Turton
| Turton | |
| Lancashire | |
|---|---|
 Cottages at Over Houses, Chapeltown | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 53°37’53"N, 2°24’7"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Blackburn with Darwen Bolton |
Turton is an area in southern Lancashire, within the Salfordshire hundred: once the name of a village, Turton now designates a wider area, while the original village is now known as Chapeltown.[1] The area is divided by the hill known as Cheetham Close into distinct parts with Chapeltown to the west and Egerton to the east, with scattered places bearing the 'Turton' name all around. These villages are to be found to the north of Bolton and south of Blackburn.
Turton anciently formed a township in the parish of Bolton le Moors: its parts have since grown somewhat to become independent villages, Chapeltown having been the principal village in the township.
Contents
Name
The name 'Turton' is believed to be from the name of the Norse personal name 'Thor', with the Old English tun which indicates a village, farmstead or estate, thus 'Thor's village'. It was recorded as Thirtun in 1185[2] and variously recorded as Turton in 1212, Thurton in 1277 and Terton alias Torton in 1282.[1]
The Scandinavian etymology would seem to fit, considering that there are other place-names in the area of this origin.
Chapeltown is a modern name, from the presence here of the chapel of ease long serving the people of Turton.
History
Prehistory
Between Chapeltown and Egerton are the remains of prehistoric stone circles on moorland at Cheetham Close which date back to the Bronze Age. These stone circles are the earliest evidence for settlers in the Turton area. One of the circles was 50 feet) in diameter and some of the stones were several feet in height.[3][4] In the 19th century there were many uninvited visitors to the site which caused the local farmer, a tenant of Turton Tower, to break it up in 1871 using his team of carthorses and sledge hammers. Before this happened, antiquarian, Gilbert French, had made sketches, maps and plans and written a detailed description which is now in Bolton Reference Library.
To the south are the remains of another circle, slightly larger in circumference, which is thought to have been a livestock enclosure.[2]
Turton Tower
- Main article: Turton Tower
Turton Tower in Chapeltown was home to the Lords of the Manor of Turton and dates to the 12th century. The earliest reference to the Manor of Turton is found around 1200 when it was part of the barony of Manchester by which time part of the manor was in the hands of the de Lathom family (sometimes called "de Torbac").
Turton Tower was inherited in 1420 by the Orrell family.[1] The pele tower was rebuilt in 1420 and around 1596 the height was increased and the floors raised, creating the three spacious rooms. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the timbered farmhouse buildings on the east and north of the Tower and the Entrance Hall were added. In 1628 the Orrells sold Turton Tower to Humphrey Chetham, the Manchester merchant responsible for the creation of Chetham's Library and Chetham's School of Music. The Tower passed to his descendants, the Bland, Green and Frere families who leased it to a succession of tenant farmers.[1]
The tower was sold in 1835 to James Kay (1774–1857), who had harnessed steam power and developed the first commercially successful wet-spinning process for flax in 1825. Kay restored the tower and few rooms in the main part of the Tower escaped his attention, but his valuable work was marred by his inability to resist the temptation to 'restore' what has never been there in the first place. James Kay sold the tower to Elizabeth and Anne Appleton who leased the tower to William Rigg, a calico manufacturer, whose daughter, Ellen, wrote her memories of Turton now published as "Victorian Children at Turton Tower".
In October 1903 the tower was bought by Sir Lees Knowles, 1st Baronet MP for Salford West for £3,875. He made his fortune from his family's collieries on the Manchester Coalfield. After his death in 1929, his widow, Lady Nina Knowles, presented Turton Tower to Turton Urban District Council in 1930, and it became the council chamber, until the council was abolished in 1974. Eventually the tower was taken over by Blackburn with Darwen Council.[5]
The Summerhouse east of Turton Tower, a grade II* listed building is on the heritage at risk register.[6]
Industry
Cotton mills, printworks, bleachworks, an iron foundry, and a paper mill were important industries in Turton after the Industrial Revolution.
Churches
Turton had two chapels of ease in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors.[1]
The first chapel of ease at Chapeltown was built in 1111 and dedicated to St Bartholomew but was rededicated in the early 18th century to St Anne. This building, which was known as the Chapel of Turton, was rebuilt in 1630 by Humphrey Chetham and again in 1779. The present parish church was built between 1840 and 1841,[7] the architect was probably John Palmer.[8] The ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1837.
The second chapel of ease was at Walmsley, which was the old village name for Egerton. It is not known when Walmsley Chapel was built, but the Diocesan Church Calendar stated that it existed in the year 1500 and the first documentary evidence appears to be in the "Inventories of Church Goods 1552". The chapel was rebuilt in 1771 and demolished in 1839. The present Christ Church, Walmsley, Egerton, was consecrated in 1840.[2]
A mission church at Toppings opened in 1897, and services were held in the school at Eagley Bridge. The Wesleyan Methodists had chapels at Turton, Egerton, and Toppings and there were Congregational chapels at Turton and Egerton where the old Nonconformist chapel of 1713 became Unitarian. The Roman Catholic church of St. Aldhelm at Turton was opened in 1903.[1]
Sport
- Football: Turton Football Club, one of the oldest clubs, if not the oldest, in Britain, founded in December 1871 by men from Chapeltown in Turton. The club plays at Thomasson Fold in Edgworth. Its old ground at Chapeltown, which is still used by the Old Boltonians team, is believed to be the oldest football pitch in the world in use today.[9]
Outside links
- Information on Turton from GENUKI
- Site for Friends of Turton Tower
- Turton Tower (bolton.org.uk)
- Turton Tower (cottontown.org)
- Welcome to North Turton
- Virtual Drive around South Turton
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Turton A History of the County of Lancaster - Volume pp 273–281: {{{2}}} (Victoria County History)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Billington, W.D. (1982). From Affetside to Yarrow: Bolton place names and their history, Ross Anderson Publications (ISBN 0-86360-003-4).
- ↑ Cheethams Close - megalithix
- ↑ The Bronze Age Complex on Cheethams Close – Uniiversity of Manchester Archaelogical Unit
- ↑ Peter Laws, G.E. A Guide to Turton Tower, Beric Tempest & Co. Ltd., St. Ives, Cornwall.
- ↑ Summerhouse east of Turton Tower – Register of Heritage at Risk (Historic England)
- ↑ St. Anne's Church, Chapeltown
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: Pevsner Architectural Guides
- ↑ Turton Football Club
