The Parish of Ashton in Makerfield in the County of -- Lancashire --

Ashton in Makerfield

	A sketch map, drawn by Alison Wearing, of the area around the town of Ashton in Makerfield. The map is based on the Ordinance Survey Map Epoch 1 Lancashire Tile No 101 circa 1845

Ashton in Makerfield is believed to have existed since Saxon Times. Previous names recorded for the village are Eston (1212), Aystone (1246) and Asshton (1332). Ashton in Makerfield was also known as Ashton in the Willows. Today it is sometimes referred to as Ashton in Wakerfield because many of those who work in Warrington prefer to live in Ashton and commute!

In 1824 Edward Baines published an early and very comprehensive history, directory and gazetterer of Lancashire in which he identified Ashton in Makerfield as being one of the ten townships which formed the parish of Winwick. He gave the following description “a large and populous village which forms the centre of a brisk manufacturing district, where the poor are industrious, and their employers prosperous”. To give an idea of the growth of the area Baines quoted the Census population data as follows: 1801: 3696 persons; 1811: 4747 persons and in 1821 902 houses, 1071 families and 5074 persons. In 1821 it was estimated that the population, in total, paid an annual rental of £16,330. Follow the links to see the Directory of the parish that Baines published in 1824, which was presumably taken from the 1821 data.

I have used the following sources when compiling these descriptions of Ashton in Makerfield, they are all available at the library:-

• Lancashire Vol 2, E Baines1824
• Ashton in Makerfield History, Architecture and Character: European Architectural Heritage Year 1975, 12 girls from the 1st Ashton in Makerfield Rangers and Guides
• South Lancashire, Nikolaus Pevsner
• Handbook of Lancashire Place Names, Sephton 1913
• An Eighteenth Century Industralist, T. S. Ashton

	Ashton in Makerfield Library, built 1906. Photo by Alison Wearing 6th December 2006

Thank you to the staff at Ashton in Makerfield Library for making me feel welcome on a very rainy and blustery December day in 2006.