Horwich
Encyclopedia
Horwich is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
, in Greater Manchester
, England. It is 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Chorley
, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) northwest of Bolton
and 20 miles (32 km) northwest from the city of Manchester
. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors
with the M61 motorway
close to the south and west. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001
, Horwich had a population of 19,312.
Historically
within Lancashire
, Horwich emerged in the Middle Ages
as a hunting chase. Streams flowing from the moors were harnessed to provide power for bleachworks and other industry at the start of the Industrial Revolution
. The textile industry became a major employer and after 1884 the construction of the railway works caused the population of the town to increase dramatically. The old industries have closed and regeneration has been led by out of town developments, particularly at Middlebrook
, which, since 1997 has been the base of Bolton Wanderers
football club, who play at the Reebok Stadium
, having relocated from Burnden Park
near Bolton
town centre.
In the Middle Ages
Horwich originated as a hunting chase
for the baron
s of Manchester
. It was held by Albert de Gresle
between 1086 and 1100. In 1249 Henry III
granted Thomas Gresle free warren
over the his lands in "Horewich". The barons appointed foresters and offenders were brought before the court baron
or court leet
for punishment. In 1277 Robert Gresle, seventh Baron prosecuted Martin de Rumworth
for carrying off deer in Horwich Chase.
A description in 1322 stated, " The wood of Horwich contains a circuit of sixteen leagues
, and is yearly worth in pannage
, aeries
of eagles, herons and goshawks, in honey, millstones, and iron mines, in charcoal-burning, and the like issues, 60s.
; of which the vesture in oaks, elms, and wholly covered with such, 160 marks
."
In 1598 a number of men were presented at the court leet for tithing and in 1621 the court leet recorded "paid for hue and cry
e that came from Horwich after the man who made an escape forth of ye stocks
for stealing certain lynen cloth 8d
." By the 17th century the amount of woodland in the Horwich forest was reduced by house building and for fuel. Horwich Moor was enclosed between 1815 and 1818 and race meetings were held between 1837 and 1847.
The manor became the property of the Andertons of Lostock Hall, Lostock
, who purchased it in 1599 from Nicholas and Elizabeth Mosley. These lands were confiscated by the crown in 1715 after the Battle of Preston
. They were leased to the Blundells whose coat of arms is displayed above the door at the Blundell Arms on Chorley Old Road.
The Pilkingtons were farmers who became gentry, Richard Pilkington was owner of rights of the Horwich Manor. William Pilkington (1765–1831) became a physician and apothecary
in St Helens and his sons Richard (1795–1869) and William (1800–1872) were the founders of Pilkington Glass.
. In the 1770s brothers, John and Joseph Ridgway, land agents to the Blundells, moved their bleach
works from Bolton
to Wallsuches
. Their works was the oldest and one of the few stone-built mills in the Bolton borough. The firm was one of the earliest users of chemical bleaching using chlorine
.
In 1798 the firm installed a Boulton and Watt
steam engine.
Horwich Vale Printworks, founded in 1799 by the River Douglas, did machine and handblock printing. On the slopes of Winter Hill, stone was quarried and there were several small collieries and a firebrick and tile works. In 1896 the Montcliffe Colliery was owned by Adam, Mason and Son and managed by Joseph Crankshaw and Joseph Kenwright. It employed 26 men underground and 7 surface workers getting coal and fireclay from the Mountain coal seam. Crankshaws pipeworks used the fireclay and had had several beehive kilns at their works at Tiger's Clough. In the mid 19th century cotton mill
s were built by W. & W. Bennett and Peter Gaskell.
Ridgways provided land for the early 19th century Club Houses, a grid pattern development of streets of stone built cottages south of Church Street. Some had basements for hand loom weaving. In 1851 the occupants were crofters, stovers and bleachers. In 1881 the population of 3,761 lived in 900 houses, and had remained stable for fifty years. A rapid increase in population over the next ten years was caused by the arrival of the railway works and W.T Taylor's cotton mill. In the late 19th century, brick terraced houses, in streets named after famous engineers, were built near to Horwich Works on both sides of Chorley New Road on company land. By 1891 Horwich was transformed into a town of 12,850 people.
In 1937 the de Havilland Aircraft Company built a factory which supplied aircraft to Cobham's Flying Circus and manufactured propellers. The company was taken over by Hawker Siddeley and subsequently British Aerospace
, BAe, but is now closed.
(L&YR) began construction of a large complex for building and maintaining locomotives replacing its works at Miles Platting
. Horwich Works
was built on 142 hectares of land bought for £36,000. The first workshop, Rivington House opened in February 1887. It is 106.7m long by 16.8m wide. The long brick built workshops had full-height arched windows and were separated by tram and rail tracks. Work to construct the three-bay, 463.3m long, 36m wide, erecting shop began in March 1885. Inside it were 20 overhead cranes. By November 1886 the first locomotives arrived at Horwich Works for repair. The first Horwich built locomotive, Number 1008, left the works in 1887 and is preserved at the National Railway Museum
.
In the First and Second World Wars, the works played a part in the war effort manufacturing tank
s and munitions.
The L&YR amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway
in 1922 becoming a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
, (LMS) in 1923. Horwich Works continued to build and repair locomotives for the LMS until the company was nationalised in 1948 by the Transport Act 1947
, becoming British Railways. In 1962, British Railways transferred control of its main works to British Railways Workshops Division, with its headquarters in Derby
. In 1970 it was renamed British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL).
