Anderton, Lancashire

Anderton
Headless Cross
Population	1,206 (2001)
OS grid reference	SD610131
Civil parish	Anderton
District	Chorley
Shire county	Lancashire
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHORLEY
Postcode district	PR6
Dialling code	01257
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Chorley

Anderton is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. The main village in the parish, Anderton, is a suburb of the town of Adlington, but the parish extends east to the Rivington Reservoir, and includes Grimeford Village. It has a population of 1,206.

The M61 motorway runs north through the parish, which is the site of Bolton West services.

History

Toponymy

The name Anderton is derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Eandred and the Old English word tun - meaning the settlement belonging to Eandred. It gives its name to the Anderton family who branched out into Clayton-le-Woods, Euxton, Lostock, Birchley Hall and other places throughout Lancashire.

Manor

The Penwortham fee included Anderton, which was together with Brindle granted to the Grelleys, lords of Manchester in 1212 held by Robert Grelley. The manor of Anderton was held in moieties by families named Anderton and Cunliffe.

The manor can be traced to 1281 belonging to the Andertons who also claimed a fourth part of Rivington. The Manor remained with the Andertons for many centuries. Old Anderton hall is mentioned as being property of Peter the son of Oliver Anderton who died in 1559, with various buildings, lands, a watermill and half another mill in Anderton and Healey. Anderton was held of Sir Thomas Gerard. William Anderton, the son and heir of Peter, was only a year old.

William Anderton made a settlement or mortgage of his estate in 1593. He appears among the freeholders in 1600 as a convicted recusant he suffered the sequestration of two-thirds of his estates in 1593 which still continued in force in 1607 and he is named again among the contributors to the subsidy in 1628. He died without issue in August 1634 holding the manor of Anderton and a water corn-mill is mentioned. His brother Peter, then seventy years of age, was his heir and had a son William.

Peter Anderton died about April 1640, and his son William had his estates confiscated by the Parliament and ordered in 1652 to be sold. He was still living in 1664, when a pedigree was recorded. In the same year he made a settlement of the manorto Francis Anderton of Lostock, and four years later the said Francis purchased the estate from Peter Anderton and Roger his brother, the surviving sons of William. From this time the manor descended in the same way as Lostock—from Anderton to Blundell and Stonor.

The manor was sold by Mr. Charles Joseph Stonor in 1897 to Richard Bond, George T. Brown and Augustine Bond for £45,000. Two years later the hall and 237 acres of land were sold to the Liverpool Corporation for the protection of the Rivington water supply and the remainder was divided between the purchasers, the manorial rights being included in the share of Mr. Richard Bond. No courts are held.

Of the origin of Ladyhall, the Cunliffe portion of the manor, nothing is known. About 1400 a moiety of the vill of Anderton together with Cunliffe in Billington and Wilpshire and other lands came into the possession of Adam de Lever of Great Lever in right of his wife Margaret sister of Roger de Cunliffe. It was sold in 1629, together with Great Lever, to Bishop Bridgeman, whose son Sir Orlando in 1663 sold it to Francis Anderton of Lostock. The moieties were thus reunited in the one lordship.

Demography

Year	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961
Population	262	317	454	819	973	956	969	904	992
Source: Vision of Britain.

Transport

The M61 motorway runs north through the parish, which is the site of Bolton West services. The A673 road is the only main road which crosses Anderton.

Education

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is a Voluntary aided primary school and is located on Rothwell Road in Anderton. It has around 147 students, aged between 5 and 11 years old.

Religious sites

St Joseph's Church is a Roman Catholic place of worship within the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Besides covering Anderton, it also serves Roman Catholics in Adlington and Heath Charnock.

Anderton New Hall, also known as Stoners Anderton Hall once stood on the banks of the Anderton side of the lower Rivington reservoir, built in 1867 for Charles Joseph Stoner Esq who made significant contributions to the build of St. Josephs Church had earlier paid for the building a presbytery at the Hall.. The Hall Catholic Chapel was used by locals until 1863 when St. Josephs Church was built. The Hall was last owned by the Lawrence family and demolished in 1930. Records indicate a chapel existed in 1370 at Anderton Hall and a sculptured stone depicting the shack bolts from the arms of the Andertons and a crucified figure with 'Inri' above known as 'The Anderton Stone' is now at Rivington church and is believed to have come Anderton Hall chapel.

A local landmark has the appearance of a Celtic cross and is known as the 'The Headless Cross' on a juction off Grimeford Lane, a country lane near the Millstone pub, Anderton. Also located there is an old pair of stocks and a carved stone. A local legend includes mention of a chapel close to the site.

Economy

There were many hand loom weavers in Anderton in the nineteenth century. British muslins were first manufactured at Anderton in 1764, and that there in 1782 were for the first time in England produced 'the Balasore handkerchiefs, the jaconet and japanned muslins in the style of India. In 1779 Samuel Oldknow purchased a number of spinning mules suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin and in 1781 Samuel entered into partnership with his brother Thomas and returned to live at Anderton in 1782, expanding into the manufacture of cotton goods. Samuel Oldknows father is interred at Rivington Unitarian Chapel. Oldknow used Putting-out system of production in Anderton, whereby raw cotton was distributed to spinners and yarn to weavers who worked in their homes and workshops. The finished cloth was then returned to Oldknow's warehouse for checking and payment.

Leisure activities are today a feature of the area based at the Anderton Centre built on the site of the second Anderton Hall, now demolished. The centre was established in 1999 on the banks of the Lower Rivington reservoir and is a purpose built training facility and outdoor pursuit centre a for water activities with fantastic grounds and surrounding countryside for land activities offering a Restaurant, conference rooms, bedrooms and kitchen, veranda on 1st floor with a Boat house, small wooden jetty, private tree lined drive to the centre, open fields with wooded areas. Office arranged in "courtyard" arrangement.

External links

• Anderton CP map
• Anderton chorley.gov.uk