Bryn is a component ward of 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 ...

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. It is part of the larger town of Ashton-in-Makerfield and is geographically indistinguishable from it, but forms a separate local council ward. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 11,662. Served by

Bryn railway station Bryn railway station is a railway station serving the suburb of Bryn in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. The station is situated on the electrified Liverpool–Wigan line northeast of Liverpool Lime Street and south of Wig ...

, Bryn is home to the

Three Sisters Recreation Area Three Sisters Recreation Area is located in Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, England. In 2011 it was designated a Local Nature Reserve. The area was reclaimed from three coal mining spoil tips and an old golf course during ...

which has been created from three large

spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quant ...

s which remain from Bryn's role in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

's coal mining past. The recreation area is also the site of the Three Sisters Race Circuit, which provides race driving instruction and plays host to

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

events and motorcycle road race meetings at clubman level.

Etymology

The name ''Bryn'' is most likely derived from

Cumbric Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...

''brïnn'', meaning 'hill' (compare with modern cy, bryn). Alternatively, the name may be derived directly from the Welsh equivalent, possibly reflecting Welsh settlement in the 12th century. A third explanation is that the name is derived from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''bryne'', 'burning, fire', suggestive of land cleared by burning.

History

The former Bryn (or Brynne) Hall was the seat of the Gerard family beginning in the thirteenth century or earlier. It was a "safe house" for the English Roman Catholic martyr and saint

Edmund Arrowsmith Edmund Arrowsmith ''(baptized as "Brian Arrowsmith")'', SJ (c. 1585 – 28 August 1628) was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales of the Catholic Church. The main source of information on Arrowsmith is a contemporary account written ...

and his hand was reportedly preserved there after his execution. The house, dating to the fourteenth century, has now completely collapsed and remaining stones have been cleared. 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 ...

parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel was founded in 1896. In 1902 the foundation stone of the church was laid by the

Bishop of Liverpool The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The diocese stretches from Southport in the no ...

, Thomas Whiteside. The church, on Downall Green Road, opened on 21 October 1903. On 8 September 1955 the church was consecrated and the

holy relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of two early Roman martyrs – Saints Speciosi and Fructuosi, were placed in the

altar stone An altar stone is a piece of natural stone containing relics in a cavity and intended to serve as the essential part of an altar for the celebration of Mass in the Catholic Church. Consecration by a bishop of the same rite was required. In the Byza ...

. The Unitarian Park Lane Chapel in Wigan Road was built in 1697, though its congregation was founded in 1662. It is the oldest Non-conformist chapel and congregation in the whole district. By the nineteenth century Park Lane was only one of nine non-conformist chapels in the heavily recusant area.

References

Areas of Greater Manchester Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Ashton-in-Makerfield {{GreaterManchester-geo-stub