The last steam locomotive built at Horwich Works left on November 27, 1957 and the last diesel built there left on December 28, 1962. It was reduced to repairing engines and maintaining railway wagons. On February 18, 1983 BREL
announced that the works would close at the end of the year. Protest marches and spirited trade union
resistance failed to alter the decision and at 1 pm on Friday, December 23, 1983 Horwich Works closed after 97 years. The freehold of the railway works site was transferred from British Rail to Bolton Council in the mid-1990s.
A proposal to demolish the works and build 1600 homes and a school was submitted to Horwich Town Council
in early 2010. Middlebrook Retail Park
could be extended as part of the development.
since the 12th century, Horwich was a township
in the historic ecclesiastical parish
of Deane
, in the Hundred of Salford
. In 1837 Horwich joined with other townships and civil parishes to form the Bolton
Poor Law Union
and took joint responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law
in that area and built a workhouse
in Farnworth
. The Horwich Local Board of Health
was established in 1872 and was superseded by Horwich Urban District
of the administrative county
of Lancashire in 1894. Under the Local Government Act 1972
Horwich Urban District was abolished in 1974 and its area became a successor parish
of the newly created Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
in Greater Manchester
.
On 9 January 1974 Horwich was granted a Town Charter
by the Earl Marshal
, giving Horwich the status of a town
, a town council
and the ability to elect a mayor
. An official Coat of Arms
was granted and assigned on 6 December 1974 by the Earl Marshal.
Horwich is covered by two electoral wards of the Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, the Horwich and Blackrod, and Horwich North East wards. Each ward elects three councillors to the metropolitan borough council. The Horwich Town Council
, formed in 1974, has six wards, Vale, Bridge, Lever Park, Church, Claypool and Brazley, which elect 14 representatives to the town council.
Horwich is part of the Bolton West
constituency. Its Member of Parliament
is Julie Hilling
who won the parliamentary seat for the Labour Party
at the 2010 general election.
.
Horwich extends to 3230 acres (13.1 km²) and measures 3 miles (4.8 km) from north to south and 2 miles (3.2 km) west to east. The River Douglas
flowing in a south westerly direction forms part of its northern boundary. The landscape to the north is dominated by Winter Hill, Rivington Pike
and the West Pennine Moors
. The highest point is 1475 feet (449.6 m) on the moors in the north from where the ground slopes down towards the south and west, where the lowest land is about 350 feet (106.7 m). On Wilders and Horwich Moors the underlying rock is Millstone Grit
, and in the intermediate slopes are found the Lower Coal Measures
of the Lancashire Coalfield
. The Middle Coal Measures are found in the southwest of the township.
Red Moss, 1.5 km south of the town centre, is a 47.2 hectare (116.6 acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSIs) which was designated in 1995 because of its biological interest. Red Moss is the best example of lowland raised mire
in Greater Manchester and is one of 21 SSSIs in the area. The site is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
!colspan="4"|Horwich compared
|-
|2001 UK census||Horwich||Bolton(borough)||England
|-
|Total population||19,312||261,037||52,041,916
|-
|White||97.9%||89.0%||90.9%
|-
|Asian||1.0%||9.1%||4.6%
|-
|Black||0.4%||0.6%||2.3%
|}
As of the 2001 UK census, Horwich had a population of 19,312 of which 9,370 were male and 9,942 were female. The 2001 population density is lower than Bolton at 12.5 people per hectare compared to 18.7 in Bolton.
increased as the Industrial Revolution
brought changes to the town but remained constant until 1885 when the locomotive works were built more than trebling the population in ten years.
in 1995. The development which stretches into neighbouring Lostock, attracted industrial and commercial users including Hitachi
, generating jobs to replace those lost in the old industries and the area is now dominated by small and medium enterprises. E.ON
and RBS
have set up offices close the Reebok stadium. Watson Steel Structures founded in 1933 and BAe's successor company, Matra BAe Dynamics
operates from the Middlebrook area. Georgia Pacific has a paper manufacturing plant close to the Reebok Stadium. Halbro
, manufacturers of sportswear and equipment for both codes of rugby, is based on Chorley New Road.
There are Tesco
and Asda
stores on the outskirts of town and Aldi
and Iceland stores closer to the town centre. EU
grants have contributed to new "traditional style" shop fronts in the town centre, which has many small specialist shops. The Horwich indoor market building was closed and demolished in 2009 but there is a weekly outdoor market.
is co-ordinated by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
. The nearest railway stations are at Blackrod
and Horwich Parkway
adjacent to the Reebok Stadium where there is a Park and Ride facility with trains to Bolton, Manchester and Preston. Blackrod station is nearer the town centre. The original Horwich railway station
closed to passenger traffic on 27 September 1965.
Frequent buses operate between Horwich and Bolton. The 575 is operated by Arriva
and First Manchester
, with Arriva services continuing to Wigan
. Stagecoach North West
provide services 125 and 126 between Preston and Bolton via Chorley
and Adlington
.
Horwich is situated close to the motorway network with access at junction 6 of the M61 motorway
. The A673 Bolton to Preston road passes through the town which is accessed by the B6226 and B5238.
Manchester Airport is 50 minutes by direct train from Horwich Parkway Railway Station
.
