Aspull, Greater Manchester
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aspull, is a village and district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Aspull, along with Haigh, is surrounded on all sides by open agricultural greenbelt land, separated from Westhoughton, on its southeast side, by a brook running through Borsdane Wood. The ground rises from south to north, reaching 400 feet, and boasts views towards Winter Hill and the West Pennine Moors.
Aspull was once a centre of mining and textile manufacture, though little evidence of this can be seen in the village today. Haigh Country Park estate lies to the west.
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[edit] Geography and administration
Aspull is on a crossroads. The principal road is to the north-east/south-west, Blackrod to Wigan. Another road runs north-west/south-east, Standish to the A6 road. The Leeds/Liverpool Canal passes through the western corner of the township. Aspull Moor lies in the northern half of the village.
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The earliest notice of Aspull is that contained in the survey of 1212, when, as one plough-land, it formed part of the Childwall fee held by Richard son of Robert de Lathom, under the lord of Manchester. The fee was a composite one of 6½ plough-lands (of which Aspull formed one), held chiefly by Richard de Lathom, and partly by Roger de Samlesbury and Alexander de Harwood.
In 1302 Richard de Ince, as son and heir of Henry de Sefton, and Adam de Hindley, were found to hold Aspull, as the eighth part of a knight's fee, directly of Thomas Grelley. From this time the lordship has been held with the adjacent Ince by the families of Ince and Gerard in succession; until Aspull was sold to the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, lord of Haigh.
Hindley Hall, in Aspull, the residence of the Hindleys, became the property of James, a younger son of Robert Dukinfield of Cheshire. In the 18th century it was acquired by the Leighs of Whitley Hall, Wigan, and Sir Robert Holt Leigh lived here till his death in 1843. His estates then passed for life to his cousin Thomas Pemberton, who took the name of Leigh, and made Hindley Hall his residence; he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kingsdown in 1858.
The hearth tax roll of 1666 shows that 135 hearths were charged. The most considerable houses were those of Richard Green, nine hearths; Peter Orrell and James Dukinfield, eight each; Major Rigby and Thomas Molyneux, seven each; and Edward Gleast, six.
St. Elizabeth's CofE Church was built in 1882 by Mr. Roger Leigh. The patronage is vested in trustees. There are two Methodist chapels. In 1858 the RC church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was erected.
[edit] Coal
"Cannel coal" was found in Aspull. There were several large collieries dating back to the 1700’s, also malt kilns and a cotton mill. Aspull's long history of mining left a legacy of old mineshafts, water drainage tunnels (soughs) and abandoned mine workings.
One such ‘sough’ in Haigh Country Park for many years discharged iron rich minewater into the "Yellow Brook" causing significant deterioration in the aquatic fauna and flora smothering the brook and River Douglas some 460m downstream with ochre deposits.
The Coal Authority acquired part of the former Alexandra opencast site for a passive treatment scheme with a ‘window of opportunity’ existing to share access to the site with the Cannon Sharples C of E Primary School development.
Ascot Environmental Ltd worked on the £0.75M project to construct a pumping station, twin pipelines, 3 settlement lagoons, 3 reedbeds and extensive landscaping. The scheme was completed in Summer 2004 and provides the benefits of:-
- Improving the water quality in the Yellow Brook and River Douglas, as a result, removing the visual impact of the discolouration within the Haigh Country Park.
- Reducing the impact on wildlife by allowing invertebrate / fauna to thrive, allowing fish to populate the brook once more.
- Improving the public amenity of the area by removing unsightly iron ochre deposits.
The project included the careful translocation of rare Marsh Orchids to specially prepared landscaped areas. The completed treatment scheme with developing wildlife habitat, public access, information boards, forms a valuable local amenity and school learning experience for the Aspull community whilst enhancing the wider Country Park.
[edit] Reference
'Townships: Aspull', A History of the County of Lancashire: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 118-22.
