In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Gorton like this:
GORTON, a township and a chapelry in Manchester parish, Lancashire. The township lies on the Manchester and Sheffield railway, and on the Stourport canal, 3 miles ESE of Manchester; and has a station on the railway, and a post office‡ under Manchester. Acres, 1, 429. Real property, £23, 030; of which £332 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 4, 476; in 1861, 9, 897. Houses, 1,813. The increase of pop. arose from the establishment of railway works, and the erection of a cotton mill. ...
There are hat manufactories, chemical works, gum-works, a tan-yard, and a stained paper manufactory. A city gaol of Manchester was erected here in 1856; and a zoological garden is maintained in connexion with the Bellevue inn. The railway here passes 20 feet under the canal. There is a reservoir, of upwards of 70 acres, belonging to the Manchester water-works.—The chapelry was constituted in 1854, and curtailed in 1865. Pop. in 1861, 7, 017; in 1866, 2, 490. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £150. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Manchester. The church is a brick edifice in the Doric style. There are places of worship for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, and Unitarians, a national school, and an excellent boarding school.
Gorton through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Gorton has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Manchester. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Gorton and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Gorton, in Manchester and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1203
Date accessed: 20th June 2013
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