INDUSTRIES 



the said Humphrey shall permit and suffer my sons 

 William Banke and Thomas Banke to cast in them at 

 their pleasure and liberty at all times. Also it is my 

 will that the said Humphrey shall foresee that the 

 said Thomas be set to . . . his occupation of the 

 Pewterer Craft. 



Here there is a gap in the chain of evidence till the 

 will of Robert Forth, of Wigan, brazier, was 

 proved in 1622.' From this time on, the Index to 

 IVilh at Chester ' indicates the existence of a very 

 considerable metal trade at Wigan, entries being 

 made for the years 1631, 1637, 1642, 1647, 

 1663, 1688, 1690, 1691, 1692 (2), 1693, 1695, 

 1696 (2), 1699, 1701, 1702, 1703, 1704, 1706, 

 1716, 1718, 1720, 1722 (2), 1724, 1725 (2), 

 1726 (2), 1729, 1734, 1739, 1740, 1741 (2), 

 1743. 1747. 1750, 1753, 1756 (2), 1757, 

 1762, 1764, 1767, 1769, 1779, 1789. 



Contemporary references to the Wigan metal 

 trades are made by Richard Gough, in the 

 * Additions ' to Camden's Britannia, published in 

 1787 — he says 'Wigan has a manufactory of 

 brass and pewter,' * — by an anonymous writer 

 in 1788 who states that ' the braziery, pewtery, 

 brass foimdry, iron foundry, and iron forgery 

 businesses find employment for a great number 

 of hands' ;° and by Aikin in 1795, who men- 

 tions that ' Wigan has long been noted for its 

 braziery works,' but adds, 'the braziery is now 

 on the decline." 



During the eighteenth century foundries ap- 

 pear to have existed at Wigan, for in the Index 

 to Wills we find entries under 1726, 1757, 1781, 

 and 1799. But far more famous were the bell- 

 foundries of the seventeenth century. It was 

 customary at that time to carry the metal to the 

 place where the bell was wanted and there melt 

 and pour it into a place prepared for the casting 

 in the churchyard. This, however, was not the 

 way of the Wigan bell-founders. All the 

 work was done in their own establishments in 

 the town, and the finished work was then 

 dispatched to the places where it was required. 

 There were several firms in the town, but only 

 one on a large scale, namely that of the Scotts. 

 The first bell known to have been cast by a 

 Scott bears the date 1647, and hangs in Trinity 

 Church, Warrington. The Wilmslow church 

 bells were cast by some Scott in 1657, and one 

 of the old bells in Taxal church was cast by the 

 same family in the previous year. Mr. Ear- 

 waker was of the opinion that these bells were 

 all cast by John Scott,^ but if so, there must have 



' Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. iv. 



' Ibid. vols, ii, iv, xv, xviii, xx, xxii, xxv, xxxvii, 

 xxxviii, xliv, xlv. 



* Camden, Brit. (1787), iii, 138. 



' Quoted in H. T. Folkard, The Industries of Wigan, 

 (Wigan, 1889), p. 8. 



' John Aikin, J Description of the Country from 30 

 to 40 miles round Manchester, 1795. 



' Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches. 1890, p. 170. 



been a John Scott who died later than the one ' of 

 Wigan, brazier,' whose will was proved in 1647.° 

 Possibly they were cast by James Scott or by 

 Geoffrey Scott, who were certainly casting bells in 

 1657. The will of the latter, in which he is 

 described as 'bell founder,' was proved in 1665. 

 He was succeeded by his son William, who cast 

 bells for Wigan church in 1677 and again in 

 1694. He appears to have died in 1703. The 

 last bell which there is any record of his having 

 cast is the great bell at Chapel-en-le-Frith, 

 Derbyshire, which was recast at Wigan on 

 6 August, 1 701. 



In the early eighteenth century there was a 

 family of Ashton at Wigan, who were bell- 

 founders. Ralph Ashton cast a bell for Wigan 

 church in 171 7) and a few years later Luke 

 Ashton cast a set of bells for Wallasey church. 

 In 1732 the bells of Wigan church had to be 

 sent to Gloucester to be recast ; it is therefore 

 highly probable that the industry of bell-founding 

 had ceased to exist in Wigan.' 



Another seventeenth and eighteenth century 

 metal industry was that of pin-making at War- 

 rington. Among the wills proved at Chester we 

 find the following : — 



1700 John Bird, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 171 z Thomas Harrops, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 171 8 Richard Rylands, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1726 Andrew Hollinworth, of Warrington, pin- 

 maker 

 1735 Joseph Rylands, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1738 John Cotton, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1744 John Cooper, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1747 Thomas Trillwind, of Warrington, pin- 

 maker 

 1756 John Cotton, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1773 William Gaskell, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1775 Richard Owen, of Warrington, pinmaker 

 1 777 John Trillwind, of Warrington, pinmaker '° 



In the pin-making industry much child labour 

 was employed, in some places at least. ' Here ' 

 [at Warrington], writes Arthur Young, ' is like- 

 wise a small pin manufactory, which employed 

 two or three hundred children, who earn from 

 one to two shillings a week.' " Aikin mentions 

 that ' the making of pins has been, and still is, 

 carried on to a pretty large extent ' at Warrington. ^^ 



Another industry which was to be found in 

 Lancashire during the eighteenth century was 

 nail making. Nailors appear to have carried on 

 their trade in many places, but particularly in 

 Atherton. 



' Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. iv. 



° The material for the account of bell-founding was 

 taken from Sinclair, Hist, of Wigan, i, and Earwaker, 

 ' Bellfounders in Lane, and Ches. in the Seventeenth 

 and Eighteenth Centuries,' Hist. Soc. Lane, and Ches., 

 1890. 



" Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xviii, xx, xxii, xxv, 

 xxxvii, xxxviii. 



" Tour in the 'North of England, 1769 (ed. 2), iii, 165. 



" A Description of Manchester, 1795, 302. 



365 



