Patricroft
Encyclopedia
Patricroft is a district of Eccles
Eccles, Greater Manchester
Eccles is a town in the City of Salford, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England, west of Salford and west of Manchester city centre...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, within the historic county boundaries
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...

 of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

.

History

Patricroft may derive its name from 'Pear-tree croft', or more likely, 'Patrick's Croft'. In 1836, James Nasmyth
James Nasmyth
James Hall Nasmyth was a Scottish engineer and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools...

, in partnership with Holbrook Gaskell
Holbrook Gaskell
Holbrook Gaskell was a British industrialist, and an art and plant collector.-Early life:Holbrook Gaskell was born in Wavertree, Liverpool. He was the eldest son of Roger Gaskell, a sailcloth manufacturer, from his marriage to his cousin Anne Hunter. He was baptised on the 11 April 1813 at...

, built the Bridgewater Foundry
Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company
Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company, originally called The Bridgewater Foundry, specialised in the production of heavy machine tools and locomotives. It was located in Patricroft, in Salford England, close to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the Bridgewater Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal...

 in Patricroft. The foundry soon expanded to become a major supplier of steam locomotives. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the factory's production was mainly diverted to munitions work. At the start of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 it became a Royal Ordnance Factory
ROF Patricroft
The Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Patricroft, was an engineering factory was classified as a Medium Machine Shop. It was located in Patricroft, near the town of Eccles, in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, adjacent to both the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Bridgewater...

, producing shells, tanks and guns. The engineering works closed in 1989: the site is now part of a business and technology centre.

The area was administered by the municipal borough
Municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...

 of Eccles in the administrative county
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...

 of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

 until both were abolished in 1974.

Churches

  • Christ Church

Christ Church on Liverpool Road is the Anglican Parish Church of Patricroft. Construction was begun by the Rev Samuel Dale, curate at Eccles and later first Vicar at Patricroft. The church was built to seat 750 worshippers and was designed by John Lowe, it was opened circa 1868.
  • The Holy Cross

The Church of the Holy Cross at Patricroft Bridge is the Roman Catholic Parish Church of Patricroft. It was opened in 1961.
  • The Patricroft Methodist Church

The Patricroft Methodist Church (technically located in Peel Green
Peel Green
Peel Green is a district, which along with Patricroft and Barton upon Irwell forms the western end of the town of Eccles, in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England and lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire...

) on the corner of Alexandra Road and Liverpool Road came into being from the merger of the Trinity Methodist Church and the Ebenezer Methodist Church in 1964. A new church was opened on the Trinity site in February 1972. Later the Barton Methodist Church and the Winton Methodist Churches merged in with them.
  • The United Reformed Church

The URC have a church on Shakespeare Crescent and their North Western Synod on Franklin Street.

Transport

The district is served by Patricroft railway station
Patricroft railway station
Patricroft railway station serves the Patricroft district of Eccles, England. The station is located on Green Lane, Patricroft just north of the junction with Cromwell Road...

 which was opened on 15 September 1830 by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and is situated in Green Lane. A large steam locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 running shed was situated immediately north of the line until closure in 1967.

Bus services in the area are provided by Arriva Manchester, Arriva North West, and First Manchester
First Manchester
First Manchester is one of the bus companies serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...

. Routes are co-ordinated by GMPTE
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...

.

Notable people

Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe
Alliott Verdon Roe
Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe OBE, FRAeS was a pioneer English pilot and aircraft manufacturer, and founder in 1910 of the Avro company...

 was born in Patricroft in 1877. He was the first Englishman to make a powered flight (in 1908 at Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...

), and the first Englishman to fly an all British machine a year later, on Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marshes is an area of grassland on the western bank of the River Lea in the London Borough of Hackney. It was incorporated into the Lee Valley Park in 1967...

. He founded the Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

company, one of the world's first aircraft manufacturers, in 1910.
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