 Much of Oldham 's history is concerned with textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution ; it has been said that " if ever the Industrial Revolution placed a town firmly and squarely on the map of the world , that town is Oldham . " Oldham 's soils were too thin and poor to sustain crop growing , and so for decades prior to industrialisation the area was used for grazing sheep , which provided the raw material for a local <unk> weaving trade . 
