A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



LEIGH 



WESTLEIGH 



PENNINGTON 



BEDFORD 

 ATHERTON 



TYLDESLEY-WITH-SHAKERLEY 

 ASTLEY 



Leech, 1264; Leeche, 126S ; Leghthe, 1305 ; 

 Leght, 1 + 17 ; Lech, 145 I ; Legh, xvi cent. 



Leigh (A.S. leah = pasture, meadow) was the name 

 of a district embracing 13,793 acres, bounded on the 

 north, east, and partly on the south by the hundred 

 of Salford, on the west by the parish of Wigan, and 

 on the south-west by the parish of Winwick. As its 

 name denotes it was a district rich in meadow and 

 pasture land, and the produce of its dairies — the 

 Leigh cheese — was formerly noted for its excellence.' 



The town of Leigh, standing upon the high road 

 from Bolton-le-Moors to St. Helens, at one time 

 mainly a pack-horse road, lies mostly in the township 

 of Pennington, but partly in Westleigh. The name 

 of the ancient parish may be regarded as first legally 

 applied to the town of Leigh upon the amalgamation 

 of the three local boards of Westleigh, Pennington, 

 and Bedford in 1875, but for centuries it was under- 

 stood to denote that part of the ancient parish which 

 comprised the townships of Westleigh and Penning- 

 ton, sometimes also that of Bedford. 



The Wigan and Leigh branch of the Leeds and 

 Liverpool Canal and the Bridgewater Canal form 

 their junction at Leigh Bridge in this town. 



A market is held on Saturday and two fairs on the 

 eve of the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist (24 April), 

 and on the eve of the feast of the Conception of the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary (7 December). ' The market- 

 place lies in the ancient township of Pennington. 



Silk-weaving is a considerable industry in the 

 town.' Nail-making, linen-weaving, and the manu- 

 facture of fustian were largely conducted here in 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,* and now 

 the manufacture of cotton goods, and machinery of 

 various kinds, provides employment for a large 

 number of workpeople. 



The excellent beds of coal underlying the district 

 have been worked more or less for five centuries, but 

 the rapid advance of this industry, which set in 

 towards the end of the eighteenth century, was due to 

 the linking up of communication with Manchester by 

 the duke of Bridgewater's canal. The development 

 of the town is well illustrated by the churchwardens' 

 and overseers' accounts for the township of Penning- 

 ton.' Concurrently with its industrial resources the 



district used to be noted for the excellence of its 

 agricultural productions. In Bedford and Astley 

 there were formerly a number of kilns employed in 

 burning the Sutton or terras lime, obtained from the 

 magnesian limestone rock of the Permian series, pro- 

 ducing a hydraulic cement. The soil is a rich loam, 

 somewhat stiff in quality upon the rising ground. 

 There is also a considerable amount of alluvial land 

 by Pennington Brook, and moss land in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Chat Moss, and of the detached Black 

 Moss and T}ldesley Mosses, which makes excellent 

 and easily cultivated arable land. The agricultural land 

 of the parish is now used as follows : Arable, 4,815 

 acres; permanent grass, 5,201 ; woods and planta- 

 tions, 2 7 J. 



The town of Leigh ° is notable as being for some 

 years the abode of Thomas Highs, a reed-maker, and 

 John Kay, a clockmaker, who were associated with 

 Richard Arkwright, barber and hairdresser of Bolton, 

 the reputed inventor of roller spinning as effected in 

 the now ancient 'spinning jenny." 



At the end of the year 1642,' the inhabitants of 

 this district distinguished themselves in an action at 

 Chowbent against the forces of the earl of Derby, 

 whom the zealous but untrained husbandmen of the 

 district repulsed and drove beyond Lowton Common. 

 The local historian of the time describes how * the 

 naylers ' (nail-makers) of Chowbent busied themselves 

 in making bills and battle-axes, instead of nails, in 

 anticipation of further engagements.' 



Richard Higson and Charles Rogers of Leigh 

 issued tokens in 1666 and 1668.'° 



In 1698 a division of the highways within the 

 township of Pennington was made, establishing the 

 rods of highway which each owner or occupier should 

 make." 



In 1745 part of the troops of Prince Charles 

 Edward were quartered at Leigh on the night of 

 28 November, in their march from Preston to 

 Manchester. Mr. Lowe, then constable for the 

 higher side of Pennington, expended £1^ 5/. for 

 horses and billeting the rebels, and 27/. for the watch 

 at the watch-house and in coals for the bonfire." 



In 1863 the townships of Pennington, Westleigh, 

 and Bedford adopted the Local Government Act, 



^ Leigh cheese Is now a thing of the 

 pasL It has not been produced in the 

 district for the last twenty vears or more. 

 The production sold in Manchester as 

 ' Leigh Toasting Cheese ' derives only its 

 name from this district. 



' A fair here was prohibited, itmp. Eliz.; 

 Rec, Soc. Lanes, and Cka, viii, 23-. 



' It is gaining some ground at the 

 present time, but was seriously injured by 

 the French Treaty in i860; see the 

 Ldgk Chmn. 18 June, i860, 27 April, 

 1861. 



* A Cloth Hall formerly existed here ; 

 Hhi. anj Gen. i\':t;s, iii, 63. The old 

 building has been modernized and made 

 into offices. 



* Now in the custody of the Town 

 CounciL Extracts from them have been 

 edited by Josiah Rose in a volume entitled 



Leigi in the Eighteenth Century, printed at 

 Leigh, 1882. These accounts were formerly 

 in a confused and dilapidated condition. 

 Mr. Rose recovered what was left, arranged 

 them, and bound them together. They 

 are now carefully preserved. Diligent 

 inquiry has failed to discover any such 

 accounts for Westleigh and Bedford. 



* The area is 6,358 acres, including 74 

 of inland water ; Census Rep. 1901. 



' Rose, Leigh in the Eighteenth Century, 

 115-20. The wheel of Thomas Highs' 

 'original jenny' is in the possession of 

 Alderman T. R. Greenough. 



* End of December. '24 Dec. 1642. 

 Two soldiers slayne in the battayle 

 at Leigh.' Bolton Par. Ch. Reg. of 

 Burials. 



' Ci'vil War Tracts (Chet. Soc), 64-5. 

 ^^ Lanes, and Ches. Aniiq. Soc. v, 80. 



" The highway began at Brockhurit't 

 Lane Wash on the south and passed by 

 the Wash End, Bradshaw Leach, the 

 Piatt End, Twiss' Land, to the Broad 

 Causeway, at the Smithy (in the street 

 now King Street). Here the town of 

 Leigh began and extended through to 

 Stoclcplatt Lane on the north, and for a 

 few yards into Windmill Lane (now 

 Bradshawgate) on the east. The principal 

 owners were Richard Bradshaw, esq. for 

 Pennington Hall 80 rods, and Bradshaw 

 Leach 22 rods, Mr. Alexander RatclifTc 

 (for the Healds, the Meadows, Ice) ij 

 rods, and Mr. John Gwillym for Daven- 

 port's 30 rods, and for Urmston'i (in the 

 Meadows) 20 rods. The total extended 

 to 477 yds. less than 2 miles ; Rose, op. 

 cit. 21-2. 



" Rose, op. cit. 102-3. 



