Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, centred around the Grade I listed Church of St Mary the Virgin. In recent times, it has grown in popularity as a commuter town of Manchester, being consistently named one of the best places to live in the UK by The Sunday Times, and has been nicknamed the 'new Didsbury' in comparison with the affluent suburb in the south of the city.
The oldest part of Prestwich, around Bury New Road, is known as Prestwich Village. There is a large Jewish community in Prestwich which, together with neighbouring Whitefield, Broughton and Crumpsall, makes up the second largest Jewish community in the UK outside London.
Toponymy Prestwich is possibly of Old English origin, derived from preost and wic, which translates to the priest's farm. Another possible derivation is priest's retreat. Wic was a place-name element derived from the Latin vicus, place. Its most common meaning is dairy-farm.Domesday Book The township was variously recorded as Prestwich in 1194, Prestwic in 1202 and Prestewic in 1203.
History Early history
Bury New Road roughly follows the line of a Roman road connecting forts at Mamucium (Manchester) and Bremetennacum (Ribchester). It is possible that a Roman fort or encampment was built at "Castle Hill", near the Salford border, mirroring an encampment on Rainsough Hill equidistant from the Roman road.Prestwich History Retrieved 20 December 2007 John Booker B.A., 19th century author and curate of the parish church, considered these were agrarian camps built to protect cattle kept in the woods of Broughton and Kersal. The camp was "just to the right of the old road to Bury, immediately beyond Singleton Brook, on the first field in the Parish of Prestwich, which was formerly known as Lowcaster". Roman coins have been found off Bury New Road, near Prestwich Golf Course and some in Prestwich Clough.
A hoard of 65 silver coins from the reign of King Stephen was found in the Sedgley Park area in 1972. The Prestwich manor emerged in the Middle Ages and in 1212 was assessed as four oxgang of land held by Adam de Prestwich whose father, Robert held it in 1193. The lord of the manor held the advowson for the church. Another Adam de Prestwich settled the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington and Pendlebury on his son John in 1297 but remarried and in 1313 settled the same manors on Thomas de Prestwich, his son by second wife. Thomas de Prestwich had daughters, Margaret who became a nun at Seaton Priory in 1360, but left the convent to marry Robert de Holland, and Agnes who married John de Radcliffe but died childless in 1362. Thomas de Prestwich granted his manors to Richard de Radcliffe for life and after that the manor was held by Richard de Langley. In 1371 Robert de Holland claimed the manor as the right of his wife. Roger de Langley was a minor and ward of the Duke of Lancaster in 1372 when Robert de Holland and a troop of armed men took possession of the manor by force and retained it until 1389. The Langleys regained the manor after 1403.
After Sir Robert Langley's death in 1561 the manor passed to his daughter Margaret, who married John Reddish. Their granddaughter Sarah married Clement Coke and the manor descended in the Coke family, until 1777, when Thomas William Coke, Coke of Norfolk, a leader in the agricultural revolution sold the land in Prestwich to increase his Norfolk estates. The manor was acquired by Peter Drinkwater of Irwell House in 1794 and it descended to his son Thomas who died in 1861. Irwell House and Drinkwater Park was sold to Salford Corporation and Prestwich Council. In 1561 other lands went to Sir Robert's other daughters. Polefield, on higher ground to the north of Prestwich, became a separate estate, with Polefield Hall coming in the 19th century to the Earls of Wilton.
In the hearth tax of 1666 there were 97 hearths in the township, the rector's house was the largest with ten. In the 17th and 18th centuries local government was based on the parish structure. The lord of the manor administered land tenure and inheritance, but law and order was kept by parish constables assisted by the church wardens. The local justices sat in the "Star Chamber" in the Ostrich Inn, now the Church Inn, close to the parish church where the justices' seat can still be seen.Makepeace, C. E. (1974) Prestwich, a brief history. Prestwich Borough Council The village had stocks which remained in use until 1800.
Development The settlement grew to serve the parish church making Church Lane the historic centre. In the late 18th century the area was mainly rural with scattered farms and small settlements grew at Great and Little Heaton. The population was estimated at 670. Rooden Lane which became part of Bury Old Road was a centre for hand loom weaving and at Simister and neighbouring Bowlee, silk weaving was established. During the 19th century another settlement grew around the junction of Fairfax Road and Bury New Road along with another village centre on Bury Old Road. The area between these centres remained rural, however, the arrival of the railway in 1881 encouraged affluent merchants from Manchester to build villas and move to the town.
Prestwich Hospital was built as an asylum in 1851 and by 1900 it had grown into the largest asylum in Europe. Sedgley Park Teacher Training College was established in Prestwich after the Faithful Companions of Jesus bought a house to accommodate it in 1903.Diocese of Salford; history; former bishops When Mike Leigh was a lecturer at the Catholic women teachers' training college Sedgley Park he devised and directed two big-cast projects for the Manchester Youth Theatre: Big Basil and Glum Victoria and the Lad with Specs.Coveney, p. 80 The National Archives holds records relating to the college.Manchester, Prestwich, Sedgley Park Training College formerly Salford Training College; the National Archives
By 1912 the population had increased to 12,800, and from the 1930s onwards the remaining fields were developed and by 1961 the population reached 31,000 and Prestwich had become a suburb of Manchester.
