Clifton, Greater Manchester
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Clifton is a suburb of Swinton, in the
Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
district, in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England. It lies along the edge of Irwell Valley in the north of the City of Salford. Historically in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, it was a centre for
coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
, and once formed part of the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury.


History

Clifton is derived from the
Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''clif'' and ''tun'', and means the "settlement near a cliff, slope or riverbank". Clifton was mentioned in the Pipe Roll of 1183–84.


Coal mining

Clifton Hall Colliery was west of Lumns Lane, on the site now occupied by a domestic refuse and recycling site run by the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. The
colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...
was operating by 1820, and its tramway is shown on a
parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
plan from 1830 and an 1845 map. It closed in 1929. On 18 June 1885, an underground explosion at the colliery killed 178 men and boys. The inquest and the official report concluded that explosion was caused by firedamp igniting on contact with a candle.
Blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
George Hindley (aged 16) and fireman George Higson, were part of a band of men who descended into the mine immediately after the explosion. They received an Albert Medal (2nd class) in recognition of their heroism. Wet Earth Colliery in Clifton closed in 1928; its remains can still be seen in Clifton Country Park, close to the
River Irwell The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north-west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam Locks. The Irwell marks the bound ...
and the Manchester-Preston railway line near the bottom of Clifton House Road, which runs uphill from the Irwell Valley to its junction with the A666 Manchester Road, opposite Clifton Cricket Ground.


Industry

The Pilkington's Lancastrian Pottery was established in 1892. The Chloride Electrical Storage Company opened its battery factory at Clifton Junction in 1893. Magnesium Elektron Ltd built a large factory at Clifton Junction to produce magnesium metal in 1936.


Governance

Clifton was a
township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...
in the
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Eccles in the hundred of
Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...
in Lancashire. In 1866 Clifton became a separate
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
, on 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished to form Swinton and Pendlebury, part also went to Kearsley and Clifton became part of the Municipal Borough of Swinton and Pendlebury and Kearsley Urban District. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2928.


Geography

Clifton lies five miles north west of
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
on the A666 road (Manchester Road) to
Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...
. The township covered 850 acres in the valley of the
River Irwell The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north-west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam Locks. The Irwell marks the bound ...
, which forms the north east boundary. The Manchester-Preston railway line passes through and there was a junction with the line to Bury and Rossendale which opened to Rawtenstall in September 1846. The highest land rises to over 300 feet above sea level in the west of the township near the Worsley boundary and is moss land. The underlying rocks are New Red Sandstone between Clifton and Ringley while the rest of the township lies on the Middle Coal Measures of the Manchester Coalfield. Much of Clifton's boundary with Pendlebury is defined by Slack Brook which flows eventually into the Irwell not far from where Agecroft Power Station once stood. Slack Brook has been largely culverted for many years under landfill tipping since the 1950s.


Transport

Clifton is served by Clifton railway station on the Ribble Valley Line. In earlier times, the station was known as " Clifton Junction" from its location at the junction of the Manchester and Bolton Railway and Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway lines. The Bury line left the station/junction and passed over Clifton Viaduct, known locally as "the thirteen arches",Listed Building Register C – Salford City Council
/ref> across the Irwell Valley. Clifton Junction was important in bringing workers to the three large factories in the area, Magnesium Elektron Ltd (M.E.L.), Chloride Batteries and Pilkington's Tiles. The Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal passed through Clifton. The Clifton Aqueduct carried the canal across the River Irwell.Clifton Aqueduct on the Manchester Bolton and Bury Canal
/ref> and is preserved as a Grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. There are plans to restore the canal for leisure use at a cost of over £50M.


Churches

The area is served by two Anglican churches. St. Anne's has stood on Manchester Road since its completion in 1874. St. Thomas's on Delamere Avenue, off Rake Lane, was built in 1974 to replace an earlier building on Rake Lane opposite the junction with Whitehead Road. The earlier church was built in 1898 as a mission church to serve a small community of outlying farms and cottages. Composed of corrugated metal sheeting, it became known affectionately as “Th'owd Tin Mission” rather than St. Thomas's.


Education

Clifton has two
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s and a pupil referral unit within its boundaries:


Clifton Library

Clifton Library is located on Wynne Avenue (formerly part of Rake Lane) in the Clifton Community Centre.


Sport

Clifton Cricket Club play in the Premier Division of the recently established Greater Manchester Cricket League. The Club have gone through a recent period of success with winning the GMCLT20 competition 3 times and becoming regional T20 champions. They also reached the finals of both the National ECB Club Vitality Blast and the Lancashire Knock Out. The club's ground is on Manchester Road not far from junction 16 of the
M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through all of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolt ...
. Queensmere Dam off Queensway is leased from the
Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respons ...
by Swinton and Pendlebury Anglers. Queensway was only built (across what was farmland) in the early 1960s to directly link much of Rake Lane and Lumns Lane (at the former Bee Hive public house - now Holyrood private nursery) with Bolton Road (A666), Pendlebury at its junction with Station Road (B5231) instead of having to use nearby Billy Lane. Before this, Queensmere Dam was known locally as simply "the Dam".


Public houses

There are currently three public houses within Clifton. These are the Oddfellows Arms, the Golden Lion and the Robin Hood, all along the same side of Manchester Road. On Rake Lane, at the junction with Queensway, stands the Holyrood nursery which was, until recent times, the Beehive public house.


Clifton Barracks

The British Army's Territorial Army Centre on Manchester Road, very close to junction 16 of the M60 motorway, is known locally by its informal title of "Clifton Barracks".


See also

* Fletcher's Canal


References

{{Greater Manchester Areas of Greater Manchester Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester Geography of Salford