Horwich secondary school students years attend either Rivington and Blackrod High School
, a Specialist
Technology College
which was originally the Rivington & Blackrod Grammar School on a site in Rivington close to the boundary with Horwich, or St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College
on Chorley New Road. The oldest school building is the old Horwich Parish School which was built as a National
, Infant and Sunday School in 1793 and now used as a parish hall and is a Listed building. Horwich Parish Church of England Primary School occupies the listed premises built in 1832.
Our Lady's school was built in 1886 on Chorley New Road and Holy Family Primary School on Victoria Road in 1894. Holy Family was the first Lancashire County Council school to be granted aided status under the 1944 Education Act. The schools merged on the Victoria Road site as St. Mary's RC Primary School.
was built. It was a chapel of ease
to St Mary's Church
in Deane
, but in 1565 the commissioners for "removing superstitious ornaments" took various idolatrous items from the chapel. In 1669 a conventicle
, meeting of nonconformists, was reported at Horwich and the ringleaders were prosecuted. A chapman, Philip Martindale, was among those whose estates were sequestrated for 'delinquency' by Parliament during the Civil Wars. In 1672 a nonconformist service was held at Old Lords Farm, the home of Thomas Willoughby
. After the Civil War, with the contrivance of Thomas Willoughby and the connivance of the vicar of Deane, the chapel was used by nonconformists.
In 1716 Bishop Gastrell of Chester
recovered the chapel for the established church. The chapel was replaced in 1782 and rebuilt as Holy Trinity Church
, a Commissioners' Church
, in 1831. Until 1853 became a parish in its own right with Holy Trinity as the parish church.
After being ejected from Horwich Chapel, Richard Pilkington built "New Chapel" for the nonconformists between 1716 and 1719. It was enlarged in 1805. In the 18th and 19th centuries other nonconformist churches and chapels were built. Horwich Lee Chapel was formed in 1754 by Presbyterian members of the congregation of Rivington Unitarian Chapel
. A chapel was erected in 1856, replacing one built in 1774. It became Lee Lane Congregational Church and closed in 2005. A preacher from Bolton introduced Methodism
in the early 19th century and a chapel opened in about 1810. The Independent Methodist chapel in Lee Lane was built in 1867, "the congregation having originated some years earlier in a gathering of teetotallers". Primitive Methodists had a chapel on Horwich Moor and a Baptist church was built in 1890.
Before 1884 Roman Catholics attended mass at Anderton Hall. In 1886, Father Hampson opened St Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Chorley New Road. The church and presbytery built by Father McGrath date from 1906. Its two altars are the work of Ferdinando Stuflesser.
Bolton Wanderers
football club play at the Reebok Stadium
having relocated from Burnden Park
near Bolton town centre in 1997. Indoor facilities for sports training and major racket sports tournaments are provided at Bolton Arena
, which was used for badminton events in the 2002 Commonwealth Games
.
Several of the town's sporting organisations have origins in the sport and social clubs of Horwich Locomotive Works. Horwich RMI Harriers and Athletic Club founded in 1924, is based at Middlebrook and participates in road, fell and cross country races, track and field athletics.
Horwich Cycling Club was founded in 1934 as the Horwich Wheelers. It is involved in the organisation of the Horwich Carnival Road Races, held in the town centre. Horwich RMI Cricket Club was founded in 1892. The club plays in the Bolton Cricket League which it joined in 1934.
Horwich Hunters Cheerleading Squad has represented the town in competitive cheerleading since 2010.
, East Sussex entered into a unique twinning arrangement when they became the first towns within the United Kingdom to sign a Town twinning
charter. It was signed by the mayors of Horwich and Crowborough at a ceremony in the Public Hall, Horwich on 22 March 1990 and the Town Hall, Crowborough on 27 March 1990.
Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bolton, but covers a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley and Westhoughton, and a suburban and rural element from the West Pennine...
, in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England. It is 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) northwest of Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
and 20 miles (32 km) northwest from the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. It lies at the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors cover an area of approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England.The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main Pennine range by the Irwell Valley. The moorland includes Withnell, Anglezarke and Rivington Moors in the extreme west,...
with the M61 motorway
M61 motorway
The M61 motorway is a motorway in North West England. It runs from the M60 motorway northwest of Manchester and heads northwest past Bolton and Chorley to join the M6 just north of the junction between the M6 and M65 motorways to the south of Preston....
close to the south and west. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Horwich had a population of 19,312.
Historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
within Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Horwich emerged in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
as a hunting chase. Streams flowing from the moors were harnessed to provide power for bleachworks and other industry at the start of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. The textile industry became a major employer and after 1884 the construction of the railway works caused the population of the town to increase dramatically. The old industries have closed and regeneration has been led by out of town developments, particularly at Middlebrook
Middlebrook, Greater Manchester
Middlebrook is a locality that spans the boundaries of Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
, which, since 1997 has been the base of Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
football club, who play at the Reebok Stadium
Reebok Stadium
The Reebok Stadium is the home stadium of English Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers, and is located on the Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. It is commonly known as 'The Reebok'...
, having relocated from Burnden Park
Burnden Park
Burnden Park was the home of English FA Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games here between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting an FA Cup Final replay it was the scene of one of the greatest disasters in English football and the subject of an L. S...
near Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
town centre.
