Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for NEWTON

NEWTON, a suburb, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Manchester district, Lancashire. The suburb adjoins Manchester city on the E N E; lies within Manchester parliamentary borough, but not within the municipal borough; and is traversed by the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, W and E of Miles-Platting station. The township contains also the suburb of Culcheth, and the hamlet of Kirkmanshulme; is intersected by parts of two other townships, with the effect of isolating Kirkmanshulme 3 miles from the main body; is all in Manchester parish; and has a post-office‡ under Manchester, and a station on the Manchester and Bury branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, both of the name of Newton-Heath. Acres, 1, 585. Real property, £35, 755. Pop. in 1851, 10, 801; in 1861, 14, 907. Houses, 3,029. The manor comes earlier into notice than most other places in the vicinity of Manchester; appears to have been held, for some time, by the byrons of Clayton; and passed to the Collegiate church of Manchester. Culcheth Hall is now the only considerable antiquity; was the seat of the family of Culcheth, till they died out in the first half of the 17th century; passed to Sir John byron of Royton, to John Whitworth, Esq., and to the family of Greaves; and is now so modernized and altered as to retain no more of the original structure than a wainscoted room. The township contains several large silk mills, several large chemical works, and some dye and bleach works; and has a local board of health, a police office, a public library and reading-room, a mechanics' institute, and a branch of the Manchester and Salford Savings' bank. The chapelry dates from ancient times; originally included, not only all Newton township, but also Droylsden, Failsworth, Bradford, Open-shaw, Gorton, and the two Ardwicks; was curtailed at various periods, particularly in 1814; was re-constituted, within less extensive limits than those of the township in 1854; and now bears the name of Newton-Heath. Pop. in 1861, 11, 241. Houses, 2, 281. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £300.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Manchester. The present church is a substantial stone building, in the pointed style; has a magnificent stained-glass window; and contains 1,000 sittings. There are two Methodist chapels, a church school, and a British school. The sub-district comprises the townships of Newton and Bradford, and the extra-parochial tract of Beswick. Acres, 1, 924. Pop. in 1851, 12, 777; in 1861, 19, 311. Houses, 3, 907. The increase of pop. arose from street improvements, and from the erection of various kinds ofworks


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a suburb, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Newton CP/Ch       Manchester PLU/PLPar/RegD       Lancashire AncC
Place: Newton Heath

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