1.
Wet Earth Colliery
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The Wet Earth Colliery was a coal mine located on the Manchester Coalfield, in Clifton, Greater Manchester. The colliery site is now the location of Clifton Country Park, the colliery has a unique place in British coal mining history, apart from being one of the earliest pits in the country, it is the place where engineer James Brindley made water run uphill. The colliery is situated in the valley of the River Irwell which flows north to south along the Pendleton Fault. Many other coal mines were situated on major fault which threw up the underlying Carboniferous coal measures by some 1,000 metres making them accessible for mining from early times. To the east of the fault is the red Triassic sandstone, to the west are the coal measures, the area around Nob End in Kearsley, a few hundred metres to the north of the Wet Earth Colliery shows evidence of early bell pit working and small ladder pits. The first deeper working was by the owner of the Clifton Estate, Heathcote sank two shafts, which were about 50 feet deep to the Doe mine. This seam was 9 ft 7½ in thick and dipped at a gradient of 1 in 3½ to the south-west, jacob Fletcher, a mine owner from Bolton, had several mines in Harwood, Breightmet, Bolton and Atherton. He had two sons, John and Matthew, John was responsible for sinking a pit in Atherton whilst Matthew took up mining engineering. John Heathcote was having problems with the pit and called on Matthew Fletcher to help sink a new shaft, the new shaft was sunk 262 feet to the seam at a point which became the central focus of the Wet Earth complex. The shaft was deepened to 328 feet to connect with the Five Quarters mine which at this point was 37 thick, the workings were plagued with water, which entered from the River Irwell via the Pendleton Fault. Heathcote asked Matthew Fletcher to advise him on how to solve the flooding, John Heathcote closed the pit in 1750. Heathcote and Fletcher were at a loss as how to remove the water from the pit until it came to the attention of James Brindley. Brindley, a relative of John Heathcote, was an engineer whose feats included the Bridgewater Canal and he initially suggested a scheme whereby a Newcomen atmospheric pumping engine could be used to dewater the mine but the Newcomen engine had been plagued with problems in dewatering deep mines. His revised scheme relied on water power and it had to overcome several obstacles, not least that there was no flowing water on the site to power a pump and that the pithead was 23 feet above the level of the River Irwell. The problem of water level was solved by building a weir upstream on the Irwell as it flowed southeast at Ringley Fold to create a head of higher than the pithead. Drawing water from the east side of the Irwell, Brindley then drove a tunnel 800 yards long through shale and sandstone across a large bend in the river as far as Giants Seat. By this point the river had crossed the Pendleton Fault, where it curved 180 degrees to flow northwest, at Giants Seat, Brindley drove two shafts into the sandstone, one each north and south of the river. An adit was driven from the northern shaft to the river bank allowing the tunnel to be flushed when needed
2.
Historic counties of England
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The historic counties of England were established for administration by the Normans, in most cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires established by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They ceased to be used for administration with the creation of the counties in 1889. They are alternatively known as ancient counties or traditional counties, where they are not included among the modern counties of England they are also known as former counties. Counties were used initially for the administration of justice, collection of taxes and organisation of the military and they continue to form the basis of modern local government in many parts of the country away from the main urban areas, although sometimes with considerably altered boundaries. The name of a county often gives a clue to how it was formed, either as a division took its name from a centre of administration. The majority of English counties are in the first category, with the name formed by combining the central town with the suffix -shire, for example Yorkshire. Former kingdoms, which became earldoms in the united England did not feature this formulation, so for Kent, Counties ending in the suffix -sex are also in this category and are former Saxon kingdoms. Many of these names are formed from compass directions, the third category includes counties such as Cornwall and Devon where the name corresponds to the tribes who inhabited the area. County Durham is anomalous in terms of naming and origin, not falling into any of the three categories, instead it was a diocese that was turned into the County Palatine of Durham, ruled by the Bishop of Durham. The expected form would otherwise be Durhamshire, but it was rarely used, there are customary abbreviations for many of the counties. In most cases these consist of simple truncation, usually with an s at the end signifying shire, some abbreviations are not obvious, such as Salop for Shropshire, Oxon for Oxfordshire, Hants for Hampshire and Northants for Northamptonshire. Counties were often prefixed with County of in official contexts, such as County of Kent and those counties named after central towns lost the -shire suffix, for example Yorkshire would be known as County of York. This usage was sometimes followed even where there was no town by that name, the -shire suffix was also appended for some counties, such as Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, despite their origin. There is still a Duke of Devonshire, Great Britain was first divided into administrative areas by the Romans, most likely following major geographical features such as rivers. Before their arrival there were distinct tribal areas, but they were in a constant state of flux as territory was gained, the areas that would later form the English counties started to take shape soon afterwards, with the Kingdom of Kent founded by settlers around 445. Once the Kingdom of England was united as a whole in 927 it became necessary to subdivide it for convenience and to this end. The whole kingdom was divided into shires by the time of the Norman conquest, robert of Gloucester accounts for thirty-five shires and William of Malmesbury thirty-two, Henry of Huntingdon, thirty-seven. In most cases the counties or shires in medieval times were administered by a sheriff on behalf of the monarch, after the Norman conquest the sheriff was replaced and the shires became counties, or areas under the control of a count, in the French manner
3.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
4.