History
The name Horwich derives from the Old English har wice, meaning the "(place at) the grey wych-elm" and in 1221 was recorded as Horewic. The name was recorded as Harewych in 1277 and Horewyche in 1327.In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Horwich originated as a hunting chase
Chase (land)
In the United Kingdom a chase is a type of common land used for hunting to which there are no specifically designated officers and laws, but there are reserved hunting rights for one or more persons. Similarly, a Royal Chase is a type of Crown Estate by the same description, but where certain...
for the baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
s of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. It was held by Albert de Gresle
Albert de gresle
Albert de Gresle was the first baron of Manchester. Initially the Gresle family, who were Normans, were not residents in Manchester. Stewards represented the lords of the manor and it continued to grow in their absence....
between 1086 and 1100. In 1249 Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
granted Thomas Gresle free warren
Warren (free)
Free warren—often simply warren—refers to a type of franchise or privilege conveyed by a sovereign in mediaeval England to a subject, promising to hold them harmless for killing game of certain species within a stipulated area, usually a wood or small forest...
over the his lands in "Horewich". The barons appointed foresters and offenders were brought before the court baron
Court baron
A Court baron is an English or Scottish manorial court dating from the Middle Ages.It was laid down by Sir Edward Coke that a manor had two courts, "the first by the common law, and is called a court baron," the freeholders being its suitors; the other a customary court for the copyholders...
or court leet
Court leet
The court leet was a historical court baron of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts.-History:...
for punishment. In 1277 Robert Gresle, seventh Baron prosecuted Martin de Rumworth
Rumworth
Rumworth is an electoral ward of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was part of the hundred of Salford in Lancashire and centre of the Parish of Deane which once covered roughly half of the present Metropolitan Borough of Bolton...
for carrying off deer in Horwich Chase.
A description in 1322 stated, " The wood of Horwich contains a circuit of sixteen leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
, and is yearly worth in pannage
Pannage
Pannage is the practice of turning out domestic pigs in a wood or forest, in order that they may feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests...
, aeries
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
of eagles, herons and goshawks, in honey, millstones, and iron mines, in charcoal-burning, and the like issues, 60s.
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
; of which the vesture in oaks, elms, and wholly covered with such, 160 marks
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
."
In 1598 a number of men were presented at the court leet for tithing and in 1621 the court leet recorded "paid for hue and cry
Hue and cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I cc...
e that came from Horwich after the man who made an escape forth of ye stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
for stealing certain lynen cloth 8d
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
." By the 17th century the amount of woodland in the Horwich forest was reduced by house building and for fuel. Horwich Moor was enclosed between 1815 and 1818 and race meetings were held between 1837 and 1847.
The manor became the property of the Andertons of Lostock Hall, Lostock
Lostock, Greater Manchester
Lostock is a mostly residential district of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It lies west of Bolton town centre and northwest of Manchester....
, who purchased it in 1599 from Nicholas and Elizabeth Mosley. These lands were confiscated by the crown in 1715 after the Battle of Preston
Battle of Preston (1715)
The Battle of Preston , also referred to as the Preston Fight, was fought during the Jacobite Rising of 1715 ....
. They were leased to the Blundells whose coat of arms is displayed above the door at the Blundell Arms on Chorley Old Road.
The Pilkingtons were farmers who became gentry, Richard Pilkington was owner of rights of the Horwich Manor. William Pilkington (1765–1831) became a physician and apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
in St Helens and his sons Richard (1795–1869) and William (1800–1872) were the founders of Pilkington Glass.
Industrial Revolution
Horwich yarn was mentioned in records from the reign of Henry IIIHenry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
. In the 1770s brothers, John and Joseph Ridgway, land agents to the Blundells, moved their bleach
Bleach
Bleach refers to a number of chemicals that remove color, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach , lye, oxygen bleach , and bleaching powder...
works from Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
to Wallsuches
Wallsuches
Wallsuches is a small district of Horwich, Greater Manchester, England.-Etymology:The etymology of the place-name itself is unclear, although it is believed the name may be from Old English wella "stream" and soc "to soak", from Old English socian "to make wet/damp"...
. Their works was the oldest and one of the few stone-built mills in the Bolton borough. The firm was one of the earliest users of chemical bleaching using chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
.
In 1798 the firm installed a Boulton and Watt
Boulton and Watt
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
steam engine.
Horwich Vale Printworks, founded in 1799 by the River Douglas, did machine and handblock printing. On the slopes of Winter Hill, stone was quarried and there were several small collieries and a firebrick and tile works. In 1896 the Montcliffe Colliery was owned by Adam, Mason and Son and managed by Joseph Crankshaw and Joseph Kenwright. It employed 26 men underground and 7 surface workers getting coal and fireclay from the Mountain coal seam. Crankshaws pipeworks used the fireclay and had had several beehive kilns at their works at Tiger's Clough. In the mid 19th century cotton mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
s were built by W. & W. Bennett and Peter Gaskell.
Ridgways provided land for the early 19th century Club Houses, a grid pattern development of streets of stone built cottages south of Church Street. Some had basements for hand loom weaving. In 1851 the occupants were crofters, stovers and bleachers. In 1881 the population of 3,761 lived in 900 houses, and had remained stable for fifty years. A rapid increase in population over the next ten years was caused by the arrival of the railway works and W.T Taylor's cotton mill. In the late 19th century, brick terraced houses, in streets named after famous engineers, were built near to Horwich Works on both sides of Chorley New Road on company land. By 1891 Horwich was transformed into a town of 12,850 people.
In 1937 the de Havilland Aircraft Company built a factory which supplied aircraft to Cobham's Flying Circus and manufactured propellers. The company was taken over by Hawker Siddeley and subsequently British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
, BAe, but is now closed.
