Prestwich, Lancashire
Historical Description
Prestwich, a small town, a township, and an extensive parish in Lancashire. The town stands 1½ mile ENE of the river Irwell, near the Bury and Bolton Canal, 4 miles NNW of Manchester, and 191 from London. It contains numerous good residences, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Manchester, a station on the L. & Y.R., two churches, a Wesleyan chapel, a Jewish cemetery, a workhouse, and the county lunatic asylum. It is governed by an urban council of twelve members. St Mary's Church is in the Gothic style; consists of nave, aisles, two terminal chapels, and a chancel built in 1888, with a tower 85 feet high; and contains a fine reredos erected in 1865 and several handsome monuments. St Margaret's Church was built in 1852. It is in the Gotllic style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, and a bell-turret. The Lunatic Asylum stands in the centre of extensive grounds, consists of two ranges of brick buildings with stone facings, and has accommodation for about 2790 patients. The township comprises 1917 acres; population, 10,485. The inhabitants are employed in manufactories connected with the Manchester trade. The parish contains also the townships of Great Heaton and Little Heaton. The township is divided into the ecclesiastical parishes of St Mary (population, 9709) and St Margaret's, Holyrood (1825), constituted in 1885. The living of St Mary is a rectory in the diocese of Manchester; net value, £1486 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Wilton. The living of St Margaret's is a vicarage; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Rector of Prestwich.
Prestwich Parliamentary Division of South-East Lancashire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 79,497. The division includes the following:- Oldham (part of)-Crompton, Royton, Chadderton; Manchester (part of)-Heaton (Great), Heaton (Little), Prestwich, Crumpsall, Blackley, Moston, Failsworth; Ashton-under-Lyne (part of)-Ashton-under-Lyne (so much of the parish as is not included in the municipal borough of Ashton-under-Lyne), Droylesden; Ashton-under-Lyne, municipal borough; Oldham, municipal borough.
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 | Prestwich St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Salford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
A transcript of the Parish Registers from 1603 - 1688 is available on CD ROM from the shop.
The Registers of Prestwich 1603-1688, are available to browse online.
The Registers of Prestwich 1689-1711, are available to browse online.
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.
Churches
Church of England
dedication unknown
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Prestwich from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Prestwich (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Prestwich 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: