Golborne
Encyclopedia
Golborne is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
, in Greater Manchester
, England.
It lies 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south-southeast of Wigan
, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) northeast of Warrington
and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) to the west of the city of Manchester
. It has a population of 23,119.
Historically
a part of Lancashire
, Golborne owes most of its growth to the mining and textile industry. There was also significant agricultural activity in the village, and many farms still belong to the families who originally owned them.
. The manor was held in two moieties
, half by the Lords of Lowton
, and the half by the Golbornes up to the reign of Henry III
, and later by various families including the Fleetwoods and Leghs.
The old Manor of Golborne stood to the north side of the village, giving its name to a public house on Church Street (now demolished). The manor and its lands extended as far as St Luke's church in Lowton, and also gives its name to Manor Avenue and Manor Court.
The Venerable Bede
wrote in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
of a well near Golborne sacred to St. Oswald's memory. This well had been suggested as the site where Penda, the pagan king of Mercia
, slew the Christian King Oswald, later St Oswald, in the Battle of Maserfield
, in 642. It is more generally accepted though that the site of that battle was some considerable distance to the southwest, near Oswestry
.
Holcroft Hall, now a farm, was the home of Colonel Blood
, who, during the reign of Charles II, attempted to steal the Crown Jewels. King Charles was amused by Blood's audacity and pardoned him. Blood married Maria Holcroft of Holcroft Hall at Newhurch Church,against the will of her father.
In 1648 the Battle of Red Gap was fought by the old road south from Golborne (Probably the Red Bank area of Newton le Willows.)during the 2nd Civil War. The Scots on the side of Charles I had advanced into England. Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Roundhead Army intercepted the Scots at Preston and, in a series of running battles between Preston, Wigan and Warrington, of which Red Gap was one, he defeated the Scots even though his army was outnumbered by ten to one. Cromwell resolved to bring the king to trial and shortly afterwards "that man of blood
" as the Roundheads called the king, was tried and finally executed on the 30 January 1649.
A local legend speaks of a knight who slayed a dragon and was granted land and a manor, supposedly Goulbourne. There is a tumulus
in fields near the golf known as Castle Hill, where tradition says Alfred buried his treasure although to date it has never been found.
due to the mining industry.
On 18 March 1979 there was a methane explosion at the town's colliery, caused by an electrical spark, which took the lives of 10 of the miners. Of the 11 present, only one survived. The colliery closed around 10 years later in 1989. The location of the former colliery is known locally as the 'Bonk'or 'bonkin' (dialect for bank, as in railway embankment), and is now used as a business park. The closure of the colliery led to the loss of employment for a large proportion of Golborne's population as well as people from nearby towns such as Abram
, Lowton
and Ashton-in-Makerfield
. These unemployment problems have been mostly eradicated in recent years with the introduction of new industries to the area which have created new jobs, for example, the creation of Stone Cross Industrial Park.
There is a campaign to reopen the town's railway station. As part of Greater Manchester's Transport Initiative Fund package, a station at Golborne would be reinstated, likely to be relocated on the site of the former (closed in 1961) main line station off the A573 in the centre of town. Golborne's other station was closed in 1952.
Like many places, Golborne's town centre has declined over recent years due to people preferring to travel to larger towns such as St. Helens, Warrington
or Wigan
and also preferring to use supermarkets instead of shopping in their own local shops. This has also meant that a once weekly market held on the town centre car park no longer takes place.
, in force from the 1 April 1974, the urban district
of Golborne, established in 1894 (and expanded in 1933 by adding part of Leigh Rural District
which included Kenyon
), was split, with the parts of Culcheth
and Newchurch becoming the civil parish of Culcheth and Glazebury
in the Warrington
district in Cheshire, and the rest of the district becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan of Greater Manchester.
On Sunday, 19 March 2006 the Rector of Golborne, the Rev Robert Williams, officiated at a service in Kidglove Road at what was the entrance to Golborne Colliery. The service was attended by ex-miners and their families, and was the fruition of two years of fund-raising to erect the 6 feet (2 m) by 3 foot (0.9144 m) stone, commissioned in memory of the men and women who worked and died at Golborne Colliery between its opening in 1880 and its closure in 1989.
The memorial was conceptualised by the Golborne Ex-Miners Association who staged a series of concerts to help towards the cost of the stone. Funding was also received from a community chest grant from Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Alpla (UK) Ltd of Golborne, and The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. Former miner Dean Mitchell landscaped the memorial site.
Haydock Park Racecourse
is nearby, located in Haydock
, next to Golborne. The park is edged by a tall wall which forms the boundary between Haydock, Ashton in Makerfield, Golborne and Newton le Willows.
Metropolitan Borough of Wigan
The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest component town, Wigan and also includes the towns of Leigh, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield, and Hindley. The borough was formed in 1974 and is an...
, in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England.
It lies 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south-southeast of Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) northeast of Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) to the west of the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. It has a population of 23,119.
Historically
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
a part of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Golborne owes most of its growth to the mining and textile industry. There was also significant agricultural activity in the village, and many farms still belong to the families who originally owned them.
Toponymy
The name Golborne derives from the Old English golde and burna, and means "stream where marsh marigolds grow". The earliest settlements in the village were on banks of the Millingford Brook- hence the name of the village being taken from a water course where calendula grew. Golborne has been recorded in ancient documents as Goldeburn in 1187, Goldburc in 1201, Goseburn and Goldburn in 1212 and Golburne in 1242. Golborne and Gowborne were 16th century spellings.Early history
A settlement at Golborne has existed since at least the time of the Domesday bookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. The manor was held in two moieties
Moiety
Moiety may refer to:* Moiety , a part or functional group of a molecule* Moiety , either of two groups into which a society is divided* An Australian Aboriginal kinship group* Native Hawaiian realm ruled by a Mo'i or Ali'i...
, half by the Lords of Lowton
Lowton
Lowton is a village, part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is around from Leigh and south of Wigan. The settlement lies across the A580 East Lancashire Road....
, and the half by the Golbornes up to the reign of Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, and later by various families including the Fleetwoods and Leghs.
The old Manor of Golborne stood to the north side of the village, giving its name to a public house on Church Street (now demolished). The manor and its lands extended as far as St Luke's church in Lowton, and also gives its name to Manor Avenue and Manor Court.
The Venerable Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
wrote in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
of a well near Golborne sacred to St. Oswald's memory. This well had been suggested as the site where Penda, the pagan king of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, slew the Christian King Oswald, later St Oswald, in the Battle of Maserfield
Battle of Maserfield
The Battle of Maserfield , Welsh: "Maes Cogwy", was fought on August 5, 641 or 642, between the Anglo-Saxon kings Oswald of Northumbria and Penda of Mercia, ending in Oswald's defeat, death, and dismemberment...
, in 642. It is more generally accepted though that the site of that battle was some considerable distance to the southwest, near Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
.
Holcroft Hall, now a farm, was the home of Colonel Blood
Thomas Blood
Colonel Thomas Blood was an Irish colonel best known for attempting to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671...
, who, during the reign of Charles II, attempted to steal the Crown Jewels. King Charles was amused by Blood's audacity and pardoned him. Blood married Maria Holcroft of Holcroft Hall at Newhurch Church,against the will of her father.
In 1648 the Battle of Red Gap was fought by the old road south from Golborne (Probably the Red Bank area of Newton le Willows.)during the 2nd Civil War. The Scots on the side of Charles I had advanced into England. Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Roundhead Army intercepted the Scots at Preston and, in a series of running battles between Preston, Wigan and Warrington, of which Red Gap was one, he defeated the Scots even though his army was outnumbered by ten to one. Cromwell resolved to bring the king to trial and shortly afterwards "that man of blood
Charles Stuart, that man of blood
Charles Stuart, that man of blood was a phrase used by Independents, during the English Civil War to describe King Charles IThe phrase is derived from the Bible:and other verses were used to justify regicide:-Windsor Castle prayer meeting:...
" as the Roundheads called the king, was tried and finally executed on the 30 January 1649.
A local legend speaks of a knight who slayed a dragon and was granted land and a manor, supposedly Goulbourne. There is a tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
in fields near the golf known as Castle Hill, where tradition says Alfred buried his treasure although to date it has never been found.
Recent history
The town grew from the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
due to the mining industry.
On 18 March 1979 there was a methane explosion at the town's colliery, caused by an electrical spark, which took the lives of 10 of the miners. Of the 11 present, only one survived. The colliery closed around 10 years later in 1989. The location of the former colliery is known locally as the 'Bonk'or 'bonkin' (dialect for bank, as in railway embankment), and is now used as a business park. The closure of the colliery led to the loss of employment for a large proportion of Golborne's population as well as people from nearby towns such as Abram
Abram, Greater Manchester
Abram is a village and electoral ward within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on flat land on the northeast bank of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, west of Leigh, southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester...
, Lowton
Lowton
Lowton is a village, part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is around from Leigh and south of Wigan. The settlement lies across the A580 East Lancashire Road....
and Ashton-in-Makerfield
Ashton-in-Makerfield
Ashton-in-Makerfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. It is situated south of Wigan, north-northwest of Warrington and west of the city of Manchester. In 2001 it had a population of 28,505....
. These unemployment problems have been mostly eradicated in recent years with the introduction of new industries to the area which have created new jobs, for example, the creation of Stone Cross Industrial Park.
There is a campaign to reopen the town's railway station. As part of Greater Manchester's Transport Initiative Fund package, a station at Golborne would be reinstated, likely to be relocated on the site of the former (closed in 1961) main line station off the A573 in the centre of town. Golborne's other station was closed in 1952.
Like many places, Golborne's town centre has declined over recent years due to people preferring to travel to larger towns such as St. Helens, Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
or Wigan
Wigan
Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...
and also preferring to use supermarkets instead of shopping in their own local shops. This has also meant that a once weekly market held on the town centre car park no longer takes place.
Governance
Under the Local Government Act 1972Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
, in force from the 1 April 1974, the urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
of Golborne, established in 1894 (and expanded in 1933 by adding part of Leigh Rural District
Leigh Rural District
Leigh Rural District was, from 1894 to 1933, a rural district of the administrative county of Lancashire, in northwest England. It spanned a rural area outyling from the town Leigh....
which included Kenyon
Kenyon, Warrington
Kenyon is a village in the civil parish of Croft in the borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England.-History:Kenyon was recorded as Kenien in 1212...
), was split, with the parts of Culcheth
Culcheth
Culcheth is a large village approximately 6 miles north-east of Warrington, England. It is the principal settlement in Culcheth and Glazebury civil parish. The village has many amenities which make it a popular place to live. These include a library, a village hall, sports facilities, two...
and Newchurch becoming the civil parish of Culcheth and Glazebury
Culcheth and Glazebury
Culcheth and Glazebury is a civil parish within the Unitary Authority of Warrington Borough in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.-Culcheth:...
in the Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
district in Cheshire, and the rest of the district becoming part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan of Greater Manchester.
Population change
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Failsworth since 1901 |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1939 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 |
| Population | 6,789 | 6,931 | 7,183 | 7,321 | 13,845 | 16,878 | 21,310 | 20,007 |
| Source: A Vision of Britain through Time | ||||||||
Landmarks
- The parish church of Golborne is St Thomas Church, in the Deanery of Winwick, Diocese of Liverpool. Founded in 1829, the church building has a clock tower that is still in operation and is still heard chiming on every hour. There is also a graveyard surrounding the building.
- Peter Kane Square and memorial clock is situated in the town centre and is named in honour of Peter KanePeter KanePeter Kane was one of England's greatest flyweight boxers and a world champion in the 1930s. Kane was born in Heywood, Lancashire, on February 28, 1918, but grew up in the town of Golborne, Lancashire, after his family moved there before his first birthday.-Boxing style:He was a two-fisted...
.
On Sunday, 19 March 2006 the Rector of Golborne, the Rev Robert Williams, officiated at a service in Kidglove Road at what was the entrance to Golborne Colliery. The service was attended by ex-miners and their families, and was the fruition of two years of fund-raising to erect the 6 feet (2 m) by 3 foot (0.9144 m) stone, commissioned in memory of the men and women who worked and died at Golborne Colliery between its opening in 1880 and its closure in 1989.
The memorial was conceptualised by the Golborne Ex-Miners Association who staged a series of concerts to help towards the cost of the stone. Funding was also received from a community chest grant from Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Alpla (UK) Ltd of Golborne, and The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. Former miner Dean Mitchell landscaped the memorial site.
Haydock Park Racecourse
Haydock Park Racecourse
Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Haydock, Merseyside, England. The track is a mostly flat left-handed oval of around 1 mile 5 furlongs with a very slight rise on the run-in. There are courses for flat racing and National Hunt racing...
is nearby, located in Haydock
Haydock
Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. It contains all of the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook electoral ward. The village is located roughly mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, close to the junction of the M6 motorway...
, next to Golborne. The park is edged by a tall wall which forms the boundary between Haydock, Ashton in Makerfield, Golborne and Newton le Willows.