Horwich Works
In the spring of 1884 the Lancashire and Yorkshire RailwayLancashire and Yorkshire Railway
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
(L&YR) began construction of a large complex for building and maintaining locomotives replacing its works at Miles Platting
Miles Platting
Miles Platting is an inner city district of Manchester, England. It is east-northeast of Manchester city centre, along the course of the Rochdale Canal and A62 road...
. Horwich Works
Horwich Works
Horwich Works was a railway works built in 1886 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in Horwich, near Bolton, in the North West of England when the company moved from its original works at Miles Platting, Manchester.-Buildings:...
was built on 142 hectares of land bought for £36,000. The first workshop, Rivington House opened in February 1887. It is 106.7m long by 16.8m wide. The long brick built workshops had full-height arched windows and were separated by tram and rail tracks. Work to construct the three-bay, 463.3m long, 36m wide, erecting shop began in March 1885. Inside it were 20 overhead cranes. By November 1886 the first locomotives arrived at Horwich Works for repair. The first Horwich built locomotive, Number 1008, left the works in 1887 and is preserved at the National Railway Museum
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...
.
In the First and Second World Wars, the works played a part in the war effort manufacturing tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and munitions.
The L&YR amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
in 1922 becoming a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
, (LMS) in 1923. Horwich Works continued to build and repair locomotives for the LMS until the company was nationalised in 1948 by the Transport Act 1947
Transport Act 1947
The Transport Act 1947 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under it the railways, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were acquired by the state and handed over to a new British Transport Commission for operation...
, becoming British Railways. In 1962, British Railways transferred control of its main works to British Railways Workshops Division, with its headquarters in Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
. In 1970 it was renamed British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL).
The last steam locomotive built at Horwich Works left on November 27, 1957 and the last diesel built there left on December 28, 1962. It was reduced to repairing engines and maintaining railway wagons. On February 18, 1983 BREL
BREL
British Rail Engineering Limited , was the railway systems engineering division of British Rail, until the design and building of trains in the UK was privatised in 1993. On 31 October 1969, the company was incorporated as British Rail Engineering Limited.-Main products:The vast majority of BREL's...
announced that the works would close at the end of the year. Protest marches and spirited trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
resistance failed to alter the decision and at 1 pm on Friday, December 23, 1983 Horwich Works closed after 97 years. The freehold of the railway works site was transferred from British Rail to Bolton Council in the mid-1990s.
A proposal to demolish the works and build 1600 homes and a school was submitted to Horwich Town Council
Horwich Town Council
Horwich Town Council is a local authority with limited powers and covers the town and civil parish of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is made up of fourteen elected town councillors, representing six electoral wards...
in early 2010. Middlebrook Retail Park
Middlebrook, Greater Manchester
Middlebrook is a locality that spans the boundaries of Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
could be extended as part of the development.
Governance
Lying within the county boundaries of LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
since the 12th century, Horwich was a township
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
in the historic ecclesiastical parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Deane
Deane, Greater Manchester
Deane is an area of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about south west of Bolton and northwest of the city of Manchester.Historically a part of Lancashire, the Parish of Deane was once one of four parishes within the hundred of Salford and covered roughly half of the present...
, in the Hundred of Salford
Salford (hundred)
The hundred of Salford was an ancient division of the historic county of Lancashire, in Northern England. It was sometimes known as Salfordshire, the name alluding to its judicial centre being the township of Salford...
. In 1837 Horwich joined with other townships and civil parishes to form the Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...
Poor Law Union
Poor Law Union
A Poor Law Union was a unit used for local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. The administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of parishes, which varied wildly in their size, populations, financial resources, rateable values and requirements...
and took joint responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law
Poor Law
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...
in that area and built a workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
in Farnworth
Farnworth
Farnworth is within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is located southeast of Bolton, 6 miles south-west of Bury , and northwest of Manchester....
. The Horwich Local Board of Health
Local board of health
Local Boards or Local Boards of Health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate slaughterhouses and ensure the proper supply of water to their...
was established in 1872 and was superseded by Horwich Urban District
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
of the administrative county
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
of Lancashire in 1894. Under the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
Horwich Urban District was abolished in 1974 and its area became a successor parish
Successor parish
Successor parishes are civil parishes with a parish council created by the Local Government Act 1972 in England. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of urban districts and municipal boroughs that were abolished in 1974. Most successor parish councils exercised the right to...
of the newly created Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bolton, but covers a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley and Westhoughton, and a suburban and rural element from the West Pennine...
in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
.
On 9 January 1974 Horwich was granted a Town Charter
Municipal charter
A city charter or town charter is a legal document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the middle ages....
by the Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal
Earl Marshal is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England...
, giving Horwich the status of a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
, a town council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....
and the ability to elect a mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
. An official Coat of Arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
was granted and assigned on 6 December 1974 by the Earl Marshal.
Horwich is covered by two electoral wards of the Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, the Horwich and Blackrod, and Horwich North East wards. Each ward elects three councillors to the metropolitan borough council. The Horwich Town Council
Horwich Town Council
Horwich Town Council is a local authority with limited powers and covers the town and civil parish of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is made up of fourteen elected town councillors, representing six electoral wards...
, formed in 1974, has six wards, Vale, Bridge, Lever Park, Church, Claypool and Brazley, which elect 14 representatives to the town council.
