HORWICH
Harewych, 1277; Horewyche, 1327.
The township of Horwich has an area of 3,254½
acres, (fn. 1) and measures about 3 miles from north to
south, by 2 miles across. The highest point, 1,475 ft.,
is in the extreme north; from this the ground slopes
downward to the south, but most rapidly to the west,
where about 350 ft. is reached. Along the southwestern border the Coal Measures occur, on Wilders
and Horwich Moors the Millstone Grit, and in the
intermediate slopes the Gannister Beds or Lower Coal
Measures.
A little to the south of the Rivington Reservoirs
lies the town of Horwich, built at the junction of two
roads from Bolton, which are the principal ones traversing the township. To the south-east of the town
are the great locomotive works of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway Company, the main industry of
the place. The company has a short branch from
the Bolton and Preston line, with a terminus at
Horwich, opened in 1870. There is an electric
tramway to Bolton. The Thirlmere aqueduct passes
through the township.
To the hearth tax of 1666 the largest house contributing was that of Thomas Anderton, with six
hearths; the total number was seventy-six. (fn. 2)
The population in 1901 numbered 15,084.
Great bleach works and cotton mills have long been
carried on here, also calico printing. There are firebrick and tile works, important stone quarries, and
several collieries. The northern part of the township
is moorland; the chief crop is grass.
A local board was formed in 1872; (fn. 3) this in 1894
became an urban district council, the township being
divided into four wards, each returning three members. The meetings are held in the Public Hall,
built in 1878. The Railway Mechanics' Institute
was built in 1887–8.
There is a weekly newspaper.
The moor was inclosed in 1815–18. (fn. 4) The Horwich race meetings lasted from 1837 to 1847. (fn. 5) Paceeggs used to be collected by the children on the
Sunday before Easter. (fn. 6)
The two pyramidal cairns called the Two Lads are
variously supposed to mark the resting-places of two
sons of early kings, or of two boys who lost their way
on the moor and died of exposure. (fn. 7)
Manor
HORWICH was the forest or chase of
the barons of Manchester, (fn. 8) by whom it
had been afforested perhaps as early as the
reign of Henry I. Hence it first appears in the records as the scene of poaching raids, headed sometimes, it would appear, by neighbouring gentry. (fn. 9)
Various surveys have been preserved, (fn. 10) that of 1322
being very full. It states that in Horwich there were
sixteen plots of pasture, not measured because of their
extent in wood and open ground, and two of these
plots made a vaccary or booth. After describing the
eight vaccaries, the extent proceeds: 'The wood of
Horwich contains a circuit of sixteen leagues, and is
yearly worth in pannage, aeries of eagles, herons and
goshawks, in honey, millstones, and iron mines, in
charcoal-burning, and the like issues, 60s.; of which
the vesture in oaks, elms, and wholly covered with
such, 160 marks. The said wood is so thoroughly
several that no one may enter there without licence,
and of every beast found there without licence the
owner shall give for that trespass 6d., by fixed custom.' (fn. 11)
In course of time the woods were cleared and Horwich became an ordinary agricultural township; but
the survey of 1473 gives only four tenants' holdings. (fn. 12)
Among the tenants were the Heatons of Heaton and
other neighbouring families. (fn. 13) In the Subsidy Lists
of 1541 (fn. 14) and 1622 (fn. 15) no landowners are named in
Horwich.
At the Court Leet of Manchester in 1598 the
constables of Horwich presented a number of persons
for tithing men. (fn. 16)
The Andertons of Lostock, successors of the Heatons,
acquired the manor of Horwich and held it in the
17th century and onwards. (fn. 17) Henry Blundell was
the chief landowner in 1788. (fn. 18) The minor family of
Anderton of Horwich sprang from Thomas Anderton,
a younger brother of Christopher Anderton of Lostock (1592), who settled in this township. His son
Lawrence, who became a Jesuit, was the author of
the famous hymn, 'Jerusalem, my happy home,' and,
under the alias of John Brereley, of various controversial works, such as The Protestant's Apology for the Roman
Church, printed at the secret press at Lostock. (fn. 19) Lawrence's brother Christopher was prothonotary of the
common pleas at Lancaster by patent dated 1607.
Administration of the goods of Thomas Anderton of
Horwich, apparently son of Christopher, was granted
in 1669 to his brother William. The horrible death
of this William (Dr. Anderton of Wigan) is described
by Oliver Heywood (Diaries, iii, 211). His will was
proved in 1675; his executors were to bring up his
son Thomas, aged eight, in the 'knowledge of the
true Catholic church.' The guardianship was entrusted to Anne Anderton, widow (grandmother),
and Anne Tootell (aunt).
Thomas Willoughby, a descendant of the second
Lord Willoughby of Parham, married Eleanor daughter of Hugh Whittle of Horwich, and lived at Shaw
Place in Charnock. Being erroneously supposed to be
the heir male he was summoned to Parliament as
Lord Willoughby of Parham. He died in 1692, and
was buried at Horwich. His son, two grandsons, and
a great-grandson followed him in the title. They
were Presbyterians. The last of them, Hugh Willoughby, enjoyed the title from 1715 to 1765; he
was president of the Society of Antiquaries in 1754. (fn. 20)
In 1322–3 the herbage of the wood called Le
Twecheles, now Twitchills, could not be agisted,
through the deficiency of cattle in the district, owingto the Scottish raid at midsummer, 1322. (fn. 21)
Among those whose estates were sequestrated for
'delinquency' by the Parliament in the time of the
Civil Wars was Philip Martindale of Horwich, chapman. (fn. 22)
Church
A chapel of ease existed at Horwich
before the Reformation, for in 1552 it
was found provided with the ornaments
for saying mass. There were also three bells, 'which
are the poor men's of the town, bought with their
own money, and the said bells not yet hanged up.' (fn. 23)
In 1565 the commissioners for removing superstitious
ornaments reported to the Bishop of Chester that they
had taken from this chapel 'vestment, alb, altar-cloth
corporas, and other idolatrous gear.' (fn. 24) There was
then a curate there, (fn. 25) but the chapel seems afterwards
to have fallen into obscurity and is not mentioned
again (fn. 26) till the survey of 1650, when Mr. Henry
Pendlebury usually preached there on Sunday without
any stipend beyond the people's offerings. (fn. 27) The recommendation to make Horwich a separate parish
was not acted upon, and it is probable that down to
the Revolution nothing more than a Sunday service
was performed by the vicar or curate of Deane. In
1669 numerous meetings of Nonconformists were reported in this parish, and at Horwich Chapel there
was a 'conventicle,' but the ringleaders had been
prosecuted. (fn. 28)
After the Revolution, with the connivance of the
vicar, the chapel was used by Nonconformists, but in
1716 Bishop Gastrell recovered it for the Established
Church, and it has since been retained. There was
a chapel stock of £190, in the hands of Nonconforming
trustees, who refused to pay the interest when the
chapel was taken from them. In 1723, however,
£100 was given by the vicar of Deane and £100 by
Lady Moyer, and in the following year £200 for the
old chapel stock was recovered from the trustees by a
decree of the Commissioners for Charitable Uses. (fn. 29)
The old chapel was rebuilt in 1779, (fn. 30) and the new
one having fallen into decay was taken down when
the present church of the Holy Trinity was opened
in 1831 (fn. 31) on an adjacent site. It is in the decorated
Gothic style, with western tower. A separate ecclesiastical district was assigned to it in 1853. (fn. 32) The
patronage is vested in the vicar of Deane, and the income is £370 a year.
The following is a list of curates and vicars (fn. 33) :—
|
| oc. 1671. | John Barton |
| 1702. | John Horobin, B.A. (Jesus College, Cambridge) |
| 1720. | Nathan Pierpoint, B.A. |
| 1724. | Robert Harvey, B.A. (fn. 34) |
| 1732. | John Norcross, B.A. (fn. 35) (St. John's College, Cambridge) |
| 1765. | John Norcross, B.A. (fn. 36) |
| 1788. | Samuel Johnson, M.A. (fn. 37) (Brasenose College, Oxford) |
| 1826. | David Hewitt, B.A. (Trinity College, Cambridge) |
| 1853. | Henry Septimus Pigot, M.A. (fn. 38) (Brasenose College, Oxford) |
| 1901. | George Henry St. Patrick Garrett (fn. 39) |
| 1908. | Samuel Sheppard |
A school church was erected in 1889, and enlarged
in 1897; this was in 1902 replaced by St. Catherine's,
a chapel of ease. St. Elizabeth's iron mission church
was built in 1902.
Methodism was introduced into Horwich by a
preacher from Bolton about the beginning of last
century. A room in a mill at Wilderswood was used
for a time; but a chapel was opened in or about
1810. (fn. 40) The Independent Methodist chapel in Lee
Lane was built in 1867, the congregation having
originated some years earlier in a gathering of teetotallers. (fn. 41) The Primitive Methodists once had a
chapel on Horwich Moor, (fn. 42) and the Independent
Methodists also have a place of worship.
A Baptist church was built in 1890.
A large proportion of the population refused to
conform at the Restoration, but nothing is known as
to their ministers or organization, (fn. 43) until, as stated
above, the chapel at Horwich came into their hands
about the Revolution. (fn. 44) On being ejected in 1716
the Dissenters erected a meeting-house called the New
Chapel; this was enlarged in 1805, and other alterations have been made more recently. It is now in
the hands of the Congregationalists, though for a short
period in the 18th century the ministers are said to
have been Unitarian. (fn. 45) A second Congregational
church, known as Horwich Lee Chapel, was erected
in 1856, replacing one built in 1774. (fn. 46)
A Unitarian church was erected in 1896.
The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of the
Rosary was built in 1886.