 From its founding in the 9th century until the Industrial Revolution , Oldham is believed to have been little more than a scattering of small and insignificant settlements spread across the moorland and dirt tracks that linked Manchester to York . Although not mentioned in the <unk> Book , Oldham does appear in legal documents from the Middle Ages , invariably recorded as territory under the control of minor ruling families and barons . In the 13th century , Oldham was documented as a manor held from the Crown by a family <unk> Oldham , whose seat was at Werneth Hall . 
