Shakerley
Encyclopedia
Shakerley is a suburb
of Tyldesley
in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
, Greater Manchester
, England
.
It was anciently a hamlet in the northwest of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish of
Leigh
.
An ancient Roman road
from Mamucium to Coccium (Manchester
to Wigan
) passed through the hamlet.
The boundary between Shakerley and Atherton
is the Hindsford Brook. Hyndforth Bridge across the brook, was rebuilt in stone in 1629.
This was the boundary between Shakerley and Hindsford
. It is still the boundary between Tyldesley and Atherton.
The ending "ley" from "leah" denotes the area was once cleared of forest.
Two old house names, "Higher Oak" and "Lower Oak" refer to the oak forest that once covered this area.
Hindsford Brook was known in Saxon times as the Goderic Brook and was named after a Saxon saint.
and the old Roman road
between Manchester and Wigan. It was not a manor house but a manor by reputation. Hugh Tyldesley endowed
Cockersand Abbey
with the whole of the hamlet of Shakerley in the early 13th century and the Shakerley
family paid rent to the canons of Cockersand Abbey and also paid dues to the Tyldesleys.
The Shakerleys finally left the Old Hall in about 1520 and the family migrated to Cheshire
.
The last of the Shakerleys to live at Shakerley Old Hall, Hugh, was buried in Leigh
and the Hall became a farmhouse.
In 1646 Geoffrey Shakerley was a Royalist
, he was ordered to pay a fine and sequestration of his lands for his support of King Charles I
.
These included Shakerley Old Hall, land and corn mill, and five nail smithies at Shakerley
In 1667 Shakerley Old Hall was a magnificent home, there was the Hall, cellars, brewhouse, buttery, dairy, dining room, parlour and various chambers.
By 1742 the Hall was home to a succession of tenant farmers,
The Corn Mill was mentioned in 1656. Henry Hindley, miller at Shakerley died in 1697.
In 1785 the mill was let to Joseph Adkin. By 1811 it had been converted into a carding & spinning shed.
After that it was converted to cottages which lasted into the 20th century.
The first inn to be recorded in the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley was "Mather's Inn" in 1696 it was somewhere in
Shakerley and the innkeeper was William Mather.
The Shakerley family, absent landlords, finally relinquished their tenure of Shakerley hamlet when it was
auctioned in 1836. There were farms and land totalling 514 statute acres with "valuable mines of coal and stone lying
under the same" The estate was bought by Jacob Fletcher of Peel Hall, Little Hulton
.
An armed dispute between the Shakerleys and the Tyldesleys over the digging of "seacole" was recorded in 1429.
Shakerley in 1748 was the most populous and industrialised part of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley. There was a colliery in Shakerley in 1798 owned by John Hope of Chaddock Hall. It was bought in 1836 by Jacob Fletcher when he acquired the Shakerley Estates. In 1853 the owner was Nathan Fletcher. Shakerley Collieries
included the Wellington
and Nelson Pit
s. Nelson Pit was close to the Old Toll Bar. These pits became part of Manchester Collieries in 1934. Nelson Pit was closed in 1939. As the colliery was isolated from the road through Tyldesley a cobblestone road known as the Old Toll Bar road was made across Shakerley to near Green Hall in Atherton. This road is Shakerley Lane. It was a toll road
until 1949 when the toll house was demolished.
Disasters at the Shakerley pits included the death of six men when the cage rope broke at the Nelson Pit on 2 October 1883. Then on 1 October 1895 five men including the colliery manager and undermanager died at Shakerley Colliery after an explosion of firedamp.
The Tyldesley Coal Company
had collieries at Combermere
and Peelwood
. A brickworks was built at Combermere after the pit closed.
There are several references to nailers in Shakerley. In 1846 the Shakerleys owned "Five nail smithies".
James Astley was a nailor, he died in 1681. There were still nailers in Shakerley in between 1820 and 1840 but the rise of other industries meant that nail making became extinct in Shakerley soon after.
Crow Bank was a farm near the Hindsford Brook, Thomas and Henry Kniveton were tenant farmers who also sold gunpowder and explosives from a magazine in their fields to the local colliery owners.
