Aspull is a village in the
Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after the main settlement of Wigan. It covers the towns of Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Mak ...
, in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
, England.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
in Lancashire, Aspull, along with
Haigh, is surrounded by greenbelt and agricultural land, separated from
Westhoughton
Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.[Borsdane Wood
Borsdane Wood is an Ancient Semi Natural Woodland in the Mersey Rivers catchment area, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is believed to have been continuous woodland cover si ...]
. The ground rises from south to north, reaching , and has views towards
Winter Hill and the
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The West Pennine Moors are separat ...
. It has a population of 4,977.
Aspull was once a centre of mining and
textile manufacture
Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
, though little evidence of this can be seen in the village today.
Haigh Country Park
Haigh Hall is a historic country house in Haigh, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Built between 1827 and 1840 for James Lindsay, 7th Earl of Balcarres, it replaced an ancient manor house and was a Lindsay family home until 1947, when it was ...
estate lies to the west.
History
Early history
The earliest notice of Aspull is that contained in the survey of 1212, when, as one plough-land, it formed part of the Childwall fee held by Richard son of Robert de Lathom, under the lord of Manchester. The fee was a composite one of 6½ plough-lands (of which Aspull formed one), held chiefly by Richard de Lathom, and partly by Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood.
In 1302 Richard de
Ince Ince may refer to:
*Ince, Cheshire, a village in Cheshire, UK
*Ince-in-Makerfield in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, UK
*Ince (UK Parliament constituency), a former constituency covering Ince-in-Makerfield
*Ince (ward), an electoral ward covering ...
, as son and heir of Henry de
Sefton, and Adam de
Hindley, were found to hold Aspull, as the eighth part of a knight's fee, directly of Thomas Grelley. From this time the lordship has been held with the adjacent Ince by the families of Ince and Gerard in succession; until Aspull was sold to the
Earl of Crawford
Earl of Crawford is one of the most ancient extant titles in Great Britain, having been created in the Peerage of Scotland for Sir David Lindsay in 1398. It is the premier earldom recorded on the Union Roll.
Early history
Sir David Lindsay, who ...
and
Balcarres, lord of
Haigh.
Hindley Hall, in Aspull, the residence of the Hindleys, became the property of James, a younger son of
Robert Dukinfield
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Duckenfield (1619–1689) was a Parliamentarian commander during the English Civil War.
Family history
Robert Duckenfield came from Dukinfield in Cheshire and was born to Robert and Frances Duckenfield in 1619. The Duc ...
of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
. In the 18th century it was acquired by the Leighs of Whitley Hall,
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
, and Sir Robert Holt Leigh lived here till his death in 1843. His estates then passed for life to his cousin
Thomas Pemberton
Thomas Pemberton Leigh, 1st Baron Kingsdown PC, KC (11 February 17937 October 1867), was a British barrister, judge and politician. Originally a successful equity lawyer, he then entered politics and sat as an MP from 1831 to 1832 and from 1835 ...
, who took the name of Leigh, and made Hindley Hall his residence; he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kingsdown in 1858.
The hearth tax roll of 1666 shows that 135 hearths were charged. The most considerable houses were those of Richard Green, nine hearths; Peter Orrell and James Dukinfield, eight each; Major Rigby and Thomas Molyneux, seven each; and Edward Gleast, six.
St. Elizabeth's
C of E
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
Church was built in 1882 by Roger Leigh. The patronage is vested in trustees. There are two
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
chapels. In 1858 the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church of
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
was erected.
Coal
Cannel coal
Cannel coal or candle coal is a type of bituminous coal, also classified as terrestrial type oil shale. Hutton(1987) Dyni (2006), pp. 3–4 Speight (2012), pp. 6–7 Due to its physical morphology and low mineral content cannel coal is considered ...
was found in Aspull. There were several large collieries dating back to the 18th century, also
malt kiln
A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain foo ...
s and a
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
. In 1896 the Crawford, Kirkless, Moor and Woodshaw Pits in the township belonging the
Wigan Coal and Iron Company
The Wigan Coal and Iron Company was formed when collieries on the Lancashire Coalfield owned by John Lancaster were acquired by Lord Lindsay, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, owner of the Haigh Colliery in 1865. The company owned collieries ...
employed over 1,000 workers.