Horwich is part of the Bolton West
Bolton West (UK Parliament constituency)
Bolton West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
constituency. Its Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
is Julie Hilling
Julie Hilling
Julie Ann Hilling is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Bolton West since the general election in May 2010.-Background:...
who won the parliamentary seat for the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
at the 2010 general election.
Geography
Suburban localities in Horwich include Wallsuches and MiddlebrookMiddlebrook, Greater Manchester
Middlebrook is a locality that spans the boundaries of Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
.
Horwich extends to 3230 acres (13.1 km²) and measures 3 miles (4.8 km) from north to south and 2 miles (3.2 km) west to east. The River Douglas
River Douglas
The River Douglas, also known as the River Asland or Astland, is a river that flows through Lancashire and Greater Manchester in the north-west of England...
flowing in a south westerly direction forms part of its northern boundary. The landscape to the north is dominated by Winter Hill, Rivington Pike
Rivington Pike
Rivington Pike is a hill summit on Winter Hill, part of the West Pennine Moors, overlooking the village of Rivington in Lancashire, England. The nearest towns are Chorley and Horwich. The Pike is a prominent local landmark which derives its name from the Old English hreof plus ing meaning the rough...
and the West Pennine Moors
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors cover an area of approximately of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England.The West Pennine Moors are separated from the main Pennine range by the Irwell Valley. The moorland includes Withnell, Anglezarke and Rivington Moors in the extreme west,...
. The highest point is 1475 feet (449.6 m) on the moors in the north from where the ground slopes down towards the south and west, where the lowest land is about 350 feet (106.7 m). On Wilders and Horwich Moors the underlying rock is Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit
Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...
, and in the intermediate slopes are found the Lower Coal Measures
Coal Measures
The Coal Measures is a lithostratigraphical term for the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. It represents the remains of fluvio-deltaic sediment, and consists mainly of clastic rocks interstratified with the beds of coal...
of the Lancashire Coalfield
Lancashire Coalfield
The Lancashire Coalfield in north-west England was one of the most important British coalfields.-Geography and geology:The geology of the coalfield consists of the coal seams of the Upper, Middle and Lower Coal Measures, layers of sandstones, shales and coal of varying thickness, which were laid...
. The Middle Coal Measures are found in the southwest of the township.
Red Moss, 1.5 km south of the town centre, is a 47.2 hectare (116.6 acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSIs) which was designated in 1995 because of its biological interest. Red Moss is the best example of lowland raised mire
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
in Greater Manchester and is one of 21 SSSIs in the area. The site is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.
Demography
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin-left: 2em; width: 40%; font-size: 90%;" cellspacing="3"!colspan="4"|Horwich compared
|-
|2001 UK census||Horwich||Bolton(borough)||England
|-
|Total population||19,312||261,037||52,041,916
|-
|White||97.9%||89.0%||90.9%
|-
|Asian||1.0%||9.1%||4.6%
|-
|Black||0.4%||0.6%||2.3%
|}
As of the 2001 UK census, Horwich had a population of 19,312 of which 9,370 were male and 9,942 were female. The 2001 population density is lower than Bolton at 12.5 people per hectare compared to 18.7 in Bolton.
Population change
Until the late 1700s Horwich was a small rural community. After 1780 the populationPopulation
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
increased as the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
brought changes to the town but remained constant until 1885 when the locomotive works were built more than trebling the population in ten years.
| Population changes of Horwich | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Year | Population | Year | Population | Year | Population | |||
| 1801 | 1,565 | 1851 | 3,952 | 1901 | 15,084 | 1951 | 15,549 | |||
| 1811 | 2,374 | 1861 | 3,471 | 1911 | 16,285 | 1961 | 16,078 | |||
| 1821 | 2,873 | 1871 | 3,671 | 1921 | 15,661 | 1971 | 16,465 | |||
| 1831 | 3,562 | 1881 | 3,761 | 1931 | 15,680 | 1991 | 18,514 | |||
| 1841 | 3,773 | 1891 | 12,850 | 1939 † | 14,995 | 2001 | 19,312 | |||
| Sources: (a) Local Statistics. (b) A vision of Britain through time. (c) Neighbourhood Statistics. | ||||||||||
| † The 1939 population is estimated from the National Registration figures. The 1941 census did not take place because of the Second World War World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... . |
||||||||||
Economy
Many of Horwich's traditional industries, Horwich Works and W.T Taylor's cotton mill closed in the late 20th century. Regeneration was led by the construction of the Reebok Stadium for Bolton Wanderers at MiddebrookMiddlebrook, Greater Manchester
Middlebrook is a locality that spans the boundaries of Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
in 1995. The development which stretches into neighbouring Lostock, attracted industrial and commercial users including Hitachi
Hitachi
Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
, generating jobs to replace those lost in the old industries and the area is now dominated by small and medium enterprises. E.ON
E.ON UK
E.ON UK is an energy company in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of E.ON, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. As Powergen, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since 1 July 2002 has been owned by E.ON AG of...
and RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
have set up offices close the Reebok stadium. Watson Steel Structures founded in 1933 and BAe's successor company, Matra BAe Dynamics
Matra BAe Dynamics
Matra BAe Dynamics was formed in August 1996 by merger of half the missile business of Matra Defense of France and BAe Dynamics of the UK and was Europe's largest manufacturer of missiles and UAVs....
operates from the Middlebrook area. Georgia Pacific has a paper manufacturing plant close to the Reebok Stadium. Halbro
Halbro
Halbro Sportswear Limited is a British manufacturer of sportswear and equipment for both codes of Rugby. The firm was established in 1919 and is based in the town of Horwich, Greater Manchester....
, manufacturers of sportswear and equipment for both codes of rugby, is based on Chorley New Road.
There are Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
and Asda
Asda
Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
stores on the outskirts of town and Aldi
ALDI
ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...
and Iceland stores closer to the town centre. EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
grants have contributed to new "traditional style" shop fronts in the town centre, which has many small specialist shops. The Horwich indoor market building was closed and demolished in 2009 but there is a weekly outdoor market.
Transport
Public transportPublic transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
is co-ordinated by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...
. The nearest railway stations are at Blackrod
Blackrod railway station
Blackrod railway station serves the village of Blackrod, 6.5 miles north west of Bolton railway station, 1.5 miles from the town centre of Horwich - closer indeed than station....
and Horwich Parkway
Horwich Parkway railway station
Horwich Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Horwich and Middlebrook near Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically located within Lancashire, the station is 16¼ miles north west of Manchester Piccadilly on the Manchester to Preston commuter line...
adjacent to the Reebok Stadium where there is a Park and Ride facility with trains to Bolton, Manchester and Preston. Blackrod station is nearer the town centre. The original Horwich railway station
Horwich railway station
Horwich railway station was located in Lancashire, England on a branch from the Manchester to Preston Line. It was closed to passengers on 27 September 1965 and to goods on 25 April 1966....
closed to passenger traffic on 27 September 1965.
Frequent buses operate between Horwich and Bolton. The 575 is operated by Arriva
Arriva North West
Arriva North West is a division of Arriva that operates bus services around North West England. It consists of two companies: Arriva North West Ltd and Arriva Merseyside Ltd....
and First Manchester
First Manchester
First Manchester is one of the bus companies serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...
, with Arriva services continuing to Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
. Stagecoach North West
Stagecoach North West
Stagecoach North West is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and has its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble in 1988 from the National Bus Company. The head office of Stagecoach North West is in Carlisle...
provide services 125 and 126 between Preston and Bolton via Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
and Adlington
Adlington, Lancashire
Adlington is a town and civil parish in Lancashire, England, near the West Pennine Moors and the town of Chorley. Six miles northwest of Bolton, it became a separate parish in 1842 then grew into a town around the textile industry. It has a population of 5,270.-Toponymy:The last element 'ington'...
.
Horwich is situated close to the motorway network with access at junction 6 of the M61 motorway
M61 motorway
The M61 motorway is a motorway in North West England. It runs from the M60 motorway northwest of Manchester and heads northwest past Bolton and Chorley to join the M6 just north of the junction between the M6 and M65 motorways to the south of Preston....
. The A673 Bolton to Preston road passes through the town which is accessed by the B6226 and B5238.
Manchester Airport is 50 minutes by direct train from Horwich Parkway Railway Station
Horwich Parkway railway station
Horwich Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Horwich and Middlebrook near Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically located within Lancashire, the station is 16¼ miles north west of Manchester Piccadilly on the Manchester to Preston commuter line...
.
Education
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company built the Railway Mechanics Institute in 1888. It became the Technical College but has been demolished.Horwich secondary school students years attend either Rivington and Blackrod High School
Rivington and Blackrod High School
Rivington and Blackrod High School is a Church of England, voluntary aided comprehensive and sixth form school in the North West region of England...
, a Specialist
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
Technology College
Technology College
Technology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...
which was originally the Rivington & Blackrod Grammar School on a site in Rivington close to the boundary with Horwich, or St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College
St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College, Horwich
St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College is a Voluntary Aided comprehensive school situated on Chorley New Road in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
on Chorley New Road. The oldest school building is the old Horwich Parish School which was built as a National
National school (England and Wales)
A national school was a school founded in 19th century England and Wales by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education.These schools provided elementary education, in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England, to the children of the poor.Together with the less numerous...
, Infant and Sunday School in 1793 and now used as a parish hall and is a Listed building. Horwich Parish Church of England Primary School occupies the listed premises built in 1832.
Our Lady's school was built in 1886 on Chorley New Road and Holy Family Primary School on Victoria Road in 1894. Holy Family was the first Lancashire County Council school to be granted aided status under the 1944 Education Act. The schools merged on the Victoria Road site as St. Mary's RC Primary School.
| List of schools in Horwich | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| School | Type/Status | OfSTED | Website |
| Chorley New Road Primary school | Primary | website | |
| Claypool Primary School | Primary | website | |
| Horwich Parish CofE Primary School | Primary | website | |
| Lord Street Primary School | Primary | ||
| St Catherine's CofE Primary School | Primary | website | |
| St Mary's RC Primary School | Primary | ||
| Lever Park School | Special | website | |
| Rivington and Blackrod High School Rivington and Blackrod High School Rivington and Blackrod High School is a Church of England, voluntary aided comprehensive and sixth form school in the North West region of England... |
Secondary & Sixth form Sixth form In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,... |
website | |
| St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College, Horwich St Joseph's RC High School and Sports College is a Voluntary Aided comprehensive school situated on Chorley New Road in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.... |
Secondary | website | |
| Horwich Campus of Bolton College Bolton College Bolton College is a further education college located in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.The college is primarily based in Bolton, but operates a number of Community Learning Centres in the surrounding area... |
Further education | website | |
| Alliance Learning | Work-based learning | website | |
Religion
It is not known when Horwich's first chapelChapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was built. It was a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
to St Mary's Church
St. Mary the Virgin, Deane
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Deane, is a Church of England parish church in Deane, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is a member of Deane deanery in the archdeaconry of Bolton, diocese of Manchester...
in Deane
Deane, Greater Manchester
Deane is an area of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about south west of Bolton and northwest of the city of Manchester.Historically a part of Lancashire, the Parish of Deane was once one of four parishes within the hundred of Salford and covered roughly half of the present...
