| Monton | |
|---|---|
 Monton Road in 2011 | |
  Monton Location within Greater Manchester | |
| OS grid reference | SJ767994 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M30 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
Monton is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is contiguous with nearby Eccles, Salford and Swinton.
Historically in Lancashire, Monton was administered by the municipal borough of Eccles until its abolition in 1974. The name Monton is of Saxon origin.
A conservation area includes Monton Green; the Unitarian Church and a former school with caretaker's house; a lodge, built in 1875 to the Earl of Ellesmere's former estate, and a club-house with bowling green. The Green, once used as common land, is now formally laid out as gardens and lawns.
The community is represented by the Monton Village Community Association, originally named the Monton Traders' Association, it was renamed to include both residents and traders.
The association has a gardening group that maintains the flowerbeds and greens on a voluntary basis. The association organises an annual themed festival on the first Saturday of July each year and a parallel music festival which was in 2008 from 26 June to 6 July. The festival presents all genres of music from classical to Indie. [1] The Monton Music Festival was then combined into the larger Salford Music Festival. Recently alongside the gentrification of Salford a number of popular bars and restaurants have opened up in the village attracting new trade into the village from the surrounding areas.
The Anglican church in Monton is dedicated to St Paul the Apostle. [2]
The present Unitarian Church is the fourth church on the site. It was built in the early 1870s and is renowned for its stained glass windows. The south transept shows the Sermon on the Mount with four smaller windows beneath depicting
The north transept shows Jesus and Children-‘Suffer the Little Children'; and Jesus and Peter – ‘Feed my Sheep'. The clerestory windows on the north side show famous men from the Greek, Roman, Renaissance and Modern periods. On the south side, the clerestory windows show representatives from the Early Christian, Roman Catholic, Anglican and nonconformist traditions.
After the Act of Uniformity 1662 Edmund Jones, Vicar of Eccles, was an ejected minister. He and others continued to meet in the Eccles area including Monks Hall. He was imprisoned for his non-conformity and his congregation reported to the local magistrate. He died in 1674.
When William and Mary acceded to the throne, the Act of Toleration was passed which allowed nonconformity to be practised under licence. The Eccles Presbyterians appointed a minister and met in a series of private buildings. In 1698 the Lomax and Fildes families, long-term members of the congregation, bought a plot of land at Monton Green. A simple chapel was built and licensed in July 1698.
In the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion a band of over 100 Jacobites, supporters of the Old Pretender, ransacked the church, having previously destroyed Cross Street Chapel in Manchester. The congregation claimed compensation from the government and rebuilt a bigger and better church. The Rev. Jeremiah Aldred was minister until his death in 1729. His tombstone can be seen in the churchyard.
The congregation's religious views changed from Calvinism through Arianism to the appointment of their first Unitarian minister Harry Toulmin in 1786. In 1813 Unitarianism was legalised and the Nonconformists' Chapels Act 1844 secured the places of worship to Unitarians, allowing the congregation at Monton to officially call themselves Unitarians.
The second chapel was demolished around 1800. The third chapel was built in 1802 and survived until 1875 when the present church was built. [3] [4]
There was a railway station in Monton called Monton Green, which was part of the Tyldesley Loopline, running from Eccles through Worsley and Leigh to Roe Green. The station opened on 1 November 1887 and was closed under the Beeching Axe on 5 May 1969. Monton Green railway station was located on an embankment, just off Monton Green, the railway running parallel with the Bridgewater Canal. All traces of the station have long since been removed. However, the embankment on which the station was situated is still there and now forms the starting point of the Recreation Pathways scheme, run by Salford City Council. The loopline now forms part of cycle route 55.
The village of Monton is now served by rail services passing through the railway stations at Patricroft and at Eccles, along the Manchester Victoria-Liverpool Lime Street railway line.
Bus services also serve the village, while the nearest Metrolink station is in Eccles (approximately 15 minute walk).
The local landmarks include the Unitarian Church and the locally named "Old Man's Shelter" both on Monton Green. The Monton Shelter was completed in June 1930 following a campaign by the local vicar and a local Councillor for a shelter where 'Veterans of Industry' could meet during inclement weather. The shelter has recently been refurbished. A more recent addition is the Lighthouse built in recent years next to the Bridgewater Canal.
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was formed in 1928, with denominational roots going back to the Great Ejection of 1662. Its headquarters is Essex Hall in central London, on the site of the first avowedly Unitarian chapel in England, set up in 1774.
Salford, also known as the City of Salford, is a metropolitan borough with city status in Greater Manchester, England. The borough is named after its main settlement, Salford, but covers a larger area which includes the towns of Eccles, Swinton, Walkden and Pendlebury. The borough had a population of 270,764 in 2021, and is administered from the Salford Civic Centre in Swinton.
Worsley is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Manchester.
Eccles is a market town in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Salford and 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Manchester, split by the M602 motorway and bordered by the Manchester Ship Canal to the south. The town is famous for the Eccles cake.
Thomas Worthington was a 19th-century English architect, particularly associated with public buildings in and around Manchester. Worthington's preferred style was the Gothic Revival.
Walkden is a town in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, six miles northwest of central Salford, and seven miles of Manchester.
Winton is an area of the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 12,339.
Ellenbrook is a suburb of Worsley, in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. Ellenbrook is 6.8 miles (10.9 km) west of Manchester, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Salford and 4.6 miles (7.4 km) south of Bolton. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is close to Astley, Mosley Common and Walkden, by the East Lancashire Road.
St Mark's Church is an active Anglican parish church in Worsley, Greater Manchester, England. It is part of a team ministry along with St Mary's in Ellenbrook and St Andrew in Boothstown. The church is in the Eccles deanery, the archdeaconry of Salford and the diocese of Manchester. The church was granted Grade I Listed status in 1966.
Eccles Interchange is a transport hub in Eccles, Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of a bus station and a single-platform Metrolink light rail station, the latter of which is the terminus of the system's Eccles Line, and opened on 21 July 2000. The interchange is roughly 300 metres (330 yd) away from Eccles railway station.
St Mary the Virgin's Church is an active Anglican parish church in Eccles, Greater Manchester, England. The church is in the Eccles deanery, the archdeaconry of Salford and the diocese of Manchester. Together with St Andrew's Eccles, St Paul's, Monton, Christ Church, Patricroft and St James', Hope the church is part of the team benefice of Eccles. The church was granted Grade I Listed status in 1964.
The Salford Advertiser is a weekly newspaper serving the villages, suburbs and districts of the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England.
Unitarian Memorial Church is a historic church on 102 Green Street in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, home to the Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven.
Rivington Unitarian Chapel is an active place of Unitarian worship in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It was founded in 1703, although its congregation dates to 1667. It is designated as a Grade II* listed building with some restoration in 1990, and hs ongoing preservation.
Monton Green railway station is a closed station in Eccles.
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.
Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel is a place of worship in Billingshurst in the English county of West Sussex. The cottage-like building was erected in 1754 for General Baptists, hence its original name of the Billingshurst General Baptist Chapel, but the congregation moved towards Unitarian beliefs in the 19th century, and still maintain these. It is a member of General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella body for British Unitarians.
Ditchling Unitarian Chapel is a Unitarian chapel in Ditchling, a village in the English county of East Sussex. A congregation of General Baptists began to meet in the 17th century in the village, which was a local centre for Protestant Nonconformist worship, and by the time the present simple Vernacular-style chapel was constructed in 1740 a large proportion of the population held Baptist beliefs. Along with other General Baptist chapels in Sussex, the congregation moved towards Unitarian views in the mid-18th century; this caused a schism which resulted in a new chapel being formed at nearby Wivelsfield. The character of the Ditchling chapel was wholly Unitarian by 1800, and it has continued under various names since then. People associated with the chapel include William Hale White, Henry Acton, Adrian Boult—who was married there—and G. K. Chesterton. The chapel is set back from Ditchling's main street and has an adjoining house and graveyard, all of which contribute to the character of the conservation area which covers the centre of Ditchling village. English Heritage has listed the chapel at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
Hastings Unitarian Church, also known as Hastings Unitarian and Free Christian Church, is a place of worship for Unitarians in the town and borough of Hastings, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex. It has been in continuous use since it was built in 1868, having been founded the previous year by prominent Unitarian John Bowring for a congregation which had met in hired premises since 1858. The church, designed by George Beck, is Neoclassical in style and has an 18th-century organ.