Howe Bridge

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Howe Bridge
HoweBridge.jpg
Howe Bridge village
Greater Manchester UK location map 2.svg
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Howe Bridge
Location within Greater Manchester
OS grid reference SD666027
  London 170 mi (274 km) SE
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town MANCHESTER
Postcode district M46
Dialling code 01942
Police Greater Manchester
Fire Greater Manchester
Ambulance North West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Greater Manchester
53°31′12″N2°30′17″W / 53.5201°N 2.5047°W / 53.5201; -2.5047 Coordinates: 53°31′12″N2°30′17″W / 53.5201°N 2.5047°W / 53.5201; -2.5047

Howe Bridge is a suburb of Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it is situated to the south west of Atherton town centre on the B5215, the old turnpike road from Bolton to Leigh. [1] The settlement was built as a model pit village by the owners of Atherton Collieries.

Contents

History

John Fletcher of Bolton, a member of a family with mining interests, came to Atherton in 1768 to sink two shafts. Ralph Fletcher was part-owner in the Ladyshore Colliery. The pits developed and Fletcher, Burrows and Company's Atherton Collieries was formed in 1870, owning all the coalmines in the town. Howe Bridge Colliery employed 460 men in 1954. [2] In 1908 the Howe Bridge Mines Rescue Station opened on Lovers Lane. It was the first mines rescue station in Lancashire. [3]

Transport

The station at Howe Bridge was originally named Chowbent and, in common with other stations on the Manchester to Wigan Line, was opened by the London and North Western Railway on 1 September 1864.

South Lancashire Tramways built a tram shed, power station and offices in 1901 on the north side of Leigh Road. It was taken over by Lancashire United Transport who built a bus depot on the south side Leigh Road on the site of the closed Howe Bridge Colliery pithead. [2]

Religion

A school and mission opened at Howe Bridge in the Atherton parish in 1869. St Michael and All Angels Church was built in 1877 as a result of the late Victorian urbanisation which occurred when the small settlement on the road from Atherton to Leigh became a pit village when deep mining began at Howe Bridge Colliery. The church was designed by Paley and Austin of Lancaster, and the £7,000 cost was given by John Fletcher. [4]

Landmarks

Between 1873 and 1875, Fletcher, Burrows and Company, owners of the local collieries, built a model village on Leigh Road, comprising terraced cottages, shops, Atherton Collieries Village Club and a bath house for their employees. This Victorian village on either side of Leigh Road, [5] [6] together with St Michael and All Angel's Church, is a conservation area. [7]

Related Research Articles

Leigh, Greater Manchester Town in Greater Manchester

Leigh is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss.

Atherton, Greater Manchester Town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, England

Atherton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England and historically a part of Lancashire. The town, including Hindsford, Howe Bridge and Hag Fold, is 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Wigan, 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Leigh, and 10+34 miles (17.3 km) northwest of Manchester. From the 17th century, for about 300 years, Atherton was known as Chowbent, which was frequently shortened to Bent, the town's old nickname.

Astley, Greater Manchester Human settlement in England

Astley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is crossed by the Bridgewater Canal and the A580 East Lancashire Road. Continuous with Tyldesley, it is equidistant from Wigan and Manchester, both 8.3 miles (13.4 km) away. Astley Mosley Common ward had a population of 11,270 at the 2011 Census.

Tyldesley Human settlement in England

Tyldesley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, 7.7 miles (12.4 km) southeast of Wigan and 8.9 miles (14.3 km) northwest of Manchester. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, the Tyldesley built-up area, excluding Shakerley, had a population of 16,142.

The Manchester and Wigan Railway refers to a railway in North West England, opened in 1864 and closed to passengers on 3 May 1969, which was part of the London and North Western Railway before the Grouping of 1923. This route was an alternative to the surviving route through Swinton, Walkden and Atherton.

