Editing Stalybridge (section)

====1939–2000====
Stalybridge experienced intensive black-out periods and frequent air-raid warning during the [[Second World War]]. Bombs dropped by enemy aircraft mainly landed in open country and there were no civilian casualties. On 19 July 1946, [[King George VI]] and [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon|Queen Elizabeth]] visited Stalybridge. The town's war memorial was extended after the war, to bear the names of an extra 124 men from the town; it was unveiled on 23 April 1950.

In the post-war period council housing was provided by the local authority as separate [[council estate]]s. The Buckton Vale estate was built between January 1950 and March 1953, and the Stamford Park estate between January 1953 and January 1955; the [[Copley, Greater Manchester|Copley]] estate commenced building in August 1954 and the Ridgehill estate in January 1956.

In 1955, after the adoption of the first post-war [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] plan, new housing estates were built to replace the slums and, gradually, redundant textile mills were occupied by firms in the various light industries. New applications of engineering principles, the manufacture of rubber goods, plastics, chemicals and packaging materials were all introduced, as well as the addition of synthetic fibres to the textile trade, reducing unemployment. The plastics industry origin and growth are described by Craig and Bowes  in "Cotton Mills to Chemical Plants" (2013).

The early 1970s saw the development of private semi-detached and detached housing estates, particularly in the Mottram Rise, Hough Hill, Hollins and Carrbrook areas; the redevelopment of Castle Hall was also completed. The construction of the Buckton Vale [[overspill estate]] also took place in the early 1970s.<ref name="NFTMO">{{cite web|url=http://www.nftmo.com/downloads_magazine/TMOMag_07.pdf|title=TMO Magazine|author=Anon|publisher=National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations|access-date=30 January 2008|date=1 June 2005|archive-date=27 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327161001/http://www.nftmo.com/downloads_magazine/TMOMag_07.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The early 1980s saw the closure of the public baths after the completion of Copley Recreation Centre. One of the symbols of the late-19th century civic improvement, the baths were subsequently demolished.

In 1991, for the first time since 1901, there was an increase in the population of Stalybridge to 22,295. The 1990s saw the proliferation of [[Mock Tudor]] style estates at Moorgate and along Huddersfield Road, close to Staley Hall; this continued into the 21st century with the completion of the Crowswood estate in Millbrook.