St Anne’s Mission Church (as was), Arley Way, Hindsford. Photo by Peter Wood, July 2005

History

Hindsford is continuous with Tyldesley, but lying west of Hindsford Brook, is actually a neighbourhood of Atherton. In the latter half of the 19th century, large cotton mills here and close by in Tyldesley, along with the Chanters Colliery and Swan Island Brickworks, provided work for a fast-growing population, and on 26 June 1884, Hindsford was created a parish independent of Atherton.

From 1873 to 1901, Hindsford children were baptised at the small, brick, St Anne’s mission church at Swan Island, which also served for marriages from September 1877 through December 1879 while Atherton St John parish church was being rebuilt. In 1889 the foundation stone of a new Hindsford parish church dedicated to St Anne was laid by Mrs Mary Lee of Alder House (whose husband Thomas had laid the foundation stone for St John the Baptist, Atherton). The church was completed in 1901, but despite its impressive air of Victorian solidity, was upstaged somewhat by the headgear of Chanters Colliery just on the other side of Tyldesley Road.

	Hindsford St Anne. Photo by Peter Wood, 22 Dec 2003

Hindsford had a short life as independent parishes go, and on 1 November 1999, Atherton and Hindsford were united again by Pastoral Scheme under the Atherton & Hindsford Team Ministry. St Anne’s church has since been deconsecrated and is being converted to luxury apartments (as at July 2005).

	Hindsford in 1909

Map of the Hindsford area of Atherton reproduced from the 1909 OS 6” to 1 mile edition Lancashire Sheet XCIV. The map is c. 1.3 km across. Hindsford is the area between Chanters and Hindsford Brooks which flow N to S and are outlined in blue. Atherton town centre is just to the NW, and Tyldesley town is south and east of Hindsford Brook. Numbered in red are 1. St Anne’s Mission Church at Swan Island, 2. St Anne’s parish church, 3. Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. Most of the families who used the St Anne churches lived on Tyldesley Road and in the warren of terraced houses lying south of Chanters Colliery.

	Baptism certificate for Hilda Charlson

Baptism certificate for Hilda Charlson (Peter Wood's mother) from St Anne Parish Church, Hindsford. Note the "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" statement in the top left corner. Not entirely true - there is at least one double baptism that escaped scrutiny in the St Anne Mission Church register!

Resources for Hindsford St Anne

Manchester Central Library lists the following registers:

Baptisms 1873-1963- MFPR 1640
Marriages 1901-1964- MFPR 1641
Marriages 1964-1996- Archives L214

The LDS also have the parish registers in their Family History Library:-

Hindsford St. Anne Registers FHL BRITISH FILM [1885717]