Mosley Common Human settlement in England

Mosley Common is a suburb of Tyldesley at the far-eastern edge of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it was anciently a hamlet in the east of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish of Leigh. The area of Mosley Common in 1747 was 34 acres (14 ha) statute s.

Shakerley Human settlement in England

Shakerley is a suburb of Tyldesley in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It was anciently a hamlet in the northwest of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish of Leigh. The boundary between Shakerley and Hindsford is the Hindsford Brook. It remains the boundary between Tyldesley and Atherton. Hyndforth Bridge across the brook, was rebuilt in stone in 1629.

The Tyldesley Loopline was part of the London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway line from Eccles to the junction west of Tyldesley station and its continuance south west via Bedford Leigh to Kenyon Junction on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The line opened on 1 September 1864 with stations at Worsley, Ellenbrook, Tyldesley, Leigh and Pennington before joining the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Kenyon Junction.

Howe Bridge railway station, originally Chowbent station, is a former railway station in Atherton, Greater Manchester. It was situated within the historic county of Lancashire.

Lancashire Coalfield Coal mining region in England

The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago.

The Astley and Tyldesley Collieries Company formed in 1900 owned coal mines on the Lancashire Coalfield south of the railway in Astley and Tyldesley, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The company became part of Manchester Collieries in 1929 and some of its collieries were nationalised in 1947.

Hindsford Human settlement in England

Hindsford is a suburb of Atherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated to the west of the Hindsford Brook, an ancient boundary between the townships of Atherton and Tyldesley cum Shakerley, and east of the Chanters Brook in the ancient parish of Leigh.

Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries was a coal mining company operating the Nelson and Wellington Pits from the mid 19th century in Shakerley, Tyldesley in the historic county of Lancashire, England.

Bedford, Greater Manchester Suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester is one of three ancient townships, Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh, that merged in 1875 to form the town of Leigh

Bedford, a suburb of Leigh, Greater Manchester is one of three ancient townships, Bedford, Pennington and Westleigh, that merged in 1875 to form the town of Leigh. Historically, Bedford was in Lancashire.

Manchester Collieries was a coal mining company with headquarters in Walkden formed from a group of independent companies operating on the Manchester Coalfield in 1929. The Mining Industry Act of 1926 attempted to stem the post-war decline in coal mining and encourage independent companies to merge in order to modernise and better survive the economic conditions of the day. Robert Burrows of the Atherton company Fletcher Burrows proposed a merger of several independent companies operating to the west of Manchester. The merger was agreed and took place in March 1929.

Fletcher, Burrows and Company was a coal mining company that owned collieries and cotton mills in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Gibfield, Howe Bridge and Chanters collieries exploited the coal mines (seams) of the middle coal measures in the Manchester Coalfield. The Fletchers built company housing at Hindsford and a model village at Howe Bridge which included pithead baths and a social club for its workers. The company became part of Manchester Collieries in 1929. The collieries were nationalised in 1947 becoming part of the National Coal Board.

Gibfield Colliery

Gibfield Colliery was a coal mine owned by Fletcher, Burrows and Company in Atherton, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.

Howe Bridge Colliery

Howe Bridge Colliery was a coal mine which was part of the Fletcher, Burrows and Company's collieries at Howe Bridge in Atherton, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.

References

Citations

  1. Lunn 1971 , p. 186
  2. 1 2 Ashmore 1982 , p. 96
  3. The First Rescue Stations In The Country, Healey Hero, retrieved 19 February 2011
  4. Lunn 1971 , p. 189
  5. Historic England, "94-118 Leigh Road (1253226)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 13 August 2015
  6. Historic England, "147-191Leigh Road (1068474)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 13 August 2015
  7. Howe Bridge Conservation Area (PDF), Wigan MBC, retrieved 13 August 2015

Bibliography

  • Ashmore, Owen (1982), The Industrial archaeology of North-west England, Manchester University Press, ISBN   0-7190-0820-4
  • Lunn, John (1971), Atherton Lancashire, A manorial social and industrial history, Atherton UDC