with the great increase of population, led to the obtaining of an act of parliament in l824 for the taking down of the old edifice, and building a new one in its place. The increasing importance of the town urgently required legislative measures for street regulation and general improvement; accordingly acts of parliament were obtained at this period for establishing a system of local government, and the erection of gas and water works, for the former purpose in 1826, and for the latter in 1825. The repeated attempts which had been made to procure an act of parliament for the formation of a railway from Manchester to Liverpool, directed the attention of several of the principal inhabitants of Oldham and Manchester to the desirableness and practicability of connecting those towns by the same admirable means of communication. An act of parlia- ment was accordingly applied for, and received the royal assent May 26, 1826, for establishing a railway from Oldham to Manchester. It is almost needless to add that this and another similar and later scheme were never carried out upon the plans originally contemplated; and it was not till 1839 that the act of parliament was obtained establishing the present Oldham Branch Railway of the Manchester and Leeds Company.

It appears by a plan of Oldham taken in 1824 that no streets existed at that period to the west of Bankside, and the only streets on Boardman ground which were then bordered with buildings were Grosvenor street, Smethurst street, Hopwood street, and Boardman street. The dwellings in Boyton street were still extremely few, and Lord street was very meagre of buildings. There were then no streets from George street to School croft, or any upon Union ground. Curzon ground consisted of cultivated enclosures, and the vicinities of Lord's hill and Lower Horsedge were barren of habitations. At this late period there was only one solitary house from the end

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