In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hindley like this:
HINDLEY, a town, a township, two chapelries, and a sub-district in Wigan parish and district, Lancashire. The town stands adjacent to the Wigan and Bolton railway, 2½ miles ESE of Wigan; is a seat of cotton manufacture; and has a post office‡ under Wigan, a railway. station with telegraph, two churches, five Independent chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, three national schools, an endowed grammar school, charities £85, and a fair on the first Thursday of Aug. ...
There are extensive cotton mills, and a large and prosperous co-operative store. All Saints church was built in 1766, on the site of a previous edifice; is a plain brick structure; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a belfry; and contains a font and mural monuments. St. Peter's church was built in 1864; is a handsome edifice in the pointed style; and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porches and a lofty tower and spire.-The township is returned statistically as conterminate with the town; but includes the hamlets of Platt-Green or Platt-Bridge and HindleyGreen, which have stations on the Wigan and Tyldesley railway 1½ and 3¾ miles from Wigan, and the hamlet of Hindley Common, which is 4 miles from Wigan, and has a post office under Wigan. Acres of the township, 2, 522. Real property, £32, 550; of which £14, 130 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 7, 023; in 1861, 8, 477. Houses, 1, 630. The property is subdivided. The chief landowners are the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Kingsdown, Sir H. de Trafford, Messrs. Hargreaves, and J. Walmsley, Esq. Coal is extensively worked. A "burning well" is here, emitting inflammable gas, produced by the decomposition of mineral substances in the substrata.- The chapelries are All Saints and St. Peter; the former parochial, the latter of recent constitution, and both p. curacies in the diocese of Chester. Value of A. S., £300;* Patron, the Rector of Wigan. Value and Patron of St. P., not reported.—The sub-district contains also the townships of Ince-in-Mackerfield and Abram. Acres, 6, 801. Pop. in 1851, 11, 661; in 1861, 17, 654. Houses, 3, 336.
Hindley through time
Hindley is now part of Wigan district. Click here for graphs and data of how Wigan has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Hindley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Hindley, in Wigan and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/636
Date accessed: 20th April 2024
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