Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HULME

HULME, a township, eight parochial chapelries, and a sub-district, in Manchester parish and Chorlton district, Lancashire. The township lies on the river Irwell and on the Manchester and Altrincham railway, at the termination of the Bridgewater canal, 1¼ mile SW of the centre of Manchester; and is all within Manchester borough, and under the Manchester police. Acres, 440. Real property, £240, 913; of which £77, 916 are in the canal. Pop. in 1851, 53, 482; in 1861, 68, 433. Houses, 13, 487. The increase of pop. arose from participation in the prosperity and extension of Manchester. Hulme Hall, on a bank above the Irwell, was the seat of the ancient baronet family of Prestwich, the last of whom was a profound antiquary, and died in absolute poverty; it passed to the Moseleys and the Blands, the transition to the latter being through Lady Ann Bland, the female Nash of Manchester, in the time of Queen Anne and the careful preserver of many Roman antiquities; and it went from the Blands to George Lloyd, Esq., and was sold to the Duke of Bridgewater. Most of the township is now covered with streets, and with other edified places, lying compact with Manchester and forming part of the town; and the rest of it is all town outskirt. The streets have a variety of character; but hey mostly run in straight lines and cross one another at right or wide angles; and they include some spacious thoroughfares, and contain very many good houses. The Pomona garden lies in the outskirt; is much frequented by the labouring classes of Manchester; and presents to them many attractions. A public park, of about 63 acres, was about to be formed in 1868. The town hall, in Stretford road, was built in 1865; is an edifice in the Italian style; has a frontage of 94 feet, with two wings; s 96 feet deep and 65 feet high; and includes a spacious entrance hall, committee rooms and offices for the officials of the township, apartments occupied by a free library, and a great hall handsomely decorated, and capable of accommodating upwards of 2, 000 persons. Baths and wash houses, close to Stretford New road, partly on the site of the old Chorlton workhouse, were erected in 1860, at a cost of about £12, 000; present, to Leaf street, a two story front of 114 feet in length in the Lombardic style, with an attic story in the centre; have a depth of about 117½ feet; and include two swimming baths, well arranged bathing appliances, and well contrived wash houses and laundries. The cavalry barracks are in Chester road, not far from St. George's church; and they have accommodation for upwards of 300 men and horses, besides officers, and include extensive grounds for military exercise. The Hulme dispensary was founded in 1831; and it gave treatment to upwards of 500 patients in its fourth year. The Independent theological college, though within Withington township, is adjacent to Hulme; was removed hither from Blackburn in 1842; is a noble ediice, partly in a quasi-Moorish style, but chiefly in the collegiate Gothic style; comprises a salient centre, massive wings, and an interior, spacious, cloistered square; has a lofty tower, originally intended as an observatory, and commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country; includes residences of president and professors, and accommodation for about 50 students; was altogether erected at a cost of about £20, 000; has seven exhibitions, of from £25 to £32 14s., tenable variously one, two, and three years; and, in the year 1864-5, had 42 students and an income of £2, 766. The township generally partakes in the business of Manchester, and contains a number and variety of factories; and, in particular, it has, near St. George's church, a small ware manufactory, which is one of the sights of Manchester. The parochial chapelries are St. George, constituted in 1828; St. Mark, in 1852; Holy Trinity, in 1843; St. Paul, in 1856; St. John and St. Mary, in 1858; St. Philip, in 1861; and St. Michael, in 1864. Pop. of St. G., 18, 831; of St. Mark, 5, 637; of H. T., 12, 068; of St. Paul, 6, 375; of St. J., 8, 370; of St. Mary, 6, 730; of St. Philip, 8, 711; of St. Michael, 8, 964. The livings are all rectories in the diocese of Manchester. Value of St. G., £350; of St. Mark, £258; of H. T., £300;* of St. Paul, £458; of St. John, £300; of St. Mary, £362;* of St. Philip, £300;* of St. Michael, £217.* Patrons of St. G. and H. T., the Dean and Chapter of Manchester; of St. Mark, alternately the Crown and the Bishop; of St. John, the Bishop; of St. Mary, Lord Egerton; of St. Paul, St. Philip, and St. Michael, Trustees. St. Philip's church was built in 1860, at a cost of £8, 000, nearly all defrayed by the Birley family; is in the decorated English style, of 5 bays, 117 feet long, and 50 feet wide; and has a tower and spire, 159 feet high. St. Michael's church was built in 1864, also by the Birleys, at a cost of £4, 500; and is in the early English style. Another church, St. Gabriel's, was erected in 1869. There are chapels for Independents, Methodists, Bible Christians, and Roman Catholics. One of the Methodist chapels, in Boston-street, is an edifice of 1863, in the Ita1ian style; and another, in the same street, was built in 1866, at a cost of about £2, 500, and is of brick with stone dressings. There are varions public schools; and those connected with St. Philip's church were built at a cost of £3, 000.—The sub-district contains also the township of Moss side. Acres, 870. Pop., 71, 128. Houses, 13, 922.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township, eight parochial chapelries, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Hulme CP/Tn       Lancashire AncC
Place: Hulme

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