CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF ECCLES
By
T. SWINDELLS

SOME HISTORICAL NOTES ON THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF ECCLES

Of the local government of the district prior to 1849 we have very little information. In those days in most rural districts the parson and the squire, together with perhaps the schoolmaster, held sway and performed most of the duties of that description; and in all probability Eccles was no exception to the rule.

The first step in the direction of public control of local affairs followed the issuing of an order by the Poor Law Board in London on October 9, 1849, whereby the Barton Union was formed. Prior to that the township of Barton sent one representative to the Chorlton Board of Guardians. When the Barton Union was formed to the township of Barton were allotted four seats on the Board of Guardians. The Guardians’ meetings were first held in the old offices of the Overseers until the erection of the new Workhouse near Patricroft Station. The first meeting was held on November 29, 1849, and Mr. Holbrook Gaskell was elected the first chairman. At this meeting Mr. H. Whitworth, of Rochdale, was appointed clerk to the Board.

On July 30, 1851, the Poor Law Board issued an order directing the Guardians to proceed with the erect­ing of a new Workhouse at Patricroft, and Messrs. Mills and Murgatroyd were instructed to prepare plans accord­ingly. The tender was let to Mr. Leigh, of Patricroft, and the total cost was nearly £5,000. The inmates entered into occupation in April, 1853, and the building was licensed as a place of worship by the first Bishop of Manchester, Bishop Prince Lee, on May 3, 1853. For over forty years the building met the requirements, but about twenty years ago extensive alterations were made, including the erection of a new hospital and the exten­sion of the Workhouse premises in Green Lane. It may be noted that when the Union was formed the rateable value of Barton was £37,948 and the poor rate was two shillings in the pound, and in 1862—at the time of the cotton famine—the poor rate rose to 3s. 6d. in the pound. The amount actually levied now for the relief of the poor is eightpence in the pound.

The Barton, Eccles, Winton, and Monton Local Board was formed in 1854 after a Government inquiry, presided over by Sir Robert Rawlinson, into the sanitary con­dition of the district had been held. The first members of the Board were Messrs. James Nasmyth (chairman), J. Bradburn, T. Harrison, D. Bradshaw, John Goodier, J. Waddington, Jas. Lansdale, H. Hall, and S. Wilkin­son. The Board existed until the incorporation of the Borough in 1892. When the Board lapsed the members of it were Messrs. J. C. Mather (chairman), R. Spary, J. Stocks, H. Heath, J. Hill, A. Black, N. Parr, J. Walmesley, T. Barlow, A. Burton, S. Mellor, and W. D. Kendall. The first meetings of the Board were held in the Mechanics’ Institution, Patricroft. In 1876 the offices of the Board were transferred to a shop in Liverpool Road, belonging to Mr. Adam Stott, who erected a new boardroom for the use of the members, and in November, 1881, the offices were removed to the Town Hall,Eccles.

At a public meeting held in the Town Hall, Eccles, in July, 1890, the chairman of the Local Board (Mr. R. Spary) presiding, the following resolution was passed :—“That in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient and will be greatly for the benefit of the inhabitants in the district of the Barton, Eccles, Winton, and Monton Local Board that a petition should be presented to Her Majesty the Queen in Council, praying that Her Majesty may be graciously pleased to grant a Charter of Incorporation to the said district; and also that the said Local Board take all the requisite and proper steps for the purpose of obtaining such Charter.” There was a small amount of opposition, and a poll of the inhabitants was de­manded, but was not proceeded with. On December 3, 1890, the usual inquiry was opened at the Eccles Town Hall before the Hon. T. H. W. Pelham, one of the Commissioners of the Local Government Board. It may be noted that the Local Board was represented at the inquiry by Dr. Pankhurst, and other interests concerned were legally represented. Much evidence for and against the proposal was heard, the inquiry extending over two days, after which the Commissioner inspected the boun­daries of the Local Board area. On Tuesday, May 17, 1892, Mr. George Trenbath, Clerk to the Local Board, received the following Order of the Privy Council, con­firming the scheme for the Incorporation of Eccles

“At the Court at Windsor,
9th May, 1892.

Present :—Her Majesty the Queen.

“Your Majesty having been pleased to refer unto this Committee by Order in Council of the 15th day of August, 1890, on the humble petition of certain inhabitant householders of the Local Board district of Barton, Eccles, Winton, and Monton, in the County of Lancaster, praying for the grant of a municipal Charter of Incorporation, the Lords of the Committee having taken the said Petition into consideration, and being of opinion that a scheme for the adjustment of the rights and liabilities of the Local Board of Health for the Local Government District of Barton, Eccles, Winton, and Monton, and for other purposes, would be necessary in the event of a Charter of Incorporation being granted, their Lordships, after reference to the Secretary of State and the Local Government Board, settled a scheme for this purpose, which said scheme they caused to be published in conformity with the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and not having received any Petition against the said scheme, their Lordships do agree humbly to report as to their opinion to your Majesty that it may be advis­able for your Majesty to confirm the scheme.

“Her Majesty having taken the said report into consideration, together with the said scheme (a copy whereof is hereunto annexed), was passed by and with the advice of her Privy Council to approve thereof and confirm, and doth hereby confirm the said scheme.

“Signed, Herbert M. Suft.”

The Charter for the Incorporation of Barton, Eccles, Winton, and Monton was received at Eccles on June 29, 1892, the chairman of the Local Board (Mr. J. C. Mather) and the Clerk having been deputed by the Board to bring it from the Home Office. Its reception in Eccles was marked by great rejoicings, and a dinner was given at the Town Hall, at which suitable speeches were made. The borough was divided into six wards, each of which was to return three councillors. The first municipal elections took place on November 1, 1892, when the following gentlemen were returned to represent the respective wards : —Monton and Park Ward, Messrs. Edmund Farrar, James F. Wilkinson, and Charles E. Hindley; Eccles Ward, Messrs. Joseph Prestwich, Frederick Oldfield, and Robert Spary; Irwell Ward, Messrs. William Holland, John H. Heath, and James Chadwick Mather; Patricroft Ward, Messrs. Samuel Mellor, James Wilkinson, and Peter Wild; Winton Ward, Messrs. William D. Kendall, Frederic Smith, and Seth Moore; and for Barton Ward, Nathan Parr, Andrew Black, and James Smith. The first meeting of the Council was held at noon on Wednesday, November 9, 1892, Mr. W. S. Boddington presiding. The pro­visional Mayor handed to the Acting Town Clerk the parchments containing the Charter. Councillor James Chadwick Mellor was elected first Mayor of the borough, and Councillors Jas. F. Wilkinson, Jas. C. Mather, Samuel Mellor, Robert Spary, Nathan Parr, and W. D. Kendall were elected the first Aldermen. The first municipal by-election took place on November 23, 1892, when Messrs. William Oldham, Wright Whitehead, William Smith, George Brookes, Thomas Thompson, and Joseph Schofield were elected.

The foundation stone of the Eccles Town Hall was laid by Mr. Henry Leigh, J.P. (the Chairman of the Local Board), on the 13th September, 1880, and it was opened on the afternoon of Thursday, November 3rd, 1881, by the Hon. J. T. Hibbert, M.P.,.Secretary of the Local Government Board. In the evening a banquet was held in the Assembly Room. The Hall was erected by Messrs. Moore and Sons from plans prepared by Mr. Henry Lowe, St. Ann Street, Manchester. The cost, inclusive of furnishing, was about £7,500. Before proceeding to the erection of the Hall, the Local Board took a poll of the inhabitants upon three selected sites, viz., Gleave’s Orchard, Mather’s Fields, and Church Street; and the last-named site was decided upon. The clock in the tower was presented by Mr. Robert Hall, who was for some years a member of the Local Board, and Mr. Charles Entwistle gave a weather clock, which stands in the main entrance hall.

Amongst other properties belonging to the Corporation may be mentioned the Cemetery, which extends over 37 acres, and was opened in 1879. The chief rent amounts to £360; and the laying out of the grounds, together with the cost of building the three chapels, the registrar’s lodge, and the wall, amounted to £12,000. The Church of England portion was consecrated by Bishop Fraser, and that allotted to the Roman Catholics by the Rev. Monsignor Kershaw.

The Public Baths were opened in September, 1881, and ten years later plans were prepared for their extension, but owing to public opinion the scheme was abandoned; and it was not until 1913 that a change was made.

Our closing paragraph should be devoted to sanitary matters. In common with most parts of the country the question of sanitation did not concern our forefathers of eighty years ago, with the inevitable result that when cholera visited England in 1835 it had its tale of victims in Eccles. The terror produced by the epidemic was such that in many districts special plots of land were purchased for the interment of the victims. In Eccles the cholera ground was the piece of ground situated on the southerly side of the Eccles Railway Station Bridge. For several years afterwards persons dying in the Union Workhouse were buried there.

The sewage problem was first attacked by the Local Board in 1868, when a scheme for the partial drainage of the Board’s district was carried out, the sewage being discharged into the river, the Board having acquired 17 acres of land near Salteye for the purification of the sewage. In 1892 the Board acquired the Barton Grange Estate of 40 acres for works for sewage disposal purposes, and following this came the construction of the works connected with the sewage farm. The estimated cost of the latter works was about £15,000.