In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Eccles like this:
ECCLES, a village and a parish in Lancashire. The village stands on the river Irwell, and on the Manchester and Liverpool railway, 4 miles W of Manchester; and has a station on the railway, and a post office‡ under. Manchester. Races are run, on an oval course of ¾ of a mile, in August; and fairs are held on the Friday before Whit-Monday and on 15 Nov. The parish contains the townships of Pendleton and Pendlebury, in the district of Salford, and the townships of Barton-upon-Irwell, Clifton, and Worsley in the district of Barton-npon-Irwell. ...
Acres, 20, 240. Real property, £180, 121; of which £17, 804 are in mines, £1, 047 in iron-works, and £48 in railways. Pop., in 1851, 41, 497; in 1861, 52, 679. Houses, 9, 963. The property is much subdivided. The township of Pendleton, and part of that of Pendlebury, with jointly a pop. of 21, 562, are within the borough of Salford; and about 7, 000 acres are in Chatmoss. Many of the inhabitants are employed in cotton and silk mills. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £900.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church belonged anciently to Whalley abbey; contains monuments of the Breretons and the Booths; and is in good condition. The chapelries of Ellenbrook, Pendleton, Swinton, Walkden, Worsley, Pendlebury, Hope, Weaste, Patricroft, Irlam, Barton-upon-Irwell, Paddington, and Charleston, are separate charges. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, New Connexion Methodists, and Roman Catholics. An Independent chapel at Eccles village was built in 1860, at a cost of £5, 500; is in the early English decorated style; and has a spire 120 feet high. Two schools have £34 from endowment; and other charities £43. Ainsworth, the lexicographer, was a native; and the Right Hon. W. Huskisson, after sustaining a deadly accident at the opening of the railway, died in the parsonage.
Eccles 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 Eccles has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Salford. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Eccles and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Eccles, in Salford and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/465
Date accessed: 19th June 2013
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