil parishes exist in certain parts of Greater Manchester: see list of civil parishes in Greater Manchester.

    Greater Manchester council's County Hall, was located in what is now Westminster House, in Piccadilly Gardens, central Manchester.

    County level functions Although the county council was abolished a number of local government functions take place at the county level.

    The ten authorities of Greater Manchester co-operate through the Association of Greater Manchester Local Authorities (AGMLA), which meets to create a co-ordinated county-wide approach to many issues. The AGMLA funds some county-wide bodies such as the Greater Manchester County Records Office. Through the AGMLA, the ten authorities of Greater Manchester co-operate on many policy issues, including jointly producing a county-wide Local Transport Plan. Greater Manchester Local Transport Plan, www.gmltp.co.uk. URL accessed December 12, 2006.

    In addition to this, some local services are still provided county-wide, but are now administered by statutory Local government in the United Kingdom#Joint-boards of the ten districts. These are:



    These joint-boards which are made up of councillors appointed from each of the ten boroughs.

    The ten-boroughs jointly own the Manchester Airport Group which controls Manchester Airport and three other UK airports. Other services are directly funded and managed by the local councils.

    Ceremonial county Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county with its own Lord-Lieutenant. The Local Government Act 1972 provided that the whole of the area to be covered by the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester would also be included in the Duchy of Lancaster - extending the duchy to include areas which were formerly in the counties of Cheshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Thus, the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sherriff of Greater Manchester are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster rather than, as is more usual, the recommendation of The Lord Chancellor.

    The first Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester was Sir William Downward who held the title from 1974 through to 1987. The current Lord Lieutenant is Colonel Sir John Timmins.

    As a geographic county, Greater Manchester is utilised by the government (via the Office for National Statistics) for the gathering of county-wide statistics, and organising and collating general register and census material.

    Parliamentary representation .Greater Manchester is divided into 28 United Kingdom constituencies - 18 Borough constituencies and 10 County constituencies.

    Most of Greater Manchester is controlled by the Labour party (UK), and is generally considered a Labour stronghold, with only four constituencies (since the United Kingdom general election, 2005) belonging to the Liberal Democrats, and one constituency to the Conservative party (UK).

    Greater Manchester Urban Area , highlighted in red, against the boundaries of the Metropolitan County.The Greater Manchester Urban Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics consisting of the large conurbation surrounding and including the City of Manchester. Its territory spans much, but not all of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.

    It discludes settlements such as Wigan and Marple from the Greater Manchester county boundaries (Wigan itself forming the Wigan Urban Area), but includes some settlements which are outside of the county boundaries, such as Wilmslow and Alderley Edge in Cheshire, and Whitworth, Lancashire in Lancashire.

    Although neither the Greater Manchester county, nor the Greater Manchester Urban Area have been granted city status in the United Kingdom, European Union literature suggests that the conurbation surrounding Manchester constitutes as a homogonous urban city region. State of the English Cities: Volume 1 Produced for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, (2006). Online Report Accessed December 17, 2006.

    Economy , the central business district of Greater Manchester, is a major centre of trade and commerce.Due to the overwhelmingly urban, built-up land use of Greater Manchester, agriculture plays only a minor role, with the county ranking within the bottom third in the United Kingdom for employment in the agricultural sector. Regional Portrait of Greater Manchester - 6 Economic Factors, BISER Europe Regions Domain Reporting, 2003. URL accessed February 17, 2007.

    Manchester City Centre, the central business district of Greater Manchester, is a major centre of trade and commerce. Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the News media, higher education and commerce. It is regarded as the third best place to locate business in the UK, 11 July 2007. is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors and now often considered to be the Second city of the United Kingdom.
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    The Trafford Centre is one of the largest indoor shopping centre's in Europe and is located within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford.

    This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Greater Manchester South at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of Pound Sterling.{| class="wikitable"|-! Year || Regional Gross Value AddedComponents may not sum to totals due to rounding || Agricultureincludes hunting and forestry || Industryincludes energy and construction || Servicesincludes financial intermediation services indirectly measured|-| 1995 || 15,242 || 32 || 4,077 || 11,133|-| 2000 || 21,604 || 20 || 4,879 || 16,705|-| 2003 || 24,950 || 26 || 4,788 || 20,136|}

    This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Greater Manchester North at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.{| class="wikitable"|-! Year || Regional Gross Value Added || Agriculture || Industry || Services|-| 1995 || 10,126 || 27 || 4,267 || 5,833|-| 2000 || 11,391 || 18 || 3,938 || 7,435|-| 2003 || 13,350 || 22 || 4,185 || 9,143|}

    Industrial Revolution and textiles , is an archetypal redbrick cotton mill built during the Industrial Revolution. Its structural style remains a common site throughout Greater Manchester.Encompassing several former mill towns, Greater Manchester has been described as "one of the classic areas of industrial and urban growth in Britain, the result of a combination of forces that came together in the 18th and 19th centuries; a pheonmenal rise in poulation, the appearance of the specialist industrial town, a transport revolution and weak local lordship". Much of the county used to be at the forefront of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and beyond into the early 20th century. and this is represented by former cotton mill found throughout the county.

    The territory that makes up Greater Manchester experienced a rapid decline of these traditional sectors, partially during the Lancashire Cotton famine brought on by the American Civil War, but mainly as part of the Great Depression that occurred during the 20th century. However, considerable industrial restructuring has helped the region to recover. Regional Portrait of Greater Manchester - 6 Economic Factors, BISER Europe Regions Domain Reporting, 2003. URL accessed February 17, 2007.

    Historically, the docks at Salford Quays were an industrial port, though are now (following a period of disuse) a successfully redeveloped commercial and residential area which includes the Imperial War Museum North, The Lowry and is also earmarked to become a major centre for the BBC. Salford bid wins BBC move north

    Demography Greater Manchester has a population of 2,547,700, making it the List of ceremonial counties of England by population in the United Kingdom (after Greater London and the West Midlands (county)). It is the seventh most densely populated county of England.

    Greater Manchester is a multicultural agglomeration with significant ethnic minority population comprising 8.49% of the total population. Regional Portrait of Greater Manchester - 5.3 Population Structure/Migration (demography), BISER Europe Regions Domain Reporting, 2003. URL accessed February 18, 2007.

    Below is a table outlining population totals of the area for every ten years since 1801. Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise Greater Manchester.

    {| class="wikitable"|-!Year!!Population!!!!Year!!Population!!!!Year!!Population|-! 1801| 328,609|rowspan="7" style="background-color: " |! 1871| 1,590,102|rowspan="7" style="background-color: " |! 1941| 2,693,775|-! 1811| 409,464! 1881| 1,866,649! 1951| 2,688,987|-! 1821| 526,230! 1891| 2,125,318! 1961| 2,699,711|-! 1831| 700,486! 1901| 2,357,150! 1971| 2,729,741|-! 1841| 860,413! 1911| 2,617,598! 1981| 2,575,441|-! 1851| 1,037,001! 1921| 2,660,088! 1991| 2,569,700|-! 1861| 1,313,550! 1931| 2,707,070! 2001| 2,482,352|-| colspan="8" style="text-align:center;font-size:100%;"|Source: A Vision of Britain through Time.|}

    Settlements areas shaded grey.As a large urbanised county, Greater Manchester is home to two cities and several towns of varying sizes. Some of the ten metropolitan boroughs are named after the largest settlements, including Rochdale, Bolton, Salford and Oldham. However Greater Manchester is also home to many smaller settlements including some rural villages along the outskirts.

    The table below outlines many of these settlements, and is formatted according to their metropolitan borough. Each district has a centre of administration; for the most part these correlate with a boroughs largest town (which in further cases gave their name to the boroughs themselves), though for some districts such as the City of Salford, other arrangements apply.

    {]| Bury, [Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, Ramsbottom, Tottington, Greater Manchester, Whitefield, Greater Manchester|-| Metropolitan Borough of Bolton| Bolton, [Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Little Lever, South Turton, Westhoughton| [Manchester City Centre| Blackley, Cheetham Hill, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, Ringway, Withington, Wythenshawe,]| Oldham, [Shaw and Crompton, Failsworth, Lees, Royton, Saddleworth| [Rochdale, [Littleborough, Greater Manchester, Middleton, Greater Manchester, Milnrow, Newhey, Wardle| [Swinton, Greater Manchester| Eccles, Greater Manchester, Walkden, Worsley, Salford, Irlam, Pendlebury, Cadishead| [Stockport, [Bredbury, Cheadle, Greater Manchester, Gatley, Hazel Grove, Marple, Greater Manchester, Romiley| [Ashton-under-Lyne, [Denton, Greater Manchester, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Greater Manchester, Longdendale, Mossley, Stalybridge| [Stretford, [Bowdon, Greater Manchester, Hale, Greater Manchester, Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Sale, Greater Manchester, Urmston| [Wigan, [Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Astley, Greater Manchester, Atherton, Greater Manchester, Bryn, Golborne, Higher End, Hindley, Greater Manchester, Ince-in-Makerfield, Leigh, Greater Manchester, Orrell, Greater Manchester, Pemberton, Greater Manchester, Standish-with-Langtree, Shevington, Tyldesley, Winstanley, Greater Manchester|-|}

    This table does not form an extensive list. More settlements can be found at :Category:Towns in Greater Manchester, :Category:Villages in Greater Manchester, and :Category:Districts of Greater Manchester.

    Some of these settlements were immortalised on The Beautiful South's 2006 single Manchester (single) (which somewhat erroneously places many settlements within Manchester, rather than Greater Manchester).

    Transport tram - part of Greater Manchester's light rail public transport system.In addition to a network of bus routes and a light rail system which radiate from Manchester City Centre, Greater Manchester has a rail network of 142 route miles with 98 stations, forming a central hub to the North West rail network. Train services are provided by private operators and run on the national rail network which is owned and managed by Network Rail.

    Greater Manchester has a higher percentage of the motorway network than any other county in the country. The Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester has the most extensive motorway network in the United Kingdom. Oldham College -About Manchester URL accessed June 28, 2007 According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it has the most traffic lanes side by side (17), spread across several parallel carriageways (M61 motorway at Linnyshaw Moss, Greater Manchester, close to the M60 motorway interchange). British Roads Database www.cbrd.co.uk URL accessed June 28, 2007

    A canal network also remains from the Industrial Revolution.

    Sports Venues and facilities The 2002 Commonwealth Games were staged in Manchester and provided the area with world class sports facilities, including the Manchester Aquatics Centre, Bolton Arena, National Squash Centre, City of Manchester Stadium and the supporting athletics stadium at Sports City (Manchester). This built on the success of the Manchester Velodrome in regenerating the Eastern side of the connurbation.

    Football , the main venue of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and home to Manchester City F.C..Greater Manchester has a high concentration of football (soccer) clubs. Four Greater Manchester teams, Bolton Wanderers F.C., Manchester City F.C., Manchester United F.C., and Wigan Athletic F.C., play in the 2007-08 Premier League. In addition to this, Oldham Athletic A.F.C. play in Football League One and Stockport County F.C., Bury F.C. and Rochdale A.F.C. play in Football League Two. There are numerous high-profile non-league football teams, including Altrincham F.C., Stalybridge Celtic F.C., Droylsden F.C., Salford City F.C., Atherton Collieries F.C., Hyde United F.C., Maine Road F.C. (1954) and the recently created F.C. United of Manchester. Manchester United F.C. is the most successful team in the history of the Premier League, having won the title nine times since it was introduced in 1991-92 Club Profile on premierleague.com Manchester Football League, dating from 1893, includes numerous amateur teams.

    Rugby In rugby union, Sale Sharks compete in the Guinness Premiership, and won the league in 2006. BBC - Rugby Union - English - Sale 45-20 Leicester Whitefield based Sedgley Park R.U.F.C. are competing in National League 1, Manchester Rugby Club in National League 2 and Wigan side Orrell RUFC in National League 3 (North).

    In rugby league, Wigan Warriors and Salford City Reds compete in the Super League, while Leigh Centurions and Rochdale Hornets take part in National League 1, with Oldham Roughyeds being local rivals of Swinton Lions in National League 2. Prominent amateur sides are numerous and include Leigh Miners, Leigh East, Wigan St Patricks, Eccles and Salford Juniors and Oldham St Annes.

    Other sports The Kirkmanshulme Lane stadium in Belle Vue is the home to top-flight speedway team the Belle Vue Aces and regular greyhound racing.

    Professional ice hockey is set to return to the area in early 2007 with the scheduled opening of a purpose designed rink in Altrincham, the Altrincham Ice Dome to host the Manchester Phoenix, the predecessor Manchester Storm having gone out of business in 2002 due to the overheads of staging matches in the 17,500 capacity MEN Arena.

    Greater Manchester had a venue for horse racing for 87 years, initially at New Barnes and later at Castle Irwell which is now a student residence for the University of Salford. Racing began at New Barnes in 1876 but the site had to be vacated in 1901 to facilitate an expansion to Manchester Docks - the land is now home to Dock 9 of the re-branded Salford Quays. Racing then moved to Castle Irwell which later staged a Classic - the 1941 St Ledger, and was most famous as home of the Lancashire Oaks (nowadays run at Haydock Park) and the November Handicap, which was traditionally the last major race of the UK flat season. Through the late 50's and early 60's the track saw legendary jockeys Scobie Breasley and Lester Piggott annually battle out the closing acts of the jockey's title until racing ceased on November 7 1963. The main stand at Castle Irwell was designed by local architect Ernst Atherton and was the first stand at any UK sports venue to include private boxes, the idea having later been copied by Manchester United and then made commonplace throughout the country. The structure still survives as a Students Union building. Although both sites carried the name of Manchester Racecourse, neither was strictly speaking within the boundaries of Manchester itself. A proposal to reincarnate Manchester Racecourse is presently being pursued by Peel Holdings at a site in Worsley - which like New Barnes and Castle Irwell is found in the neighbouring City of Salford.

    Aside from Sports City, which has hosted numerous national trials, alternative athletics venues can be found at Robin Park in Wigan, Longford Park in Stretford (home to Stretford Harriers) and the Cleavleys Track in Winton, Greater Manchester (home of Salford Harriers).

    Lancashire County Cricket Club began in the county as Manchester Cricket Club Lancashire County Cricket Club - Origins and continues to represent the area (along with the rest of the historic county of Lancashire). The club is based at the County Ground, Old Trafford, commonly known as Old Trafford (cricket ground) and adjacent to the famous football stadium of the same name. Lancashire contested the original 1890 County Championship Cricinfo - The County Championship and in 2006, the club finished second.

    A wide range of new sports facilities that include a 10,000 capacity stadium and athletics venue are presently being constructed at the Leigh Sports Village.

    Places of interest Greater Manchester boasts many places of interest, including multiple museums, galleries and centres of art and culture. Along the outskirts of the Greater Manchester conurbation feature many sites of natural beauty, including the West Pennine Moors, and parts of the Peak District.

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