was built at the ford in 1901 to help access to Poor's Field, and the rent from this field was used by the church to buy blankets and clothes for the needy. Distance from Manchester enabled Northenden to avoid the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The nearest it came to industrialisation was a cottage industry in flax spinning. In the 1980s the area became part of the Mersey Valley Park, and the banks of the river form part of the Mersey Valley Trail. Northenden began to develop as an attractive riverside township for Manchester's more affluent managers, clerks and tradesmen, and the Victorian and Edwardian development gives the village much of its present character. In the wake of Manchester's acquisition of Wythenshawe for a new garden city, Northenden became a district of Manchester in 1931. Northenden is often referred to as a village by local residents, but during the first half of the 20th century, it expanded with suburban housing at the same time as the Wythenshawe housing estate was built. Northenden, whose centre was formerly Church Road, rapidly developed a new shopping centre along Palatine Road (a new road built to connect with Manchester) to service the new neighbourhood with shops, schools, a cinema (closed 1974), hotels, churches, small businesses and service industries. Northenden railway station, between Sharston Road and Longley Lane in Sharston, served the area between 1866 and 1964. Passenger trains from Stockport Tiviot Dale to Warrington and Liverpool stopped here. Governance Northenden was one of the eight ancient parishes of the Macclesfield Hundred of Cheshire and included the township of Northen Etchells. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1886 the parish was split in two as Northen Etchells became a civil parish in its own right. In 1931, both parishes were incorporated into the civil parish and city of Manchester, along with the civil parish of Baguley, which was part of the Bucklow Hundred of Cheshire. Northenden is part of the Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency, represented by the Labour Party MP Mike Kane. Councillors Northenden is a ward within the local authority of Manchester City Council. The ward is represented by three Labour Councillors: Sarah Russell (Lab), Sam Lynch (Lab), and Mary Monaghan (Lab). indicates seat up for re-election. Geography Northenden is located in the southern end of the city of Manchester, from the city centre, and begins on the south bank of the