Ashton under Lyne, Lancashire
Historical Description
Ashton-under-Lyne, a union and market-town, a parish, and a parliamentary and municipal borough, on the SE border of Lancashire. The town stands on the river Tame, at a convergence of canals and railways, 6½ miles E by N of Manchester. Its site is a rising-ground, from 30 to 40 feet high, on the N bank of the river; its environs are a low flat tract, reclaimed from the condition of a marsh, overlying rich strata of coal and sandstone, and studded with factories, villages, and mining-shafts; and many parts of both site and environs, previous to the introduction of the cotton trade in 1769, were bare, wet, and almost worthless. The Assheton family, now represented by the Earl of Stamford, were lords of the manor. The distinctive name " Under-Lyne " probably refers to the vicinity of the remarkable line of hills called the " Backbone of England." The parish consists of the four divisions of Ashton-Town, Andenshaw, Knott-Lanes, and Hartshead; and includes the hamlets of Lees, Crossbank, Alt-Edge, Knott-Lanes, Wood-Park, Hazlehurst and Hurst, Heyrod, Audenshaw, Littlemoss and Waterhonses, Woodhouses, Mossley, Old Town, The Demesne, Stanrickhill and Luzley, Ridgehill and Lanes. Area of the parish, 9486 acres; population of the whole parish, 80,991, of which 73,713 were in Lancashire, the rest in Cheshire. Ashton Hall, a very ancient building, partly rebuilt in 1879, is the seat of the Countess of Stamford and Warrington.
The privileges of a borough were enjoyed anciently, but went into disuse, and were lost. The Act of 1832 gave the right to send a member to Parliament, and a charter of 1847 created a municipal governing body, consisting of a mayor, eight aldermen, and twenty-four councillors. The town is divided into four wards, each represented by two aldermen and six councillors. The parliamentary borough was extended in 1867 to include the local board district of Hurst and the part of Dukinfield on the north bank of the river Tame. Under the Local Government Act, 1888, Ashton returns two representatives to the Lancashire County Council.
Ashton has numerous cotton factories; carries on the cotton trade in all its branches; does business in bleaching, dyeing, machine-making, hat-making, and silk-weaving; and has extensive collieries. It has three stations connected with the L. & Y., the M.S. & L., and the L. & N.W. railways, and three canals, which lead respectively to Huddersfield and the German Ocean, to the Peak-forest of Derbyshire, and to Manchester, Stockport, and Oldham. The town has a head post office, several banks, a savings bank and penny bank, and many good inns, and publishes one evening and two weekly newspapers.
The town comprises about 16 miles of streets, is well supplied with water, and has undergone great and costly improvements. The modern streets are wide and regular, and contain many good houses. The town-hall was built in 1840, at a cost of more than £7500, is in the Corinthian style, and was considerably enlarged in 1878; it contains police offices, rooms for petty sessions and county courts, committee rooms, and a public hall 83 feet by 40. Most of the public business connected with the borough and neighbourhood is transacted here. The town-hall is also the headquarters of the fire brigade, which possesses steam and other fire engines. The Free Library and School for Science and Art, erected in 1891-92, is a fine building in the Early English style, with a tower and spire rising to a height of over 100 feet. It owes its origin to a munificent bequest by the late George Heginbottom, Esq., and comprises a fine entrance hall, class rooms, library, reading-rooms, chemical laboratory, lecture theatre, &c. The Corporation Baths, opened in 1870, the site for which was given by Lord Stamford at a nominal rent, consist of a large swimming bath, fitted with every convenience for bathers, a gallery for spectators, a small swimming bath for women, and private and Turkish baths. Every winter the large bath is converted into a skating rink and concert hall. The market place, presented to the town in 1829, was considerably enlarged in 1867, and a covered market erected with numerous stalls and shops; it was again enlarged in 1881, when a fish and meat market was added. The chief market day is Saturday; there is a cattle and pig fair on the second Thursday in every month; and four important fairs on 23 March, 29 April, 25 July, and 21 November. The annual wake is held on the first Sunday after August 15. The town is the headquarters of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Manchester Regiment. The drill hall was erected in 1887 at a cost of £5500, and comprises a hall, 180 by 72 feet, reading-room, mess-rooms, &c. There is also a Mechanics' Institute, with library of 7000 volumes, and lecture, reading, and committee rooms. The clubs are, the Union Club, for professional and military gentlemen, the Church of England Institute and Conservative Club, and the Liberal Club. The Warrington Club, established in 1874, occupies a fine building in the Early English style, with billiard, conversation, whist, and dining rooms, and possesses a bowling green, croquet and tennis lawns, &c. A new Theatre Royal and Opera House was erected in 1892. The Infirmary, erected in 1858-59, is a large brick building in the Elizabethan style, and was endowed by Samuel Oldham, Esq., with £10,000, increased by subsequent endowments until, in 1890, it amounted to about £28,000, the annual income being about £2700. A new Nurses' Home has been erected and two new wards provided. A Children's Hospital, containing 28 beds, was erected in 1891. The Workhouse is one of the largest in the county, if not in the kingdom.