Aspull's long history of mining left a legacy of old mineshafts, water drainage tunnels (
sough
A sough (pronounced /saʊ/ or /sʌf/) is an underground channel for draining water out of a mine. Ideally the bottom of the mine would be higher than the outlet, but where the mine sump is lower, water must be pumped up to the sough.
Derbyshire ...
s) and abandoned mine workings.
The
Great Haigh Sough
The Great Haigh Sough is a tunnel or adit driven under Sir Roger Bradshaigh's estate between 1653 and 1670, to drain his coal and cannel pits in Haigh on the Lancashire Coalfield. The sough's portal and two metres of tunnel from where it disch ...
in
Haigh Country Park discharged iron rich minewater into the Yellow Brook
discolouring the brook and
River Douglas downstream with ochre deposits. In 2004 the
Coal Authority
The Coal Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). On behalf of the country, it owns the vast majority of unworked coal in Great Brit ...
provided a
passive treatment plant in a scheme costing £750,000. Work was undertaken by Ascot Environmental who built a pumping station, pipelines, settlement lagoons, reedbeds and landscaped the site. The scheme has improved the water quality removing the discolouration and allowed fish to populate the brook.
The coal-mining tradition lives on in the name of the "Collier's Arms" pub on Wigan Road, which has a date plaque of 170
Geography
Aspull is on a crossroads. The principal road is to the north-east/south-west,
Blackrod
Blackrod is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, northeast of Wigan and west of Bolton. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a population of 5,001.
Historically part of Lancashire, ...
to Wigan. Another road runs north-west/south-east,
Standish to the
A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6.
* A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile
* ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to :
** A6 (Sydney), a road connec ...
. The
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
passes through the western corner of the township. Aspull Moor lies in the northern half of the village.
The nearest railway station is at
Hindley although
Blackrod
Blackrod is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, northeast of Wigan and west of Bolton. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a population of 5,001.
Historically part of Lancashire, ...
is only a few yards further distant. Hindley has the more frequent service, whilst Blackrod has the faster service to Manchester. Whilst having colliery (goods) railways Aspull has never had a central railway station of its own. There was, however, on the line from Wigan to Chorley (via Hindley), a station named '' Dicconson Lane & Aspull'' some distance from Aspull; that was closed in 1956, before closure of the entire line to passengers in 1960 and to goods in 1966.
Sport
The town's
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
club, Aspull RFC, currently fields 3 senior teams. The 1stXV plays in the Counties 1 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire, the 2nd XV plays in the Group 1 of the ADM Combination league and the 3rd XV play in NOWIRUL Simply Lifetime Mortgages Division 3 Central of Halbro NW Leagues. They also field a veterans team. The club also has a successful junior setup currently consisting of U11s-U14s. The rugby club is based at Woodshaw Park at the base of the Aspull landmark the "Woochie" where they have full training facilities function rooms and a bar. The club logo is that of an emu. This is due to regular sightings of the second-largest living bird on the nearby spoil heap the 'Woochie'. The club has had a great deal of success over the years winning both the Lancashire Cup and Lancashire Plate along with numerous promotions and relegations. Also Aspull if the home of Aspull juniors FC that support 17 different age related teams, also Aspull juniors fc has a excellent girls academy that many girls have gone on to sign for wigan athletic and other clubs.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Aspull
References
Bibliography
'Townships: Aspull', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 118–22.
External links
*
Wigan WorldAspull RFCAspull BroadbandAll about AspullAspull Church Primary School
{{authority control
Villages in Greater Manchester
Unparished areas in Greater Manchester
Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan