OPENSHAW
Openshawe, 1276.
This township stretches for over 2 miles along the
Ashton Old Road, a long straight road leading east
from Manchester to Ashton; it has an area of
579½ acres. The hearth tax return of 1666 shows
that the dwellings then were few and small, the total
number of hearths being only twenty. (fn. 1) The district
is now urban, though a little open land remains on
the northern border. The population was in 1901
numbered with Ardwick. The hamlet called Little
Droylsden in the extreme eastern end was added to
Openshaw in 1889. (fn. 2)
The Great Central Railway Company's line from
Manchester to Ashton runs along the southern border,
and has a station near the centre named Gorton.
A branch line to Stockport separates near the western
end of the township. A branch of the Manchester
and Ashton Canal crosses the centre, going south to
the Mersey at Stockport.
The great engineering works of Armstrong, Whitworth, and Company, and others, are in this township. Seventy years ago the people were 'chiefly
hatters.' (fn. 3)
A local board was established in 1863, (fn. 4) but in
1890 the township became part of the city of Manchester, and in 1896 was absorbed into the new
township of South Manchester. Handsome buildings,
including a public hall, free library, and baths, were
opened in 1894. (fn. 5)
According to an old proverb, 'The constable of
Openshaw sets beggars in the stocks at Manchester,'
a gibe at the waste of time and trouble involved in
the administration of past ages. (fn. 6)
MANOR
In 1276 Robert Grelley, lord of Manchester, had a park at OPENSHAW, (fn. 7)
and after his death in 1282 it was found
that 2 oxgangs of land in Openshaw paid a rent of
8s., while a plat of land by the cross was worth
6s. 8d. a year. (fn. 8) Some further particulars are supplied
by the extents of 1320–2, at which time there were
4 oxgangs of land in Openshaw, worth 53s. 3d., (fn. 9) also
100 acres of moor and turbary in which the tenants
of Gorton, Openshaw, and Ardwick had common
rights, and the lord of Ancoats also. (fn. 10) John La
Warre in 1331 granted a messuage and an oxgang of
land to William the Couper, his wife, and children,
for eleven years at a rent of 13s. 4d.; the various
services and customs were those usual in the manor
of Manchester. (fn. 11) In 1357 Openshaw was included
in Roger La Warre's grant of Bradford to Thomas de
Booth of Barton, and descended in the same way as
Bradford until the division of the Booth estates. (fn. 12) It
became the portion of Anne, one of the daughters and
co-heirs of John Booth, (fn. 13) and in 1798 J. G. Legh was
the chief landowner. (fn. 14) It does not at any time appear
to have been considered a manor.
William Hulton of Farnworth had land in Openshaw in 1556, (fn. 15) and Thurstan Tyldesley in 1561. (fn. 16)
Ambrose Birch of Openshaw was a juror in 1608; (fn. 17)
he was ancestor of the Birches of Ardwick. A Dyson
family occurs in 1656. (fn. 18)
John Ellor of Openshaw, a life tenant under Sir
John Booth, complained in 1506 of wrongs done
him by Ralph Holland of Clayton and John Gilliam
of Failsworth. (fn. 19)
The constables of Openshaw are mentioned in
1616. (fn. 20)
For the Established Church St. Barnabas's was consecrated in 1839, (fn. 21) and St. Clement's, Higher Openshaw, in 1881; (fn. 22) in the former there is a monument
to Serjeant Brett, killed in Hyde Road at the rescue
of the Fenian leaders in 1867. The incumbents,
styled rectors, are presented by trustees.
The Wesleyan Methodists and United Free Church
have each two places of worship, the New Connexion
and Primitive Methodists each one. The Baptists
have a church at Higher Openshaw. The Congregationalists have three churches. Preaching began
about 1820, but no regular services were held till
1864, when an old chapel was purchased from the
Wesleyans. (fn. 23) There are two meeting-places for the
Salvation Army.
St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Higher
Openshaw, was opened in 1883; the mission was
begun in 1849. St. Vincent's followed in 1896.