, but in 1565 the commissioners for "removing superstitious ornaments" took various idolatrous items from the chapel. In 1669 a conventicle
Conventicle
A conventicle is a small, unofficial and unofficiated meeting of laypeople, to discuss religious issues in a non-threatening, intimate manner. Philipp Jakob Spener called for such associations in his Pia Desideria, and they were the foundation of the German Evangelical Lutheran Pietist movement...
, meeting of nonconformists, was reported at Horwich and the ringleaders were prosecuted. A chapman, Philip Martindale, was among those whose estates were sequestrated for 'delinquency' by Parliament during the Civil Wars. In 1672 a nonconformist service was held at Old Lords Farm, the home of Thomas Willoughby
Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Thomas Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby of Parham was an English peer of the House of Lords. He was born in about 1602, son of Sir Thomas Willoughby and Mary Thornhaugh , and grandson of Charles Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby of Parham and Lady Margaret Clinton...
. After the Civil War, with the contrivance of Thomas Willoughby and the connivance of the vicar of Deane, the chapel was used by nonconformists.
In 1716 Bishop Gastrell of Chester
Francis Gastrell
Francis Gastrell was bishop of Chester and a writer on deism. He was a friend of Jonathan Swift, mentioned several times in A Journal to Stella, and chaplain to Robert Harley, when Harley was speaker of the House of Commons.-Life:...
recovered the chapel for the established church. The chapel was replaced in 1782 and rebuilt as Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church, Horwich
Holy Trinity Church, commonly known as Horwich Parish Church, is a Grade II listed building in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Church of England parish church and part of the Deane deanery in the archdeaconry of Bolton, diocese of Manchester...
, a Commissioners' Church
Commissioners' Church
A Commissioners' church is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act of 1818 and 1824. They have been given a number of titles, including Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches and Million Act churches...
, in 1831. Until 1853 became a parish in its own right with Holy Trinity as the parish church.
After being ejected from Horwich Chapel, Richard Pilkington built "New Chapel" for the nonconformists between 1716 and 1719. It was enlarged in 1805. In the 18th and 19th centuries other nonconformist churches and chapels were built. Horwich Lee Chapel was formed in 1754 by Presbyterian members of the congregation of Rivington Unitarian Chapel
Rivington Unitarian Chapel
Rivington Unitarian Chapel is a place of Unitarian worship in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1703 and its motto is "Here let no man a stranger be". The chapel is a Grade II* listed building, and its restoration in 1990 was aided by English Heritage...
. A chapel was erected in 1856, replacing one built in 1774. It became Lee Lane Congregational Church and closed in 2005. A preacher from Bolton introduced Methodism
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
in the early 19th century and a chapel opened in about 1810. The Independent Methodist chapel in Lee Lane was built in 1867, "the congregation having originated some years earlier in a gathering of teetotallers". Primitive Methodists had a chapel on Horwich Moor and a Baptist church was built in 1890.
Before 1884 Roman Catholics attended mass at Anderton Hall. In 1886, Father Hampson opened St Mary's Roman Catholic Church on Chorley New Road. The church and presbytery built by Father McGrath date from 1906. Its two altars are the work of Ferdinando Stuflesser.
Sport
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
football club play at the Reebok Stadium
Reebok Stadium
The Reebok Stadium is the home stadium of English Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers, and is located on the Middlebrook Retail Park in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. It is commonly known as 'The Reebok'...
having relocated from Burnden Park
Burnden Park
Burnden Park was the home of English FA Premier League football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games here between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting an FA Cup Final replay it was the scene of one of the greatest disasters in English football and the subject of an L. S...
near Bolton town centre in 1997. Indoor facilities for sports training and major racket sports tournaments are provided at Bolton Arena
Bolton Arena
The Bolton Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena, located at Middlebrook on the boundary between Horwich and Lostock in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England....
, which was used for badminton events in the 2002 Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...
.
Several of the town's sporting organisations have origins in the sport and social clubs of Horwich Locomotive Works. Horwich RMI Harriers and Athletic Club founded in 1924, is based at Middlebrook and participates in road, fell and cross country races, track and field athletics.
Horwich Cycling Club was founded in 1934 as the Horwich Wheelers. It is involved in the organisation of the Horwich Carnival Road Races, held in the town centre. Horwich RMI Cricket Club was founded in 1892. The club plays in the Bolton Cricket League which it joined in 1934.
Horwich Hunters Cheerleading Squad has represented the town in competitive cheerleading since 2010.
Twin town
In March 1990, Horwich and CrowboroughCrowborough
The highest point in the town is 242 metres above sea level. This summit is the highest point of the High Weald and second highest point in East Sussex . Its relative height is 159 m, meaning Crowborough qualifies as one of England's Marilyns...
, East Sussex entered into a unique twinning arrangement when they became the first towns within the United Kingdom to sign a Town twinning
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
charter. It was signed by the mayors of Horwich and Crowborough at a ceremony in the Public Hall, Horwich on 22 March 1990 and the Town Hall, Crowborough on 27 March 1990.