Harwood is a suburb to the north-northeast of

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 ...

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, bordering Bury. Harwood is also part of the historic county of

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 ...

History

The township was recorded as Harewode in 1212 and 1302. The manor which included Bradshaw, was part of the Manchester

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

held by the Grelleys in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. In 1212 it was divided, the parts held by Roger de

Samlesbury Samlesbury ( ''or locally'' ) is a village and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England. Samlesbury Hall, a historic house, is in the village, as is Samlesbury Aerodrome and a large modern brewery owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. The pop ...

and Alexander de Harwood. The Samlesbury portion descended in the same way as

Breightmet Breightmet is a neighbourhood of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 13,584. Historically a township of the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors in the Salford hundred of Lancashire, it lie ...

and the Harwood portion to the Traffords of

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...

who sold it in 1589 and afterwards much divided. The Radcliffes and Bartons of

Smithills Hall Smithills Hall is a Grade I listed manor house, and a scheduled monument in Smithills, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the slopes of the West Pennine Moors above Bolton at a height of , north west of the town centre. It o ...

held land in Harwood for many generations and Adam Mort of Astley held a

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

and a

fulling mill Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate (lanolin) oils, dirt, ...

in 1630. In 1612, Sir Nicholas Mosley and his son, Edward, conveyed the manor of Harwood to a partnership of five yeomen; Matthew Harrison, Henry Haworth, Raufe Higson, Lawrence Horrocks and Edward Greenhalgh. In the

Hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is con ...

returns of 1666, forty-two hearths were liable to tax but only one house had three hearths. The common lands were enclosed, under the ( 37 Geo. 3. c. ''56''), in 1801. Christ Church was built in 1840 and Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels were also built.

Governance

Lying within the boundaries of the historic county of

since the early 12th century, Harwood 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 ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

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 Bolton le Moors 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 1837 it became part of the Bolton

Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

which took responsibility for funding the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

in that area. In 1866 Harwood 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 30 September 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Turton and became part of

Turton Urban District Turton Urban District was, from 1873 to 1974, a local government district centred on the historical area of Turton in the administrative county of Lancashire, England. History Background Turton was a township and chapelry of the civil and e ...

. In 1891 the parish had a population of 1564.

Geography

Harwood is miles north east of Bolton in 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 separa ...

to the north of the road to Bury. Bradshaw Brook separates it from Tonge. The township covered about of hilly land, the highest point is at Bowstone Hill and the lowest . Stone was quarried and the brooks used by bleachworks. The underlying rocks are coal measures,

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

s. Originally a small village within the former

, but now a small part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Bolton The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton ( ) is a metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, named after its largest town, Bolton, but covering a larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton, and part of ...

. Harwood is mostly residential, with most businesses and shops concentrated around a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

supermarket at its centre. Neighbouring districts include Affetside, Bradshaw and Breightmet. There are several public houses; (House Without a Name, The Plough, Grey Mare, Bill 'n' Coo, Crofters and the White Horse) many serving food, a medical practice, library, large park (Longsight Park also containing Bolton arboretum) and a small playground off Recreation Street. Numerous footpaths leading out to the West Pennine Hills.

Transport

Harwood is served by the 507 bus from Bolton. On Monday to Saturday weekdays, the 480 runs hourly running between

and Bury, via Bradshaw, Harwood, Affetside and Tottington. The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

s are located at

Hall i' th' Wood Hall i' th' Wood is an early 16th-century manor house in Bolton in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester, England. It is a Grade I listed building and is currently used as a museum by Bolton Metropo ...

within walking distance on the main road and

Bromley Cross Bromley Cross is a residential area of South Turton in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It gives its name to a larger Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward, which includes Eagley, Eg ...

within the public footpaths in Bradshaw.

Education

Primary schools in the area are St Brendan's, St Maxentius, Harwood Meadows, Hardy Mill. The popular secondary school for residents of Harwood is Turton High School in Bromley Cross, though both Canon Slade and Bolton St Catherine's Academy are nearby.

References

External links

Information about Harwood

GENUKI: Harwood, Lancashire genealogy

{{Authority control Areas of Bolton Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester