WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



the seat of the Urmstons, or at Hall House, the 

 Jesuit fathers of Culcheth and Southworth serving 

 from the latter part of the seventeenth century.' In 

 1778, before the first relaxation of the penal laws, 

 a chapel was built and public worship resumed. 

 Schools were opened in 1829, and rebuilt in 1871. 

 The present church of St. Joseph was opened in 

 1855, a tower being added in 1884. The mission is 

 still served by the Jesuits." 



In 1558 Lawrence Asshawe of 

 CHARITIES Sh.iw in Flixton gave by his will 

 5 marks towards ' the paving of any 

 horse causey [causeway] from the towne of Leighe 

 unto the Sawter Buttes in Bedford.' ^ Richard Speak- 

 man and Catherine his wife in 1673 and 1679 left 

 small sums for the benefit of the poor of Bedford 

 and Tyldesley, of which the interest used to be dis- 

 tributed yearly on Candlemas Day at Speakman 

 House in Bedford.* In 1679 Matthew Lythgoe 

 bequeathed ^^50, and in 1727 Samuel Hilton gave 

 j^ioo, to the overseers of the poor, the interest in 

 both cases to be distributed amongst the poor.' In 

 1872 William Eckersley gave ^^50 by his will for the 

 benefit of the poor of Bedford church.* 



ATHERTON 



Aderton, 1 212, 1242 ; Atherton, 1259, ^"'i com- 

 mon since. 



This name, derived from A.S. /iJre, a watercourse, 

 and iun, a farmstead or village, aptly describes the 

 character of this well-watered township, which is 

 bounded on the west and south by streams and 

 traversed by two others. Beginning on the south- 

 west at the town of Leigh the ground rises in gentle 

 elevations from under 100 ft. above sea-level to over 

 250 ft. on the northern side. 



The township has an area of 2,426 acres,' and in 

 shape somewhat resembles a pear, the demesne of 

 Atherton Hall occupying the end towards the stalk at 

 the outskirts of Leigh. The town of Atherton, in- 

 cluding Chowbent, the name of that part of the town 

 which surrounds the parish church, stands on the 

 high road from Bolton to Leigh with branches west- 

 ward to Wigan and eastward to Tyldesley. It is the 

 centre of a district of collieries, cotton-mills, and iron- 

 works, which cover the surface of the country with 

 their inartistic buildings and surroundings, and are 

 linked together by the equally unlovely dwellings of 

 the people. There are three railway stations — 

 Atherton Central Station on the Manchester and 

 Wigan branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail- 

 way, which passes close to the north of the town ; 

 Atherton Station on the Bolton and Kenyon section 

 of the London and North Western Railway, half a 

 mile to the west ; and Howe Bridge, formerly Chow- 

 bent, Station on the Manchester, Eccles, and Wigan 

 section of the same line, to the south-west of the 



LEIGH 



town. The township was formed into a district 

 chapelry in 1859 from the civil parish of Leigh,* 

 and portions were assigned in 1878 to form the 

 ecclesiastical parish of Howe Bridge,' and in 1884 

 the district parish of St. Anne's, Hindsford. In 

 1 894 a portion of the township was transferred to 

 Leigh. 



The Local Government Act, 1858, was adopted 

 by the township 22 December, 1863,'° which was 

 governed by a local board of fifteen members, but 

 under the Act of 1894 is now controlled by an urban 

 district council of fifteen members, elected from five 

 wards— Central, North, East, South, and West. The 

 district is supplied with gas from works belonging to 

 the urban council, and with water obtained partly 

 from the Bolton and partly from the Manchester 

 corporations. 



The geological formation consists almost entirely 

 of the coal measures, with a trifling area of the 

 permian rocks and new red sandstone in the south- 

 western angle of the township. The soil is clayey, 

 the land mainly pasture and meadow, but some wheat 

 and vegetables are grown. 



Silk-weaving was formerly carried on extensively in 

 the village houses, but owing to foreign competition 

 has now entirely disappeared. The first cotton-mill 

 was erected in 1776. The manufacture of bolts 

 and nails " and the spindles and flyers of spinning 

 machinery is also carried on here. The population 

 of the township, including Howe Bridge, in 1901 

 was 16,211 persons. A cattle fair was formerly held 

 yearly on the last Thursday in March, but has been 

 discontinued. A pleasure fair is held on the third 

 Monday in September. 



The cemetery, formed in 1857 and enlarged to 

 about nine acres in 1888, is under the control of a 

 burial board of fifteen members. It contains two 

 mortuary chapels. The Volunteer Hall in Mealhouse 

 Lane, used for public meetings and concerts, was 

 erected in 1883 and will seat about 1,000 persons. 

 The Public Hall in Bolton New Road is used for 

 ratepayers' meetings and the meetings of the urban 

 council. There is a Public Free Library, containing 

 about 8,000 volumes ; the building, erected in 1904, 

 was the gift of Mr. Carnegie ; also two political 

 clubs, and a village club for the use of the colliers 

 employed in the Atherton collieries, containing a 

 small free library of about 300 volumes. Atherton 

 Parish Church-house in Tyldesley Road serves as a 

 restaurant and club, and contains also a gymnasium 

 and rooms for arts and crafts work. There are 

 athletic grounds belonging to the club in Flapper 

 Fold Lane. A technical school was erected in 

 1893. 



Saxton's map shows that there was a deer park 

 here in the time of Elizabeth. 



Adam Twaite of Chowbent issued a token about 

 1664." 



1 Fr. John Penketh is said to have been 

 resident in 1679 when he was arrested as 

 a priest and sentenced to death, but re- 

 prieved. He remained in gaol until the 

 death of Charles II, and died in 1701, 

 aged 71. Fr. Sebastian Needham suc- 

 ceeded him in 1699, and was at Leigh in 

 1701, with a stipend of £22, of which 

 £6 was given by the people, Fr. Robert 

 Petre followed about 1728, and Fr. John 

 Sale of Hopecarr about 1733. Roger 

 Leigh was in charge in 1750, having 

 seventy 'customers' ; in 1784 there were 



24.0 Easter communicants and 135 were 

 confirmed; Foley, Rec. S.J. v, 320-4. 

 The bishop of Chester's return in 1767 

 gave 269 'Papists' in Leigh, with ten in 

 Astley and twenty-five in Atherton ; 

 Tram. Hist. Soc. (New Ser.), xviii. 



2 Li-verpool Cath. Ann. 1901. 



8 Chetham Soc. (Old Ser.), xxxiii, 82. 



■< End. Char. (Lanes.), 1901, pp. 12, 59. 



6 Ibid. 13, 59-60. 



^ Ibid. 64. In 1900 the gross annual 

 value of five charities amounted to 

 ^58 lOI. 



435 



' The present reduced area is given as 

 2,265 acres, including 12 of inland water, 

 in the Census Rep. 1901. 



8 Land. Gaz. 169. 



' Ibid. 4023. 



11 Ibid. 6650. 



1' John Smythe of the town of Ather- 

 ton, ' nayller,' was one of the three per- 

 sons whose arrest at the church led to a 

 riot at Leigh in 1535 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Pleadings, xxii, B. 25 ; Rec. Soc. xxxv, 



43- 



^'' Lanes, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. v, 76. 



