Walmsley, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

See Turton Chapelry

Parish History
TURTON, a township and chapelry, in the parish and union of Bolton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 4½ miles (N.) from Bolton, on the road to Blackburn; the township containing 3577 inhabitants. This is a highly interesting locality, abounding in romantic scenery, and remarkable for its antiquity, its traditionary legends, and as being a seat of active industry. The chapelry includes the townships of Edgeworth, Entwisle, Quarlton, and part of Bradshaw. The township of Turton contains 4471 acres of land, mostly pasture and meadow; the soil is of various quality, and there are several coal-mines and stone-quarries. The Eagley, a rivulet tributary to the Irwell, separates the chapelry on the west from Sharpies, and on the east side of Turton township is another rivulet, called Bradshaw brook, over which the Blackburn, Darwen, and Bolton railway has a splendid viaduct. A Roman road also passes through. Among the extensive manufactories are the Eagley Mills, first established for carding cotton about 1790, at which time nearly all the cotton used in the neighbourhood was carded at these mills; they are now the property of Messrs. John Chadwick and Brothers, and employ about 750 hands in manufacturing small wares. The New Eagley Mill, belonging to Messrs. Henry and Edmund Ash worth, erected in 1803, and subsequently enlarged, is for cotton-spinning and power-loom weaving; it is worked by a large water-wheel and two steam-engines, and affords employment to about 370 hands. The Egerton mill, the property of the same firm, is also for spinning cotton, and has a water-wheel sixty feet in diameter and twelve feet broad, an object of curiosity and interest from its magnitude and the superiority of its construction: in this mill about 500 hands are employed. The Egerton dye-works form part of the same premises, and give employment to about 120 persons in addition. At Dunscar (which see) are the old established bleaching-works of Messrs. George and James Slater; and there are other works, of a minor character, in the chapelry. Fairs for cattle, horses, &amp;c, are held at Chapel-Town on September 4th and 5th. Turton Tower, an embattled structure four stories high, the residence in succession of the Orrell, the Chetham, and the Green families, is now the seat of James Turton, Esq. The Oaks, surrounded by plantations, is the property and residence of Henry Ashworth, Esq.; Egerton Hall is the seat of his brother, Edmund Ashworth, Esq., and Dunscar that of James Slater, Esq. All these houses command fine views of the country. For ecclesiastical purposes the chapelry is divided into two districts. At Chapel-Town is the church of St. Ann, rebuilt in 1841 at a cost of £2500; it is in the early English style, with a square tower surmounted by a graceful spire: the eastern window is of stained glass. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £155, with a glebe-house; patron, G. M. Hoare, Esq. Christ Church, at Walmsley, close by the Blackburn road, was built in 1839, in lieu of an ancient chapel, at a cost of £3500; it is also in the early English style, with a tower and pinnacles. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £70, and a house; patron, the Vicar of Bolton. A school was endowed in 1746 by Humphrey Chetham, of Turton Tower; and another, endowed by Abigail Chetham, has property producing £30 per annum: Humphrey Chetham was founder of Chetham College, Manchester, and twelve poor boys from Turton are regularly received and educated at that institution. This munificent benefactor also left the rental of a small farm, called Goose-Coat Hill, for distribution in linen or other clothing among aged and necessitous persons belonging to the township, not receiving parochial relief. In Christ-Church district is a national school. On the Roman road are the remains of a Druidical temple, and the copper head of an old British standard has been found here.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 401-404. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51357 Date accessed: 03 August 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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