Pemberton is an area of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, 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 on the southwestern bank of the River Douglas,. and east of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

. The area is contiguous with Orrell and as a ward has a population of 13,638,Pemberton
2001 United Kingdom Census, neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. URLs accessed 11 November 2008. increasing to 13,982 at the 2011 Census.

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 ...

a part 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 ...

, Pemberton was formerly 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 parish in the hundred of West Derby. Following the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, Pemberton became a densely populated

industrial district Industrial district (ID) is a place where workers and firms, specialised in a main industry and auxiliary industries, live and work. The concept was initially used by Alfred Marshall to describe some aspects of the industrial organisation of nat ...

comprising a variety of coal mines, stone-quarries, brick manufactories, and

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses 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. Although some were driven ...

s. Coal mining was the principal industry of what was described in 1911 as an "unpicturesque, bare and open" area. The former

Pemberton Urban District Pemberton Urban District was an urban district from 1894 to 1904, when it was added to the County Borough of Wigan. It included the township of Pemberton along with its constituent villages. References {{Reflist Local government in the M ...

, along with Wigan Municipal Borough merged to form the

County Borough of Wigan The County Borough of Wigan was, from 1889 to 1974, a local government district centred on Wigan in the northwest of England. It was alternatively known as Wigan County Borough. The district was created by the Local Government Act 1888, with i ...

in 1904.

History

The name Pemberton derives from ''Penn-bere-tūn'', which is believed to be a combination of the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

''penn'' meaning

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

, 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 ...

''bere'' meaning

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

plus the Old English suffix of '' -ton'' meaning a farm or settlement. Unmentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086, Pemberton does not appear in records until 1212, when it was documented to have been a

thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...

age estate, or manor, comprising "two plough-lands", with an annual rate of 20

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

payable by the tenant, Alan de Windle, to King John. There were several collieries in the area, and sandstone was also quarried. At Newtown were

s and iron works. The area is served by

Pemberton railway station Pemberton railway station serves the Pemberton area of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. It is on the Kirkby branch line from Wigan Wallgate. The station was opened on 20 November 1848 by the Liverpool and Bury Railway. It on the A571 Bil ...

Governance

Pemberton was formerly a

in Wigan ecclesiastical parish, in the hundred of

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...

, and was recognised as 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 ...

in 1866. From 1894 to 1904, the Pemberton parish constituted the

. In 1904 the urban district was abolished with its territory transferred to the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

and local government

.Vision of Britain
- Pemberton CP The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica describes Pemberton as being part of Wigan (which then formed 5082 acres). In 1911 the parish had a population of 23,642. On 1 April 1920, the Pemberton parish was abolished and its former area was used to enlarge the

parish, making the area of the parish and county borough identical. Pemberton today is considered part of Wigan for purposes of the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

, and in most reputable contemporary publications. This is also the approach taken also in several other modern online sources, which omit Pemberton as a standalone settlement.

Electoral Ward

The

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Pemberton is represented by three elected councillors. The ward covers the following neighbourhoods: *Kitt Green * Lamberhead Green ( Orrell) *Marsh Green

Wigan Council Members for Pemberton

*On 28 January 2013, Councillor Barbara Bourne, a representative of Pemberton since 1996, died in office following a long-term illness. She was responsible for a long campaign for a new medical centre, which was opened in the area of Kitt Green, in 2010.http://manchestergazette.co.uk/archives/11573

Geography

Described in 1911 as "unpicturesque, bare and open", Pemberton is predominantly made up of privately owned homes and local authority maintained housing, including Newtown,

Worsley Mesnes Worsley Mesnes () is a suburb (Better known as an estate) of Wigan in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The ward population at the 2011 census was 11,974. Transport Worsley Mesnes Drive is the main road through ...

, Norley Hall, Worsley Hall and Marsh Green. Pemberton and its adjoining district of Orrell form one continuous residential area. The soil is clay and loam, over Coal Measures and stone.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Wigan South
Wigan MBC. {{Authority control Areas of Wigan Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester