Denton was originally one of the townships of the ancient parish of Manchester in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire. In 1866 it became a civil parish in its own right. The parish was expanded in 1894 by the inclusion of the Haughton township, the former area of which now covers the eastern part of the town. The name of Haughton survives as local place names at Haughton Green and Haughton Dale, both in south Denton. Clues to the former township do still exist at Haughton Street, Haughton Hall Road, the Parish Church of St. Anne, Haughton, and etched onto an ancient boundary marker on Broomstair Bridge on the A57 Hyde Road – (CHESHIRE Township of Hyde | Township of Haughton LANCASHIRE). Also in 1894 the enlarged parish became Denton Urban District in the administrative county of Lancashire.