Chorley, Lancashire
Historical Description
Chorley, a township, a municipal borough, a market, union, county court town, and a parish in Lancashire. The town stands on high ground near the river Yarrow, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and has a joint station on the L. & Y.R. and L. & N.W.R,, 9 miles SSE of Preston. It is a seat of cotton manufacture, and its environs abound in gentle eminences, and afford many charming views. The town was incorporated by royal charter in 1881, and is governed by a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 6 councillors from each of the four wards into which the town is divided. The gasworks belong to the corporation, and a good supply of water is obtained from the works of the corporation of Liverpool. There is a complete system of sewerage and house drainage, and two farms for utilisation of the sewage. The council act as burial board, and have control of the cemetery and mortuary. The town-hall, erected in 1879, is a handsome building in the Italian style. St Lawrence, or the parochial church, is an ancient building in the Perpendicular style, has a massive pinnacled tower of the time of Edward VI., contains many stained windows, and was enlarged by the addition of aisles in 1859-61. St George's Church isastructure of 1825, in pointed architecture, with pinnacled tower, built at a cost of nearly £15,000. St Peter's Church was built in 1850. St James Church was erected in 1878. There are also Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Uni-tarian, United Free Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, a grammar school, founded in 1611, almshouses, and other charities, a dispensary, a cottage hospital, a workhouse, and a head post office. There are numerous schools, three banks, and a savings bank, three clubhouses, a public hall, a theatre, and a co-operative hall, and two weekly papers are published. Weekly markets are held on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and fairs on 26 March, 5 May, 20 Aug., 4 Sept., and 21 Oct. There is a covered butter market. The town is a seat of petty sessions; it has also cotton factories, extensive bleaching, calico printing and dye works, brass and iron foundries, railway waggon works, &c., and it carries on much trade in connection with neighbouring mines and quarries.
The parish comprises 3614 acres; population, 23,087. Astley Hall and Gillibrand Hall are chief residences. The ecclesiastical parishes of St George, St James, and St Peter were constituted in 1835, 1879, and 1852 respectively. The mother parish, or St Lawrence, is a rectory, and St George, St James, and St Peter are vicarages in the diocese of Manchester; net value of St Lawrence, £553 with residence; of the others, £294, £240, and £107. Patron of St Lawrence, the Bishop of Manchester; of the others, the Eector. There is also a workhouse.
Chorley Parliamentary Division of Northern Lancaster was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 67,854. The division includes the following; —Chorley or Leyland (Hundred of —Old Division) —Adiington, Anderton, Bispham, Bretherton, Brindle, Charnock Richard, Chorley, Coppull, Croston, Duxbury, Eccleston, Euxton, Heapey, Heath Charnock, Hesketh-with-Becousall, Heskm, Hoghton, Mawdesley, Parbold, Rufford, Spevington, Stand-ish-with-Langtree, Tarleton, Ulnes Walton, Welsh Whittle, Wheelton, Whittle-le-W½ods, Withnell, Worthington, Writh-ington; Leyland (New Division —part of) —Leyland, Clay-ton-le-Woods, Cuerden.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Lancashire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Chorley St. Lawrence | |
Hundred | Leyland | |
Poor Law union | Chorley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Registers of the Parish Church commence in 1548. A transcript of the earliest volume, 1548 - 1643 is available on CD-ROM from the shop.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.
Churches
Church of England
dedication unknown
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chorley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chorley (St. Lawrence))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Chorley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online: