Heaton is mostly a residential district 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. It lies about north west of Bolton town centre. It is bounded by Deane to the south,

Markland Hill Markland Hill is a mostly residential district of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically within Lancashire, it is about 2.5 miles to the north west of the town centre. It lies on the lower south facing slopes of the West Pennine Moors ...

to the west, and

Smithills Smithills is a mainly residential suburb of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is northwest of Bolton, south of Blackburn and northwest of Manchester. Smithills lies on the lower south facing slopes of the West Pennine Moors. Toponymy ...

and Halliwell to the north.

History

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

within the boundaries of the 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 ...

, Heaton was created a township in the 12th century. It was in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Deane in the hundred of Salford. Its name derives 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 ...

''heah'' and ''tun'' meaning enclosed ground on high land and it was recorded as Heton in 1227 and Heton under Horewich in 1332. In the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

Richard de Hulton had a charter of free warren in his demesne lands here. The Heatons were an important family in the Deane area. They date back to the 12th century and originated from around

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...

in north Lancashire. From the 14th century some of the Heaton family held land in Heaton-under-the forest (or Heaton-under-Horwich) in the parish of Deane. This family lived in Heaton Old Hall and built Heaton New Hall. From this family they gave their surname to Deane's township of Heaton.

Governance

Historically, Heaton had been part of the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

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, ...

, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire. It was one of the 10

townships 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 ...

that made up 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 Deane. In 1866, Heaton's status was elevated from a township to a

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 ...

. Heaton became one of the civil parishes of the Bolton

Rural Sanitary District Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

from 1872 to 1894, then part of Bolton Rural District from 1894 to 1898, on 30 September 1898 the parish was abolished and merged with Bolton. In 1891 the parish had a population of 1599. Heaton then became a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the

County Borough of Bolton Bolton was, from 1838 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England conterminate with the town of Bolton. History Bolton was created a free borough in 1253 when William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby, granted a charter. Howe ...

from 1898 to 1974. Since 1974, Heaton has been 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 ...

. It gave its name to the Heaton Ward until 1980, then to the Deane-cum-Heaton Ward until 2004. Since 2004 Heaton forms part of the Heaton and Lostock Ward which is represented in Bolton Town Hall by three

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s. Heaton and Lostock Ward is also part of the

Bolton West Bolton West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Phil Brickell, a Labour Party politician. Constituency profile The seat is on the outskirts of Greater Manchester with fields making for separ ...

constituency and has been represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

by the Conservative Party MP Chris Green since 2015.

Geography

Heaton lies miles north west of Bolton on the lower south facing slopes of 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 ...

. The township covered 1630 acres, its boundary is the

River Croal The River Croal is a river located in Greater Manchester, England. It is a tributary of the River Irwell. Rising at the confluence of Middle Brook and Deane Church Brook, it flows eastwards through Bolton, collecting ''Gilnow Brook'' and th ...

to the south and is crossed by the road from Bolton to Chorley and contains the area of

. The underlying rocks are Coal Measures containing sandstone and slate.

Religion

Christ Church, Heaton has its origins in a second-hand iron church erected in 1878. The present church, designed by architect Richard Knill Freeman took a year to build and cost about £4,000 and was consecrated in 1896.

Sport

Heaton Cricket Club play in the Bolton Cricket League.

References

Bibliography

External links

GENUKI: Heaton, Lancashire genealogy
{{Areas of Bolton Areas of Bolton Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester