Audenshaw, one of the four divisions of the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. The village stands adjacent to the Ashton Canal and the Manchester and Sheffield railway, 3 miles SW of Ashton, under which it has a post office. Hooley Hill and Hockport Road, Ashton, are the money order and telegraph offices. Population, 6547. There are stations at Guide Bridge on the M.S. & L.R., and at Hooley Hill on the L. & N.W.R. St Stephen's is an ecclesiastical parish formed in 1844, and has a population of 7859. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester; gross value, £375 with residence. Patron, alternately the Crown and the Bishop. The church is in the Early English style. A new vicarage was erected in 1890. There are Methodist chapels and good schools. The Countess of Stamford and Warrington is lady of the manor. Many of the inhabitants are employed in hat-making, cotton-spinning, calico-printing, and in engineering works.
