Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.AA Route Planner . URL accessed 29 May 2007.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Westhoughton was once a centre for coal mining, cotton-spinning and textile manufacture. It had a population of 24,974 at the 2011 census.
Westhoughton incorporates several former villages and hamlets which have their own distinctive character, sports traditions and amenities, including Wingates, White Horse, Over Hulton, Four Gates, Chequerbent, Hunger Hill, Snydale, Hart Common, Marsh Brook, Daisy Hill and Dobb Brow.
History Toponymy The name Westhoughton is derived from the Old English, halh (dialectal "haugh") for a nook or corner of land, and 'tun' for a farmstead or settlement – meaning a "westerly settlement in a corner of land". It has been recorded variously as Halcton in 1210, Westhalcton in 1240, Westhalghton in 1292, Westhalton in 1302 and in the 16th-century as Westhaughton and Westhoughton.Billington, W.D. (1982). From Affetside to Yarrow : Bolton place names and their history, Ross Anderson Publications ()
The people of Westhoughton are sometimes known as "Howfeners" (from Houghton) or "Keaw-yeds" (cow heads) or "Keawyedners" (a combination of the two), and the town is known as "Keawyed City". Supposed folklore ("re-invented" in the Edwardian period) describes a farmer who found his cow with its head stuck in a five barred gate, and, rather than damage the gate, cut the cow's head off, as the cow cost less than the gate. The village of Tideswell in Derbyshire shares this same legend.
Banastre Rebellion In 1315, a group of men led by Sir William Bradshaigh of Haigh Hall, Sir Henry Lea of Charnock Richard and Sir Adam Banastre met at Wingates to plan a campaign of violence against Sir Robert de Holland of Upholland, chief retainer of the powerful Earl of Lancaster. The campaign came to be known as the Banastre Rebellion and ended with the deaths of most of the main protagonists.
Civil War On 15 December 1642, during the English Civil War, the Battle of Warcock Hill was fought on Westhoughton Common between Lord Derby's Cavalier forces and Parliamentarians. The site of the battle was off the Manchester Road where Wayfaring is today. The Parliamentarians under Captains Bradshaw, Venables and Browne ran into a force of some thousand Royalists from the Wigan garrison under Lord Derby and were forced to surrender. The three captains and 160 men were taken prisoner.
It is believed that Prince Rupert of the Rhine gathered his troops in Westhoughton before the attack and ensuing massacre at Bolton in 1644. Civil War activity is also known to have occurred around the site of Hunger Hill and a sword claimed to be from the time of the Civil War was discovered in the garden of one of the cottages at Pocket Nook in Chew Moor during the 1950s.
Industrial Revolution
On 25 March 1812, a group of Luddites burned Rowe and Dunscough's Westhoughton Mill. Twelve people were arrested on the orders of William Hulton, the High Sheriff of Lancashire.Spatacus schoolnet – The Luddites URL accessed 22 May 2007.Cotton Times – Luddites: War against the machines – Page 2 . URL accessed 22 May 2007. James Smith, Thomas Kerfoot, John (or Job) Fletcher and Abraham Charlston, were sentenced to death for their part in the attack. The Charlston family claimed that Abraham was only 12 years old; but he was not reprieved. The men were publicly hanged outside Lancaster Castle on 13 June 1812.Capital Punishment U.K. – Public executions 1800–1827 . URL accessed 22 May 2007. It was reported that Abraham cried for his mother on the scaffold. By this time, however, hanging of those under 18 was rare and of those under 16, in practice, abolished.The execution of children and juveniles . URL accessed 22 May 2007. Nine others were transported to Australia.Westhoughton Calendar of Events . Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks. URL accessed 22 May 2007. The riots are commemorated by a blue plaque on the White Lion public house opposite the mill site.
In 1891, the Rose Hill Doubling Mill had 8,020 spindles and Higson and Biggs' Victoria Mill had 40,000 spindles. Bolton Road Mill housed 564 looms weaving shirtings and Perseverance Mill had 600 looms manufacturing twills, sateens and plain cotton cloth. The looms in John Chadwick's Silk Mills produced broad silks, tie silks, scarves and handkerchiefs. The Lancashire Hosiery Company produced vests. Thomas Welch was a calico printer at the Green Vale Print Works.
The family of William Hulton of Hulton Park owned many small collieries from the 16th-century. After 1828 the pits at Chequerbent were served by the Bolton and Leigh Railway. The Hulton Colliery Company sank Chequerbent Colliery in 1892 and Bank Pit Nos 1–4 between 1897 and 1901. The company mined the Trencherbone, Plodder and Arley seams. Bank Pit No 3, known as the Pretoria Pit, was the site of one Britain's worst coal-mining disasters when on 21 December 1910, 344 men and boys died in an explosion of firedamp.The Pretoria Pit Disaster . Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks. URL accessed 22 May 2007. The Pretoria Pit Disaster was the third worst in British mining history, after the 1866 Barnsley Oaks Disaster in Yorkshire, which killed 361 miners,The Barnsley Oaks Colliery . URL accessed 22 May 2007. and the 1913 Senghenydd Colliery Disaster in Glamorgan, which killed 439.The Senghenydd Coal Mining Disaster . URL accessed 22 May 2007. A memorial erected in 1910 is Grade II listed.
In 1896, the Wigan Coal and Iron Company's Eatock Pits employed 484 underground and 89 surface workers whilst the Hewlett Pits, at Hart Common, employed 981 underground and 182 on the surface.
Governance Lying within the boundaries of Lancashire since the early 12th-century, Westhoughton was a chapelry and township in the ecclesiastical parish of Deane, in the Salford hundred. In 1837, Westhoughton joined with other townships (or civil parishes) to form the Bolton Poor Law Union and took joint responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law in that area. In 1872, a Local board of health was established for the township, but was superseded in 1894 by the creation of Westhoughton Urban District which shared local government responsibilities with Lancashire County Council. In 1898, most of Over Hulton became part of the urban district.Westhoughton UD: Historical Boundaries . Vision of Britain. URL accessed 26 February 2008. Westhoughton Town Hall was built in 1903 to a plan by Bradshaw and Gass, architects of Bolton replacing the Local Board Offices at the junction of Market Street and Wigan Road.
Under the Local Government Act 1972, Westhoughton Urban District was abolished in 1974 and its area became a civil parish of the newly created Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester. It is represented by six councillors elected in two borough wards – Westhoughton North and Chew Moor and Westhoughton South – on the metropolitan borough council.Bolton Metropolitan Borough Councillors . URL accessed 22 May 2007.
Westhoughton civil parish gained town council status in 1985, and has 18 town councillors elected from six town council wards – Central, Chequerbent, Daisy Hill, Hoskers and Hart Common, White Horse, and Wingates.Town Council Election Results 2007 – Blackrod, Horwich, and Westhoughton . URL accessed 22 May 2007. Each year the town council elects a town mayor.
Parliamentary representation For 98 years between 1885 and 1983, the Westhoughton constituency represented the town. Although, since 1906, always returning a Labour candidate, the elections were, after 1950, a close run contest, due to the working class conservatism found in Westhoughton and surrounding areas and the inclusion of more rural (Conservative) areas in boundary revision. At the 1906 general election, the birth of the modern Labour Party, William Tyson Wilson was one of 29 successful Labour Representation Committee candidates.
The constituency had by-elections in 1921, 1951 and 1973 due to the retirement, ill-health or death of the sitting MPs. The last MP for Westhoughton was Roger Stott (Labour) who, on abolition of the Westhoughton constituency, was elected MP for Wigan in 1983.
The 1983 redistribution of seats reflected local government reforms made in 1974. In September 2011, the Boundary Commission for England proposed recreating a Westhoughton constituency to incorporate Westhoughton, Blackrod, Hindley, Atherton, and parts of Horwich and LeighWesthoughton map Boundary Commission for EnglandInitial Proposals – Greater Manchester Boundary Commission for England
Geography Westhoughton covers an area of and has an average breadth of over from north-east to south-west, and an extreme length of nearly from northwest to south-east. The highest ground at over is to the north east with the land sloping downwards to the south-west. The lowest point at about is in the extreme southerly corner. Borsdane Brook separates the township from Aspull, another brook divides it from Hindley joining a stream which rises on the northern edge of Westhoughton and flows south through Leigh to Glazebrook. The town incorporates several former villages and hamlets including railway stations including Wingates, White Horse, Over Hulton, Four Gates (or Fourgates), Chequerbent, Hunger Hill, Snydale, Hart Common, Marsh Brook, Daisy Hill and Dobb Brow.
Local Nature Reserves are located at Hall Lee Bank Park, Cunningham Clough, and Eatock Lodge at Daisy Hill.
Demography
Education
The long established St John's, Wingates CE Primary & Fourgates County Primary schools were closed in 2004 following amalgamation to form The Gates CP School. Westhoughton CP School closed in 2008. An earlier round of reorganisation saw the closure of Hart Common Primary School and opening of St George's on The Hoskers, and the closure of the tiny County Primary at White Horse which is now a private nursery.
School Type/Status Ofsted Website Eatock Primary School, Daisy Hill Primary Official site Sacred Heart R.C. Primary School Primary Official site St George's C.E. Primary School Primary Official site St James C.E. Primary School, Daisy Hill Primary Official site St Thomas' C.E. School, Chequerbent Primary Official site The Gates Primary School Primary Official site Washacre Primary School Primary Official site St Bartholomew's C of E Primary School originally Westhoughton Parochial C.E. Primary School Primary Official site Westhoughton Primary School (closed 2008) Primary Official site Westhoughton High School Secondary Official site
Religion
Westhoughton's old chapel of 1552 was replaced by a brick-built church in 1731 and the parish church in 1869–70. Dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, it had an east window depicting the twelve apostles. In 1990, the church was gutted by fire, but the tower was saved,St Bartholomew's Church, Westhoughton (Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project). URL accessed 26 October 2006. and is Grade II listed. A new church, designed by architects Dane, Ashworth & Cottam, was built at a cost of about £1 million,Bradshaw Gass & Hope website . URL accessed 26 October 2007. and consecrated in 1995 by the Bishop of Manchester. Nicholsons of Malvern built its two manual organs with 1,256 pipes, ranging from 1/2 inch to made of tin, spotted metal and hammered lead.Completed Projects Archive: St Bartholomew's Church, Westhoughton . Nicholsons of Malvern. URL accessed 26 October 2006.
Other Anglican churches include St John the Evangelist, in the Parish of Wingates, and St James the Great, in the Parish of Daisy Hill. St James' is a Grade II* listed building.
The Roman Catholic Sacred Heart parish church fell into disrepair; it was demolished and replaced by a new building incorporating a church hall.