Droylsden is a town in greater Manchester. It can be found roughly 4 miles away from the centre of Manchester, with Ashton-under-Lyne being closer (2.2 miles away). Droylsden is one of only a few areas in the United Kingdom where the population is actually decreasing. The population at the moment currently stands at a shade over 22,000.

Droylsden was first settled in 900 AD. It was not part of Greater Manchester for a while. In fact, the residents of Greater Manchester actually looked down on the residents of Droylsden for a few hundred years. They referred to it as ‘the silly country’, although to be honest they likely had a point. Each year, there was a carnival in Droylsden. Many of the residents would bring a pig along with them and watch the entirety of the carnival with their pig, while sitting on a wall. In fact, one of the major pubs in Droylsden, known as ‘The Pig on the Wall’ gets its name from this.

Droylsden was the first place in the world to ever have a machine woven towel built. It was built at Fairfield Mills. The towels produced in this area were famed worldwide. In fact, they were so popular that Queen Victoria placed a regular order for these towels. The mill closed down in 1980 and is now home to Tesco.

In recent years, a marina was built in Droylsden. This marina plays host to boats (of course), 291 apartments, offices, restaurants, and various shops.

Despite its relatively large size, there is no railway station within Droylsden, although the closest one is not too far away. It can be found in Fairfield, 1 mile away. This railway station will take you to Manchester Piccadilly. The station in Ashton-under-Lyne will take you into Huddersfield. There are regular bus services running from the town into Manchester City Centre, so the residents of the town have no issues getting around.

The population of Droylsden is interesting. As mentioned previously; the population of the town has fallen a little recently, although it went through a huge population boom in the 1930s. This is because it was used as an overflow area for Manchester. In fact, in the span of just 9 years, the population of Droysden doubled. It is likely that the population of Droylsden will start to climb again in the future. This is due to the construction of the new homes in the harbour area. Many of these homes have been filled up at an affordable price.

Robertson’s Jam used to have a factor in the area. In fact, it used to employ 1,000 people from within Droylsden, although in the 21st Century this dwindled to 400. The factory was closed down in 2008 and fully demolished in 2010. Nowadays, most of the employment is either in the marina of the town, or with people working within the nearby city of Manchester. With the closure of the various factories over the past couple of decades, there are few places to work in Droylsden outside of the offices and few retail outlets. Despite this, the bulk of the population of Droylsden are employed home owners. In fact, Droylsden has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the north of England.

The town of Droylsden is home to several different educational establishments. The major one is Droylsden Academy which has 1,200 students. There is also the Fairfield High School for Girls, a public school. This school currently has Specialist Science College status. Adult learners are not left out, don’t worry. There is also Tameside College which offers various courses to adult learners.