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Ashton-in-Makerfield

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Template:Infobox England place with map Ashton-in-Makerfield is a town, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, a Parish and, between 1894 and 1974, was an urban district within the historic borders of Lancashire, England. The town was originally known as Ashton-in-the-Willows and, in 2001, had a population of 28,505 people. The wider district of Ashton-in-Makerfield has traditionally consisted of Town Green, Stubshaw Cross, Bryn, Tithe Barn Hillock, Downall Green, Land Gate, Bryn Gates, and Garswood [1].

Geography and administration

Ashton-in-Makerfield is roughly half way between St Helens and Wigan and Penzance but, until 1974, it was not administered with either town. Before 1894 Ashton-in-Makerfield was a township in the parish of Winwick, part of the West Derby (hundred), an ancient sub-division of Lancashire. By an Act in 1845 and the division of the Parish of Winwick, Holy Trinity Church, Downall Green, was made the 'principal' Parish church and St. Thomas' made a Parish Church in the same Act, both being part of the 'Diocese of Liverpool'.

Later Ashton-in-Makerfield was made an urban district by the Local Government Act 1894.

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the district was split, with the South ward, containing Garswood and Downall Green, going to the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, and the rest going to the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester. However, Ashton in Makerfield is a town in it's own right and is regarded as a 'standalone urban area' in the Government National Statistics. It is not 'part of', or 'in' Wigan, St.Helens or Greater Manchester urban areas.

Today, the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield is partnered with Bryn in the 'Bryn & Ashton Township' (consisting of the six 'neighbourhoods' of Bryn, Ashton, Ashton Heath, Landgate, Stubshaw Cross and Town Green), one of ten areas that Wigan Borough has been sub-divided into. Each Township has a 'Forum' with some influence over the provision of municipal services.

History

The hand of St. Edmund Arrowsmith, who's real name was Bryan and who came from neighbouring Haydock, (1585 - 1628) is preserved as a relic in Saint Oswald's Roman Catholic Church, Liverpool Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield. In more superstitious times, particularly before the Reformation, the Catholic laity would venerate such relics. Also, in less tolerant times, particularly at times of great social upheaval such as the English Civil War, radical Protestants would physically destroy these relics whenever possible (see Iconoclasm). Indeed, even in this century, such relics would have been an anathema to the large number of Protestant non-conformists in the district.

The Park Lane Chapel (see Unitarianism), Wigan Road, Bryn (part of Ashton-in-Makerfield until recent times), dates back to 1697, though 1662 is the year in which its congregation was founded. It is the oldest Non-conformist Chapel and congregation in the whole district. By the 19th century Park Lane was only one of nine non-conformist chapels in the area. There was a Baptist, Congregational church (Hilton St), Evangelical (Heath Road), Independent, Independent Methodist (Downall Green Road), Primitive Methodist (see Primitive Methodism), Welsh Wesleyan Methodist, and English Wesleyan Methodist chapel.

St Thomas' Church of England parish church (Warrington Rd) has ancient origins although the present building is barely over 100 years. The graveyard is the final resting place of many of the 189 victims of the Wood Pit explosion (at Haydock on Friday 7th June 1878), the worst coal-mining disaster in the whole of Lancashire at the time.

Ashton-in-Makerfield was part of the St. Helens Area of the South Lancashire Coalfield. The St Helens Area lay to the South West of the Wigan area and occupied around 60 square miles, skirting Wigan, Warrington, St. Helens, Widnes and to within eight miles of Liverpool.

In 1867 there were 13 collieries in the district of Ashton-in-Makerfield. Others followed (including the Mains and Park Lane Collieries), whilst some of those open in 1867 remained productive until the 1950s (Garswood Hall), and the early 1980s (Park Colliery) [2].

A number of Ashton’s coal miners made a significant impact on modern British history, including Stephen Walsh M.P., William Keneally – V.C. and Lance-Corporal in the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, and Joe Gormley - President of the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1970s and 1980s.

As recently as the 1970s the district of Ashton-in-Makerfield had one of the highest proportions of derelict land, mainly in the form of 'slag heaps' left over from coal mining [3]. Major land reclamation schemes have since completely transformed the area.

Back in the late nineteenth century, the district was described by one observer as having "extensive collieries, cotton-mills, and potteries", and famed for the manufacture of "hinges, locks, files, and nails” [4]. Mills such as the Record Mill (Spinning), situated in York Road, and the Makerfield Mill (the 'Weaving Shed'), in Windsor Road, took over from home-working. Similarly, Thomas Crompton & Sons in Gerard Street, which would eventually employ around 1,200 workers, superseded the subcontracting system that sustained substantial numbers of locally-based blacksmiths and other craftsmen.

Present day

A market is held on the market square off Garswood Street on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Ashton’s local semi-pro football club is Ashton Town A.F.C..

References

  1. ^ source: GENUKI
  2. ^ source: Coal Mining History Resource Centre
  3. ^ source: Longman Atlas of Modern British History (1978)
  4. ^ Bartholomew, John (1887) "Gazetteer of the British Isles"
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