Urmston is located in the southern-most part of Lancashire within the Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester. Currently it has a population of around 41,000 and is located six miles to the southwest of Manchester city centre. The southern boundary is marked by the River Mersey and the Mersey Valley. It is encompassed by the towns/villages of Flixton and Davyhulme together with the area now known as Trafford Park.

The name, Urmston, is believed to come from Ormr's tun ( or Orme's tun ) where Ormr ( or Orme ) was a Danish personal name and tun is a Saxon word for a farmstead or settlement. Medieval farming was the main occupation in Urmston until the early 19th century when weaving became a significant source of employment, although this later declined due to competition from large industry. In 1848, the population was recorded as being 771, with around 80% of the land being farmed. The opening of the Cheshire Lines Railway in 1873 allowed the town to grow as a commuter town and between 1871 and 1901 the population grew by over 650% - from 996 to 6,594. By 1901, farming had virtually died out in Urmston, and the town became a residence for the middle classes.

Until 1974, Urmston remained an independent town until it was merged into 'Metropolitan Borough of Trafford' within the county of 'Greater Manchester' and is now a suburb rather than a separate town.

In 2009 the Ask developments completed the Eden Square shopping centre and companies started to occupy the new retails units. Eden Square has boosted shopping facilities in the town with Sainsbury's as the anchor food store. People of Urmston will have a further 28 new shops to choose from with large retailers such as Boots, Costa Coffee, Hallmark and Thorntons to name but a few. A new library has been constructed which attracted over 1,000 people on its opening day. The local infrastructure has also improved making Eden Square easily accessible with a new car park and taxi rank served by good public transport links.

Famous people from the area

  • Professor Tom Kilburn who worked on the Manchester Mark I computer (the world's first stored program electronic computer) lived here until his death in 2001.
  • Matthew Kelly of ‘Stars in Their Eyes’, was born and raised in Urmston. He is currently the President of the Urmston Musical Theatre.
  • Several Manchester United players of the 1950s and 1960s lived in Urmston.
  • Owen Chadwick, who designed the WWII Lancaster bomber also came from here.

Interesting facts

  • On 5th August 1963 at Abbotsfield Park there was a `Twist And Shout’ Dance Festival with The Beatles, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the Dennisons, and Johnny Martin and the Tremors.
  • On the 29th November 1963 there was a concert at the old Urmston Baths by The Rolling Stones.