The Parish of Tyldesley in the County of -- Lancashire --

Tyldesley

A parochial district in the hundred of WEST DERBY, county palatine of LANCASTER, 2-1/2 miles (E.N.E.) from Leigh, containing 4,325 inhabitants. In 1827, the township of Tyldesley was erected into a district parish, as regards ecclesiastical affairs.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £600 private benefaction, and £1600 royal bounty, and in the patronage of Lord Lilford.

The church, dedicated to St. George, was erected by the commissioners for promoting the building of additional churches, at an expense of more than £12,000, and will accommodate two thousand persons: it is a chaste and handsome structure, designed by Smirke, in the later style of English architecture, with a spire rising to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, and was consecrated in September 1825.

The site was presented by the late Thomas Johnson, Esq.; and the munificence of George Ormerod, Esq. has supplied the enclosure of the cemetery, a peal of six fine-toned bells, three beautiful painted windows, an organ, an elegant communion cloth, &c.; the communion plate was the gift of Mrs. Ormerod.

There are places of worship for those in the connexion of the late Countess of Huntingdon, and Wesleyan Methodists.

The freehold of the village belonged originally to the family of Tildesley; the present proprietor is George Ormerod, Esq.: about half a century ago, its population consisted of only three families; it is now estimated at about three thousand individuals, and is still increasing.

The Leeds and Liverpool canal, which extends also Manchester, passes within two miles of the place.

Cotton-spinning is extensively carried on, and affords employment to about one thousand persons; the remainder of the labouring classes are employed in weaving, in agriculture, and in the neighbouring collieries, which are very considerable: there are several cotton-mills, and one for the making of machinery.

A National school, erected in 1827, at an expense of £650, on a site given by George Ormerod, Esq., adjacent to the church, is a neat and substantial stone building of two stories, calculated to contain two hundred and fifty boys and as many girls: it is supported by subscription, and by small weekly payments from the scholars.

A subscription library was established in 1828.

Of the several antique mansions in the neighbourhood, there are considerable remains of Dam House, a very old brick building, with bay windows and gables; and, near it, the ruins of another, still more ancient: the site of Shackerley Hall is surrounded by a moat.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, Vol. IV, London, 1831, p.344.

Entered here 3 September 2004 by Lynn Ransom Burton.