Council acquired Shakerley Common in addition to land for housing. Over the next thirty years most of Shakerley was developed for council housing
.
The Shakerley estate is amongst the 7% most deprived neighbourhoods nationally.
operate services into Shakerley.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
's line from Manchester to Southport passes through the north of Shakerley and Atherton Station
is the nearest station.
of Deane
. Travelling preachers held religious meetings and preached in Hurst's house. When Mary I
ascended the throne in 1553 and the Marian Persecutions
began, Hurst still persisted preaching the Protestant faith, he refused to attend mass and for safety fled into Yorkshire. He returned after his father died but a warrant was issued for his arrest. Thomas Leyland of Morleys Hall in Astley
, accompanied by his chaplain, Ralph Parkinson rode to Shakerley and searched his mother's house but did not find him. Leyland apologised to Mistress Shakerley for entering her property but found nothing except Latin grammars and a small Tyndale Bible
. Hurst's mother and brother had to guarantee that the "heretic" would appear before him at Morleys. This he did after three weeks and he was sent to be tried at Lancaster Castle
. In November 1558, Mary I died saving Hurst from the martyrdom that his brother-in-law suffered at the stake at Chester in 1555.
John Wesley
visited Shakerley four times, Sunday May 28, 1748,
Thursday October 19, 1749, Wednesday April 10, 1751 and again on Monday 15 June 1752. Religious dissent again took hold in Shakerley and in 1770 a house had been authorised for meetings.
1648. Another Shakerley man was a graduate of Brasenose College Oxford in 1671, he was John Battersby who became vicar of Astley Chapel and died in 1690.
From the early 1970s until 2007 there was a primary school in Shakerley but this has now closed.
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Tyldesley
Tyldesley
Tyldesley is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It occupies an area north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, east-southeast of Wigan and west-northwest of the city of Manchester...
in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest component town, Wigan and also includes the towns of Leigh, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield, and Hindley. The borough was formed in 1974 and is an...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, 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...
.
It was anciently a hamlet in the northwest of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish of
Leigh
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....
.
An ancient Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
from Mamucium to Coccium (Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
to Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
) passed through the hamlet.
The boundary between Shakerley and Atherton
Atherton, Greater Manchester
Atherton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England, historically a part of Lancashire. It is east of Wigan, north-northeast of Leigh, and northwest of Manchester...
is the Hindsford Brook. Hyndforth Bridge across the brook, was rebuilt in stone in 1629.
This was the boundary between Shakerley and Hindsford
Hindsford
Hindsford is a suburb of Atherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated to the west of the Hindsford Brook, an ancient boundary between the townships of Atherton and Tyldesley cum Shakerley, and east of the Chanters Brook in the ancient parish of...
. It is still the boundary between Tyldesley and Atherton.
Toponymy
Shakerley in OE is sceacere+ leah and was recorded as Shakerlee in 1210, it meant the robbers woodland glade or clearing.The ending "ley" from "leah" denotes the area was once cleared of forest.
Two old house names, "Higher Oak" and "Lower Oak" refer to the oak forest that once covered this area.
Hindsford Brook was known in Saxon times as the Goderic Brook and was named after a Saxon saint.
Early History
Shakerley was home to the Shakerley family who lived at Shakerley Old Hall, close to the Shakerley Brookand the old Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
between Manchester and Wigan. It was not a manor house but a manor by reputation. Hugh Tyldesley endowed
Cockersand Abbey
Cockersand Abbey
Cockersand Abbey is a former abbey near Cockerham in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England. It was founded before 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to Leicester Abbey. It was refounded as a Premonstratensian priory and subsequently elevated to an abbey in 1192...
with the whole of the hamlet of Shakerley in the early 13th century and the Shakerley
family paid rent to the canons of Cockersand Abbey and also paid dues to the Tyldesleys.
The Shakerleys finally left the Old Hall in about 1520 and the family migrated to Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
The last of the Shakerleys to live at Shakerley Old Hall, Hugh, was buried in Leigh
Leigh, Greater Manchester
Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....
and the Hall became a farmhouse.
In 1646 Geoffrey Shakerley was a Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
, he was ordered to pay a fine and sequestration of his lands for his support of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
.
These included Shakerley Old Hall, land and corn mill, and five nail smithies at Shakerley
In 1667 Shakerley Old Hall was a magnificent home, there was the Hall, cellars, brewhouse, buttery, dairy, dining room, parlour and various chambers.
By 1742 the Hall was home to a succession of tenant farmers,
The Corn Mill was mentioned in 1656. Henry Hindley, miller at Shakerley died in 1697.
In 1785 the mill was let to Joseph Adkin. By 1811 it had been converted into a carding & spinning shed.
After that it was converted to cottages which lasted into the 20th century.
The first inn to be recorded in the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley was "Mather's Inn" in 1696 it was somewhere in
Shakerley and the innkeeper was William Mather.
The Shakerley family, absent landlords, finally relinquished their tenure of Shakerley hamlet when it was
auctioned in 1836. There were farms and land totalling 514 statute acres with "valuable mines of coal and stone lying
under the same" The estate was bought by Jacob Fletcher of Peel Hall, Little Hulton
Little Hulton
Little Hulton is a village—effectively a suburb—within the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south of Bolton, west-northwest of Salford, and west-northwest of Manchester...
.
Industry
Coal was got in Shakerley in the early 15th centuryAn armed dispute between the Shakerleys and the Tyldesleys over the digging of "seacole" was recorded in 1429.
Shakerley in 1748 was the most populous and industrialised part of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley. There was a colliery in Shakerley in 1798 owned by John Hope of Chaddock Hall. It was bought in 1836 by Jacob Fletcher when he acquired the Shakerley Estates. In 1853 the owner was Nathan Fletcher. Shakerley Collieries
Shakerley Collieries
Ramsden's Shakerley Collieries was a coal mining company operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the mid 19th century in Shakerley, Tyldesley in the historic county of Lancashire, England.-History:...
included the Wellington
Wellington Pit
Wellington Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield before 1869 in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England....
and Nelson Pit
Nelson Pit
Nelson Pit was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield from the 1830s or 1840s in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England....
s. Nelson Pit was close to the Old Toll Bar. These pits became part of Manchester Collieries in 1934. Nelson Pit was closed in 1939. As the colliery was isolated from the road through Tyldesley a cobblestone road known as the Old Toll Bar road was made across Shakerley to near Green Hall in Atherton. This road is Shakerley Lane. It was a toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
until 1949 when the toll house was demolished.
Disasters at the Shakerley pits included the death of six men when the cage rope broke at the Nelson Pit on 2 October 1883. Then on 1 October 1895 five men including the colliery manager and undermanager died at Shakerley Colliery after an explosion of firedamp.
The Tyldesley Coal Company
Tyldesley Coal Company
Tyldesley Coal Company was a coal mining company formed in 1870 in Tyldesley, on the Manchester Coalfield in the historic county of Lancashire, England that had its origins in Yew Tree Colliery, the location for a mining disaster that killed 25 men and boys in 1858.-History:Yew Tree Farm covered...
had collieries at Combermere
Combermere Colliery
Combermere Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1867 in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England....
and Peelwood
Peelwood Colliery
Peelwood Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after 1883 in Shakerley, Tyldesley, Greater Manchester, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England.Shaft sinking at Peelwood Colliery began in 1878 and it opened in 1883...
. A brickworks was built at Combermere after the pit closed.
There are several references to nailers in Shakerley. In 1846 the Shakerleys owned "Five nail smithies".
James Astley was a nailor, he died in 1681. There were still nailers in Shakerley in between 1820 and 1840 but the rise of other industries meant that nail making became extinct in Shakerley soon after.
Crow Bank was a farm near the Hindsford Brook, Thomas and Henry Kniveton were tenant farmers who also sold gunpowder and explosives from a magazine in their fields to the local colliery owners.
