Tameside: See
Ashton town centre is on a grid pattern, red-brick low-rise with modern frontages.
1 St Michael's Church (Anglican) dates back to the 13th century, but has been much altered. What you see now is a Victorian pocket-sized version of Manchester cathedral.
2 Portland Basin or Dukinfield Junction is the meeting of three canals: Peak Forest Canal, Ashton Canal and Huddersfield Narrow Canal. All three are worth exploring, see below. There's a museum in a converted warehouse, open Tu-Su 10AM-4PM, free.
3 Stalybridge is a former mill village along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. It has a turbulent history: in the 19th century there were riots by Luddites against mill mechanisation, and agitation against Catholics (codeword for Irish immigrants). Its main sight is the Astley Cheetham Art Gallery, upstairs in the library.
4 Hartshead Pike is a hill of 308 m (1010 feet) that rears up north of the golf course, with views on a clear day to Snowdonia. Near its summit is a stocky tower rebuilt in 1863. The entrance is bricked up: an inscription reads "Look well at me Before you go, And See You nothing at me throw". This advice is still relevant.
5 Buckton Castle east of Mossley was a medieval enclosure castle. There's not much left of it and you come for the moorland views, spoiled to the east by an active quarry.
6 St Anne's Church (Anglican) in Haughton, opened in 1881, is an outstanding example of Gothic Revival style.
7 Hyde Park has a memorial garden to the victims of Dr Fred Shipman, the local GP or family doctor. He was much admired by his patients, but many died unexpectedly, were certified as "old age" and cremated leaving no evidence. In 1998 Mrs Grundy was so certified and had recently changed her will to cut out her family and benefit Shipman. Her body was exhumed and found to contain diamorphine (heroin). Shipman explained that she was an addict and showed investigators the computerised medical case-notes. It was quickly apparent that these had been re-written after her death - Shipman had simply no idea that his computer retained edits. He was found guilty of 15 murders by lethal injection of diamorphine, and of the forgery of Grundy's will. A wider enquiry across places he'd worked in northern England concluded that he'd killed some 250, the most prolific serial killer in British history. There were widespread reforms to UK medical practice in the wake of this. Shipman hanged himself in Wakefield prison in 2004.
8 Werneth Low is a 279 m (915 ft) hill south of Hyde, bordering Stockport. "Werneth" is from verno an old Brythonic word for alder trees, while "Low" is equivalent to the Scottish law meaning a hill. It's an open area of country park, with views towards the Welsh mountains. On it stands Hyde Cenotaph.
9 Broadbottom is an old mill village perched on a bend of the River Etherow. One mill is still working, and there are 18th-century mill cottages and an impressive railway viaduct.