City of Salford
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The City of Salford is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. The city has a population of 218,000, and is administered from the Salford Civic Centre in Swinton, the current city boundaries were set as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, and cover an amalgamation of five former local government districts. It is bounded on the south east by the River Irwell, which forms its boundary with the city of Manchester and by the Manchester Ship Canal to the south, the metropolitan boroughs of Wigan, Bolton and Bury lie to the west, northwest and north respectively. Some parts of the city, which lies directly west of Manchester, are highly industrialised and densely populated and this is because the western half of the city stretches across an ancient peat bog known as Chat Moss. Salford has a history of human activity stretching back to the Neolithic age, there are over 250 listed buildings in the city, including Salford Cathedral, and three Scheduled Ancient Monuments. With the Industrial Revolution, Salford and its neighbours grew along with its textile industry, the former County Borough of Salford was granted city status in 1926. The city and its industries experienced decline throughout much of the 20th century, since the 1990s, parts of Salford have undergone regeneration, especially Salford Quays, home of BBC North and Granada Television, and the area around the University of Salford. Salford Red Devils are a rugby league club in Super League. Although the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford was a 20th-century creation, Neolithic flint arrow-heads and tools, and evidence of Bronze Age activity has been discovered in Salford. In 1142, a cell and priory dedicated to St. Leonard was established in Kersal, Salford became a free borough in about 1230, when it was granted a charter as a free borough by the Earl Ranulph of Chester. The cell in Kersal was sold in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a 16th-century manor house, called Kersal Cell, was built on the site of the priory. In the English Civil War between King Charles I and parliament, Salford was Royalist, during the Industrial Revolution, Salford grew as a result of the textile industry. Although Salford experienced an increase in population, it was overshadowed by the dominance of Manchester, on 15 September 1830, Eccles was site of the worlds first railway accident. Although Huskisson was taken to Eccles for treatment he died of his injuries, in 1894, the Manchester Ship Canal was opened, running from the River Mersey to Salford Quays, when it was complete it was the largest navigation canal in the world. Along the route of the canal, it was necessary to create an aqueduct carrying the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal, the Barton Swing Aqueduct, designed by Sir Edward Leader Williams, is 100 metres long and weighs 1,450 metric tons. At the start of the 20th century, Salford began to due to competition from outside the UK. A survey in 1931 concluded that parts of Salford were amongst the worst slums in the country, Salford was granted city status in 1926. During World War II, Salford Docks were regularly bombed, in the decades following the Second World War there was a significant economic and population decline in Salford
5.