Stamford Park, at Highfield, was opened in 1873 by the late Earl of Stamford and Warrington, who gave nearly all the land. It comprises 64 acres of beautifully undulating land, in the centre of which stands a mansion designed for the uses of a library, picture gallery, and museum. In 1893 two fine sheets of water, of about 15 acres in extent, were added to the park for boating, fishing, and skating. The management and maintenance of this park were transferred in 1891 to the corporations of Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge, in which two boroughs it is situated. A cemetery, 40 acres in extent, at Dukinfield, is used con-jointly by that township with Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge. Waterworks were established at Ashton in 1835 by a company, who sold the works in 1856 to the corporation. The latter obtained powers from Parliament in 1864 to largely increase the area of supply in conjunction with the Stalybridge corporation, and by a later Act obtained in 1870 better provision was made for the supply of water to the boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne and Stalybridge, and the Dukinfield Board of Health and their respective neighbourhoods; a joint committee has been formed to manage the undertakings. The district supplied has an area of about 35,000 acres, and the total capacity of the seven reservoirs is over 780,000,000 gallons.
St Michael's Church is a spacious structure in Later English, built in the reign of Henry V., surmounted by a tower of more recent date, with a fine peal of bells, and contains tombs of the Asshetons. It was thoroughly restored in 1840-44, and at various dates since further renovations and improvements have been carried out, including the erection of a new tower at a cost of £9000. St Peter's Church, at the west end of the town, is a beautiful edifice, with pinnacled square tower, and was built in 1824 at a cost of about £13,000. Christ Church, in Oldham road, is a cruciform building of 1847. Holy Trinity Church, built In 1876, is a building in the Early English style. The district was formed into an ecclesiastical parish in 1879 from St Peter's, St Michael's, and Christ Church parishes. The living of St Michael's is a rectory in the diocese of Manchester; net value, £330. Patron, the trustees of the late Earl of Stamford and Warrington. St Peter's, Christ Church, St James', and Holy Trinity are separate vicarages, the two former in the patronage of the Rector, the Crown, and the Bishop alternately, and the two latter in the gift of trustees. The gross value of St Peter's is £320; net value of St James', =£803; and of Holy Trinity, £202. There are two Roman Catholic churches, numerous chapels for Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Swedenborgians, and mission halls and meeting rooms. A new Congregational chapel, with tower and spire, was erected in 1893 at a cost, including site, of £23,000. Area of the municipal borough and town, 1340 acres; population of the municipal borough, 40,463; and of the parliamentary borough, 47,235.
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 | Ashton-Under-Lyne St. Michael | |
Hundred | Salford | |
Poor Law union | Ashton-under-Lyne |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Ashton under Lyne from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ashton-Under-Lyne (St. Michael))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Ashton under Lyne 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: