Narrative provided by Iain Hodcroft
Web Page managed by Paul Costello Additional Information provided by Susan Szkilnyk Introduction:
On April 23, 1822 the foundation stone of a new parish church was laid in Tyldesley. In 1825 when the spire of ‘St George’s’ eventually reached the dizzy height of 150 feet above the local streets, the panoramic view enjoyed by that intrepid mason putting the finishing touches to the church would have been somewhat different from that experienced by a similar professional scaling the height today (... if of course Health and Safety Executive permissions had been granted, correct risk assessments had been approved, proper training undertaken, expensive scaffolding erected, and an apprentice ‘Dibnah’ recruited to make the climb ...!!) In 1825 ‘Top Chapel’, then in its 36th year, would have been recognisable and the newly built Kings Arms a couple of hundred yards down Castle Street, but little else from that time remains, the largest industrial buildings would have been four or five early cotton mills beyond the new pub clustered around the Hindsford Brook, and long since disappeared, The only mining activity was at Chaddock and the Queen Anne pits on the outskirts of the township. Few of the streets would be cobbled, indeed ‘Squire’ Johnson, (died 1823) recently departed, had still been laying out his grid pattern of streets and allowing the development of small plots, several of the names of which reflect the perhaps then sylvan nature of Tyldesley - Primrose St, Blossom Street, Lemon and Lime Streets etc! |
The five great Halls of Tyldesley would have been discernible in the trees that still surrounded them - Chaddock, Garrett, Astley (Dam House and New Hall), Cleworth and Shakerley, and at that time enjoyed considerably more importance than they do today. The newer ‘merchants houses’ including ‘Fulwell’ (1792) on Squires Lane were very modern ... but they have now gone too!
In 1825, John Buckley (b 1812) would have been still learning his trade as a handloom weaver, James Burton (b 1784) and his successors, mill owners who became fabulously rich had three more years before they arrived in the town; and John Hine and William Parkinson would perhaps have held court at the ‘Flaming Castle’ (Tyldesley’s oldest public house) opposite St George’s, recounting tales of the pair of them surviving the Napoleonic Wars! The cotton workers strike of 1823 at the Jones Bros. ‘Tyldesley New Mill’ (opened 1818), subsequent unrest and violence, the sacking of strikers and the hiring of new ones and then the bringing in of troops to maintain order would have been of very recent memory. |
The Mill LandscapeThe cotton workers strike of 1823 at the Jones Bros. ‘Tyldesley New Mill’ (opened 1818), subsequent unrest and violence, the sacking of strikers and the hiring of new ones and then the bringing in of troops to maintain order would have been of very recent memory.
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Tyldesley Swimming Club
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Public HousesAnd to balance God with Mammon, lower down Castle St from St George’s Church, the King’s Arms Inn was also being constructed as what was to become one of seven ‘watering holes’ on this short stretch of Castle Street! Interestingly, the Kings was built by one of the local mill owners who also owned most of the cottages and cellars in and around Castle St and Factory St.
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