Greater Manchester
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Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles, which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. It is landlocked and borders Cheshire, Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, for the 12 years following 1974 the county had a two-tier system of local government, district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts became unitary authority areas. However, the county has continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, has a Lord Lieutenant. A further devolution of powers to Greater Manchester is set to place upon the election of the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester scheduled for 2017. Before the creation of the county, the name SELNEC was used for the area. Since deindustrialisation in the century, Greater Manchester has become known as an exporter of media and digital content, for its guitar and dance music. Although the modern county of Greater Manchester was not created until 1974, there is evidence of Iron Age habitation, particularly at Mellor, and Celtic activity in a settlement named Chochion, believed to have been an area of Wigan settled by the Brigantes. Stretford was also part of the believed to have been occupied by the Celtic Brigantes tribe. The remains of 1st-century forts at Castlefield in Manchester, and Castleshaw Roman fort in Saddleworth, are evidence of Roman occupation. Much of the region was omitted from the Domesday Book of 1086, Redhead states that this was only a partial survey was taken. During the Middle Ages, much of what became Greater Manchester lay within the hundred of Salfordshire – an ancient division of the county of Lancashire, Salfordshire encompassed several parishes and townships, some of which, like Rochdale, were important market towns and centres of Englands woollen trade. The development of what became Greater Manchester is attributed to a tradition of domestic flannel and fustian cloth production. Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, however, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the worlds largest marketplace for cotton goods, and the natural centre of its region. In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as an entity were proposed. In the 18th century, German traders had coined the name Manchesterthum to cover the region in, however, the English term Greater Manchester did not appear until the 20th century. One of its first known recorded uses was in a 1914 report put forward in response to what was considered to have been the creation of the County of London in 1889
6.
London and North Western Railway
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The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the world, the company was formed on 16 July 1846 by the amalgamation of the Grand Junction Railway, London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. This move was prompted in part by the Great Western Railways plans for a railway north from Oxford to Birmingham, the company initially had a network of approximately 350 miles, connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. The headquarters were at Euston railway station, as traffic increased it was greatly expanded with the opening in 1849 of the Great Hall, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick in classical style. It was 126 ft long,61 ft wide and 64 ft high, the station stood on Drummond Street. Further expansion resulted in two platforms in the 1870s, and four more in the 1890s, bringing the total to 15. The LNWR described itself as the Premier Line, as the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom, it collected a greater revenue than any other railway company of its era. With the Grand Union Railway acquisition of the North Union Railway in 1846, in 1858 they merged with the Chester and Holyhead Railway and became responsible for the lucrative Irish Mail trains via the North Wales Main Line to Holyhead and handled the Irish Mail. On 1 February 1859 the company launched the limited mail service, the Postmaster General was always willing to allow a fourth coach provided the increased weight did not cause time to be lost in running. The train was timed to leave Euston at 20.30 and operated until the GPO instituted its own post train, wholly of Post Office vehicles, on 1 October 1873 the first sleeping carriage ran between Euston and Glasgow, attached to the limited mail. It ran three nights a week in each direction, on 1 February 1874 a second carriage was provided and the service ran every night. In 1860 the company pioneered the use of the water trough designed by John Ramsbottom and it was introduced on a section of level track at Mochdre, between Llandudno Junction and Colwyn Bay. At the core of the LNWR system was the main line network connecting London Euston with the cities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. This route is known as the West Coast Main Line. The LNWR also had a line connecting Liverpool and Manchester with Leeds. At its peak just before World War I, it ran a route mileage of more than 1,500 miles, in 1913 the company achieved a total revenue of £17,219,060 with working expenses of £11,322,164. With this, the LNWR achieved a route mileage of 2,707.88 miles, the LNWR became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish railway when the railways of Great Britain were merged in the grouping of 1923. Ex-LNWR lines formed the core of the LMSs Western Division, nationalisation followed in 1948, with the English and Welsh lines of the LMS becoming the London Midland Region of British Railways
7.
Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal
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The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford, seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. Between Bolton and Bury the canal was level and required no locks, six aqueducts were built to allow the canal to cross the rivers Irwell and Tonge and several minor roads. The canal was commissioned in 1791 by local landowners and businessmen, originally designed for narrow gauge boats, during its construction the canal was altered into a broad gauge canal to allow an ultimately unrealised connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The canal company later converted into a company and built a railway line close to the canals path. In 1987 a society was formed with the aim of restoring the canal for use and, in 2006. The canal is navigable as far as Oldfield Road, Salford. Financial unrest and British involvement in the American Revolutionary War restricted local transport investment to road improvements, with the arrival of more favourable conditions, including the end of the war, a proposal for a canal to link the towns of Manchester, Bolton and Bury was mooted. Matthew Fletcher had in 1789 been employed as an advisor and had surveyed the route of the proposed canal. The initial proposal probably came from a group in Bolton, with the support of the Mersey, a further meeting on 16 September, held in Bolton, appointed a committee of six Boltonians chaired by Lord Grey de Wilton to attend at Manchester. Hugh Henshall was asked to survey the route of the canal. For local industries along the route of the canal, whose operations relied on water from local rivers and brooks which the canal might also use. At a meeting in Bolton on 4 October 1790, it was resolved that proper clauses be inserted in the bill to prevent injury to owners of mills. He suggested that owners could be protected by a suitable clause in the bill. Businesses in Bolton were concerned with the location of the canal terminus, ralph Fletcher, spokesman for those concerned, reported on this proposal to the committee, although no tunnel was built. Many of the 95 investments on the list appear to have made by proxy. The largest is £3,000, and the smallest £100, the total sum of investments is £47,700
8.
Headgear
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Headgear, headwear or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on ones head. Some styles of bonnets had peaks so large that they prevented women from looking right or left without turning their heads. Bonnets worn by men and boys are generally distinguished from hats by being soft, caps are generally soft and often have no brim or just a peak. For many centuries women wore a variety of head-coverings which were called caps, an ochipok is part of traditional Ukrainian costume. Some headgear, such as the crown, coronet, and tiara, have evolved into jewelry and these headgear are worn as a symbol of nobility or royal status. Kokoshnik is part of Russian traditional dress, often worn by nobility, a fillet or circlet is a round band worn around the head and over the hair. Elaborate and costly versions of these evolved into crowns, but fillets could be made from woven bands of fabric, leather. Fillets are unisex, and are prevalent in archaic to renaissance dress. Hairnets are used to prevent loose hair from contaminating food or work areas, a snood is a net or fabric bag pinned or tied on at the back of a womans head for holding the hair. Scarves are used to protect styled hair or keep it tidy, shower caps and swim caps prevent hair from becoming wet or entangled during activity. Hats often have an all the way around the rim. Depending on the type of hat, they may be worn by men. Helmets are designed to protect the head, and sometimes the neck and they are usually rigid, and offer protection from blows. Helmets are commonly worn in battle, on sites and in many contact sports. In most of the United States they are required by law for operating a range of vehicles including motorcycles. Modern hoods are generally soft headcoverings which are a part of a larger garment, like an overcoat. Historically, hoods were either similar to modern hoods, or a form of headgear. In medieval Europe hoods with short capes, called chaperons in French, were extremely common, a mask is worn over part or all of the face, frequently to disguise the wearer, but sometimes to protect the face
9.
Pendlebury
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Pendlebury is a suburban town in the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the town taken at the 2011 Census was 13,069 and it lies 4.1 miles to the northwest of Manchester city centre,3.4 miles northwest of Salford, and 5.9 miles southeast of Bolton. Historically in Lancashire, Pendlebury together with the settlements of Swinton and Clifton, formed the municipal borough of Swinton. A centre for coal mining for years, Pendlebury saw extensive coal extraction from several collieries until the closure of Agecroft Colliery in the 1990s. Pendlebury is formed from the Celtic pen meaning hill and burh a settlement, in 1199 King John confirmed a gift of a carucate of land called Peneberi to Ellis son of Robert. He had made the grant when he was Earl of Mortain, Ellis was described as Master Sergeant of Salford and a benefactor of Cockersand Abbey. In 1201 Pendlebury was linked to the manor of Shoresworth to the south before Shoreworth became part of Pendleton, the manors of Pendlebury and Shoresworth were held of the king in thegnage by a rent of 12 shillings in 1212. Ellis died in or about 1216, and his son Adam succeeded to his manor, in 1274 Ellis, son of Roger came to a violent death, and Amabel, his widow claimed dower in various lands against Roger de Pendlebury. A short time afterwards, Amabel having received her dower, she and Roger de Pendlebury had to defend a suit brought by Adam de Pendlebury, Ellis had a brother, William and daughters Maud, Lettice and Beatrice. Maud married Adam son of Alexander de Pilkington of Pilkington, and had a daughter Cecily, the manor was sold before 1300 to Adam de Prestwich. The new lord of Pendlebury married Alice de Woolley daughter of Richard son of Henry de Pontefract and her heir was her daughter, Joan, who married Richard de Langley, and the manor descended with the Langleys until the end of the 16th century. Robert Langley died 19 September 1561, leaving four daughters as co-heirs, on the division of the estates, Agecroft, and lands in Pendlebury, became the portion of Anne, who married William Dauntesey, from Wiltshire. Building probably began towards the end of the reign of Henry VII, in 1666, of the thirty-five hearths liable for tax in Pendlebury, Agecroft Hall the only large house had eleven hearths. At the end of the 19th century, industrialisation swept through the Irwell Valley, collieries were sunk around Agecroft Hall, railway tracks cut across the manor and a dirty lake formed on the edge of the estate. The house fell into disrepair and was sold at auction in 1925 to Mr, the structure was dismantled, crated, shipped across the Atlantic, and painstakingly reassembled in Windsor Farms, Richmond, Virginia, USA. Agecroft Hall is re-created as a tourist attraction on the banks of the James River, the Langley name is remembered locally by having several streets, Langley Road, Langley Mill, and Langley housing estate in Middleton named after the family. Agecroft Hall Estate is a recently built housing estate on Agecroft Road, Pendlebury saw extensive coal extraction until the closure of Agecroft Colliery in the 1990s. The Wheatsheaf Colliery was on Bolton Road between Carrington Street and City Walk on what is now the Wheatsheaf Industrial Estate and Newtown Colliery
10.
Candle
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A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax or another flammable solid substance such as tallow that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. It can also be used to heat, or used as a method of keeping time. A candle manufacturer is known as a chandler. Various devices have been invented to hold candles, from simple tabletop candle holders to elaborate chandeliers, for a candle to burn, a heat source is used to light the candles wick, which melts and vaporizes a small amount of fuel. Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to ignite, as the mass of solid fuel is melted and consumed, the candle becomes shorter. Portions of the wick that are not emitting vaporized fuel are consumed in the flame, the incineration of the wick limits the exposed length of the wick, thus maintaining a constant burning temperature and rate of fuel consumption. Some wicks require regular trimming with scissors, usually to about one-quarter inch, to slower, steady burning. In early times, the wick needed to be trimmed quite frequently, special candle-scissors, referred to as snuffers were produced for this purpose in the 20th century and were often combined with an extinguisher. In modern candles, the wick is constructed so that it curves over as it burns and this ensures that the end of the wick gets oxygen and is then consumed by fire—a self-trimming wick. The word candle comes from Middle English candel, from Old English and from Anglo-Norman candele, the earliest surviving candles originated in Han China around 200 BC, and were made from whale fat. European candles of antiquity were made from various forms of fat, tallow. In Ancient Rome, candles were made of tallow due to the prohibitive cost of beeswax and it is possible that they also existed in Ancient Greece, but imprecise terminology makes it difficult to determine. In the Middle Ages in Europe, tallow candles were the most common candle, by the 13th century, candle making had become a guild craft in England and France. The candle makers went from house to house making candles from the kitchen fats saved for that purpose, or made, Beeswax, compared to animal-based tallow, burned cleanly, without smoky flame. Rather than the foul and terrible odor of tallow, it emits a fresh smell, Beeswax candles were expensive, and relatively few people could afford to burn them in their homes in medieval Europe. However, they were used for church ceremonies. In the 18th century, spermaceti, oil produced by the whale, was used to produce a superior candle. Late in the 18th century, colza oil and rapeseed oil came into use as much cheaper substitutes, the manufacture of candles became an industrialized mass market in the mid 19th century