Governance Political representation Prestwich, together with Whitefield and Radcliffe, is part of the marginal Bury South Parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by MP Christian Wakeford since 2019. Wakeford stood as a Conservative and gained the seat from the Labour Party by 402 votes, which at the time made it one of the most marginal seats in the country. However, he defected to Labour in January 2022.
On Bury Council, Prestwich is served by three wards, St Mary's, covering the western half of the town, Holyrood covering the north-east, and Sedgeley to the south. In previous years, they have been represented by all three major political parties, but since the 2023 local elections, all nine seats across the three wards are held by Labour.
Civic history
Historically, Prestwich was the ecclesiastical centre of Prestwich-cum-Oldham an ancient parish in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire.Map of the ten parishes of the Hundred of Salford retrieved 2 November 2007 A Prestwich Poor Law Union was established in 1850, and later merged with the Manchester one in 1915 before being abolished in 1930.
In 1867 the Prestwich Local Board of Health was established which, as a result of the Local Government Act 1894, became Prestwich Urban District, to which parts of Great and Little Heaton townships were added. In 1903, Heaton Park was added to the City of Manchester, and in 1933, part of the urban district west of the Irwell was added to Swinton and Pendlebury Urban District. Prestwich became a municipal borough in 1939, with the council based at Prestwich Town Hall. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it became an unparished area in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury in Greater Manchester, taking effect on 1 April 1974.
Geography Prestwich lies to the east of the River Irwell and is bounded on the north by Whitefield, on the east by Heaton Park, to the west by the Prestwich Forest Park and the Irwell Valley (Agecroft and Clifton) and to the south by the City of Salford. The two main north–south roads passing from central Manchester to Bury, Bury New Road (A56) and Bury Old Road, traverse the district.
The geology of the area is characterised by carboniferous coal measures of the Manchester Coalfield and sandstone appertaining to the Carboniferous Westphalian C geological age. This is overlain with quaternary glacial drift comprising sand, gravel and boulder clay.
Demography The 2021 census estimated the population of Prestwich at 31,500.
Population change +Population growth in Prestwich 1881–1971 Year 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1939 1951 19611971 Population 8,627 10,485 12,839 17,195 18,750 23,881 32,594 34,466 34,19132,825Prestwich CP/Tn
Economy
The high street of Prestwich is centred around the Longfield Centre. The centre, which includes the now-closed Longfield Suite, local library and NHS drop-in centre, is due to be "regenerated" with £100m worth of development work starting in 2024. According to the Sunday Times, the area is an "interesting mix of old and new", with various more upmarket bars and restaurants alongside traditional venues. Many of the local pubs are run by Joseph Holt, and the brewery's first cask ale festival was hosted in the Woodthorpe pub in 2023.
In the Sedgley Park area, there are a number of kosher restaurants and delis.
Prestwich is now considered to be an affluent area and has been called the "Didsbury of North Manchester".
Transport
Public transport in Prestwich is coordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester. It has good transport links to Manchester city centre, Bury and other parts of Greater Manchester.
Prestwich is served by four tram stations on the Manchester Metrolink line from Manchester to Bury, at Besses o' th' Barn on the Whitefield border to the north, Prestwich in the centre of the village, Heaton Park in the centre-east and Bowker Vale on the Blackley border to the south-east. There are a number of parking spaces at the Besses and Prestwich, stops, however, the nearest dedicated park-and-ride station is at Whitefield with over 200 spaces. The metrolink line was originally a train line, with Prestwich station first built by Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1879.
Bury New Road is the main road through the centre of the town. Buses on the road operate between Prestwich and central Manchester and Bury, with high frequency services operated by Go North West Local bus routes link the village to northern areas of Salford including Pendlebury, Swinton, Monton and Eccles. The Lancashire Way and The Witch Way express services link Prestwich to Manchester, Burnley and Pendle. The road was first constructed by a turnpike trust in 1826.
Bury New Road also intersects the M60 motorway at Junction 17, the Whitefield Interchange, a short distance north of the centre of Prestwich.
Landmarks Historic buildings
Parks Richard Buxton (1786–1865), a shoemaker born at Sedgley Hall Farm published a botanical guide to the plants found around the Manchester area in 1849. In the early 20th century James Cosmo Melvill wrote that Kersal Moor, Prestwich Clough, Mere Clough, the Park and Hurst Clough were the homes of most of the interesting plants. Many other noted local botanists had studied the area including Leo Grindon and Thomas Rogers.Melvill, J. C. (1905) "Flora", in: Nicholls, W. History and Traditions; pp. 165–182
In 1906 of land were given to the Prestwich Urban District Council by William Gardner, a further were purchased and the "sylvan and beautiful" Prestwich Clough was opened to the public as a place of recreation.