Break up of the Estate
The Shakerley Estate was finally broken up in 1951. The farms, Old Shams on Shakerley Lane, Greenfield, Eckersley Fold and Common Fold were sold and Tyldesley Urban DistrictTyldesley Urban District
Tyldesley cum Shakerley Urban District and its successor Tyldesley Urban District was, from 1894 to 1974, a local government district in Lancashire, England.-History:...
Council acquired Shakerley Common in addition to land for housing. Over the next thirty years most of Shakerley was developed for council housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
.
Geography
Shakerley is the north western portion of Tyldesley cum Shakerley. The Hindsford Brook flowing north to south is the ancient boundary between Shakerley and Atherton. The Shakerley Brook flows east to west across the hamlet meeting the Hindsford Brook at Hindsford Bridge on the Tyldesley-Atherton boundary. The area between these brooks is mostly flat and the underlying rocks are coal measures.Economy
Shakerley is predominantly residential and mostly social housing.The Shakerley estate is amongst the 7% most deprived neighbourhoods nationally.
Transport
There is only one road into Shakerley, accessed from the A577 on the border with Hindsford. The old toll road, Shakerley Lane has been closed to traffic and is now a bridleway and footpath. Buses operated by South Lancs TravelSouth Lancs Travel
South Lancs Travel is a privately owned bus operator in the districts of Bolton and Wigan in Greater Manchester operating an extensive commercial network along with tendered services on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester. It also serves some areas of the districts of Salford & Trafford such...
operate services into Shakerley.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways...
's line from Manchester to Southport passes through the north of Shakerley and Atherton Station
Atherton railway station
Atherton railway station serves the town of Atherton, Greater Manchester, and is the main station on the line between Wigan and Manchester on the Manchester to Southport Line, and according to Strategic Rail Authority figures) is the busiest station on the line .The station is located 19 km...
is the nearest station.
Religion
In 1558 a nailor, Jeffrey Hurst, instigated religious dissent in Shakerley. He had been influenced by his brother in law George MarshGeorge Marsh (martyr)
George Marsh was a Protestant Martyr who was born in the parish of Deane, near Bolton in 1515. He died in Boughton, Chester on 24 April 1555 as a result of the Marian Persecutions which were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their beliefs during the...
of Deane
Deane, Greater Manchester
Deane is an area of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about south west of Bolton and northwest of the city of Manchester.Historically a part of Lancashire, the Parish of Deane was once one of four parishes within the hundred of Salford and covered roughly half of the present...
. Travelling preachers held religious meetings and preached in Hurst's house. When Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
ascended the throne in 1553 and the Marian Persecutions
Marian Persecutions
The Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
began, Hurst still persisted preaching the Protestant faith, he refused to attend mass and for safety fled into Yorkshire. He returned after his father died but a warrant was issued for his arrest. Thomas Leyland of Morleys Hall in Astley
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, accompanied by his chaplain, Ralph Parkinson rode to Shakerley and searched his mother's house but did not find him. Leyland apologised to Mistress Shakerley for entering her property but found nothing except Latin grammars and a small Tyndale Bible
Tyndale Bible
The Tyndale Bible generally refers to the body of biblical translations by William Tyndale. Tyndale’s Bible is credited with being the first English translation to work directly from Hebrew and Greek texts. Furthermore it was the first English biblical translation that was mass produced as a result...
. Hurst's mother and brother had to guarantee that the "heretic" would appear before him at Morleys. This he did after three weeks and he was sent to be tried at Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle located in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the...
. In November 1558, Mary I died saving Hurst from the martyrdom that his brother-in-law suffered at the stake at Chester in 1555.
John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
visited Shakerley four times, Sunday May 28, 1748,
Thursday October 19, 1749, Wednesday April 10, 1751 and again on Monday 15 June 1752. Religious dissent again took hold in Shakerley and in 1770 a house had been authorised for meetings.
Education
Thomas Higginson, son of a Shakerley nailor, was sent to Cambridge University where he graduated with a BA in1648. Another Shakerley man was a graduate of Brasenose College Oxford in 1671, he was John Battersby who became vicar of Astley Chapel and died in 1690.
From the early 1970s until 2007 there was a primary school in Shakerley but this has now closed.