Heywood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

. It had a population of 28,205 at the 2011 Census. The town lies on the south bank of the River Roch, east of Bury, southwest of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Bor ...

, and north of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the Cheesden Valley, open

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generall ...

, and the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Common ...

. Heywood's nickname is Monkey Town. The

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...

cleared the densely wooded area, dividing it into heys or fenced clearings. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Heywood formed a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the commu ...

in the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

, around Heywood Hall, a manor house owned by a family with that surname.

Farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

was the main industry of a sparsely populated rural area. The population supplemented their incomes by hand-loom

woollen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...

weaving in the

domestic system The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote w ...

. The

factory system The factory system is a method of manufacturing using machinery and division of labor. Because of the high capital cost of machinery and factory buildings, factories are typically privately owned by wealthy individuals or corporations who emplo ...

in the town can be traced to a spinning mill in the late 18th century. Following the introduction of

textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution Textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines in the United Kingdom. The main drivers of the Industrial Revolution were textile manufacturing, iron found ...

, Heywood developed into a

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe Italy * '' Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World ...

and coal mining district. A period of "extraordinary growth of the cotton-trade" in the mid 19th century was so quick and profound that there was "an influx of strangers causing a very dense population". The town became a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1881. Imports of foreign cotton goods in the mid-20th century precipitated the decline of Heywood's

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

and mining industries, resulting in a more diverse industrial base. The town was well respected for the quality of its cotton goods. The

Queen mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

once visited Heywood in the very early 1900s to admire the cotton in its factories. Cotton from Heywood cotton mills was used to create the dress that she wore for her 50th birthday celebration speech. Heywood is close to junction 19 of the M62 motorway, which provides transport links for the large distribution parks in the south of the town. The 1860s-built tall Parish Church of St Luke the Evangelist dominates the town centre and skyline. Heywood was the birthplace of Peter Heywood, the magistrate who aided the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, whose family seat was Heywood Hall. Heywood has a station on the East Lancashire heritage railway.

History

Evidence attests that human activity in the area extends back to the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

period; flints have been found in Heywood, in the Cheesden Valley and Knowl Moor areas. Artefacts from the

Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

have been discovered. Retrieved on 1 September 2008. A Bronze Age

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehi ...

high and in diameter was discovered in the 1960s. Excavations by the Bury Archaeological Group revealed beakers associated with human burials. The name Heywood is believed to derive from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

word "haga", meaning

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoi ...

or animal-enclosure. In the 12th century, Heywood was recorded as a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

of Heap. A family surnamed Heywood can be traced back to the 11th century, and in 1286, Adam de Bury granted the land of Heywood to Peter of Heywood. Heywood Hall, the administrative centre of the manor and the seat of the Heywood family, was built in the 13th century. A member of the family and a resident of Heywood Hall was Peter Heywood, the magistrate who, with a party of men, arrested

Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated ...

during the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Another member of the family, also called Peter Heywood, was aboard HMS ''Bounty'' when its crew mutinied in 1789. The

During the

the area was thinly populated and consisted of several hamlets. Apart from the Heywoods of Heywood Hall, the sparse population of Heywood comprised a small community of farmers, most of whom were involved with

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

but supplemented their incomes by weaving

s and

fustian Fustian is a variety of heavy cloth woven from cotton, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used figuratively to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare. This literary use is b ...

s in the

. During the Early Modern period, the weavers of Heywood had been using

spinning wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinnin ...

s in makeshift weavers' cottages, but as the demand for cotton goods increased and the technology of

cotton-spinning machinery Cotton-spinning machinery is machines which process (or spin) prepared cotton roving into workable yarn or thread. Such machinery can be dated back centuries. During the 18th and 19th centuries, as part of the Industrial Revolution cotton-spinn ...

improved during the early 18th century, the need for larger structures to house bigger and more efficient equipment became apparent. Industrial textile manufacture was introduced in the town in the late 18th century and the first spinning mill – Makin Mill – was built at Wrigley Brook (later known as Queens Park Road). By 1780 there remained less than 100 hand-loom fustian weavers out of a population of 2,000 and industrialist Sir Robert Peel (father of Prime Minister

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Excheque ...

) converted Makin Mill for cotton production. This initiated a process of urbanisation and

socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their l ...

transformation in the area and the population moved away from farming, adopting employment in the

. The cotton trade in Heywood grew, and by 1833 there were 27

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven b ...

s. What was described as a period of "extraordinary growth of the cotton-trade" in the mid-19th century, led to "an influx of strangers causing a very dense population". Urbanisation caused by the expansion of factories and housing meant that in 1885,

-born poet Edwin Waugh, was able to describe Heywood as "almost entirely the creation of the cotton industry". In 1905 Plum Tickle Mill began operation as the largest mule-spinning mill in the world under one roof, however, Plum Mill and its sister-mill, Unity Mill, were idled in the 1960s under the government reorganisation of the cotton industry. The last large weaving mill in the town was J. Smith, Hargreaves & Company, towel manufacturers. However this mill was also idled in the 1980s and operations were transferred to W.T. Taylor & Company in Horwich. Mutual Mill - No

Most of the

s have now been demolished, mainly to make way for housing. One of the last mills remaining, though not in production since 1986, has recently been offered for redevelopment as flats. The "Mutual Mills", a complex of four, are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s. The town also has a history of coal mining. Coal pits were opened in Hooley Clough in the early 19th century by the Lord of the Manor of Rochdale. During the 19th century a colliery at Captain Fold was run by the Heywood Coal Company. Two people were killed at Captain Fold Colliery between 1844 and 1848. When the mine flooded in 1852 two more people were killed and the colliery closed soon after. Mining continued in the town with

drift mining Drift mining is either the mining of an ore deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. A drift mine is an underground mine in which the entry or access is abov ...

in Bamford until 1950. In 1881, the newly created

Municipal Borough of Heywood The Municipal Borough of Heywood was, from 1881 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, with borough status and coterminate with the town of Heywood. Civic history The first local government in ...

included 67 cotton mills and weaving sheds, 67 machine works and other workshops, 75 cotton waste and other warehouses and 5,877 dwelling houses. It had 22 churches and chapels and 24 Sunday and day schools. The population was estimated at 25,000. The town was originally served by railway, with Heywood railway station to the south of the town. There were services to Bury

Knowsley Street railway station Bury Knowsley Street is a former railway station in Bury. History The station was first opened by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on 1 May 1848 (as the eastern terminus of the Liverpool and Bury Railway) originally being named simply '' ...

and

, but this line was closed in the 1970s. However, the line has recently been re-opened to Bury, as an extension to the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

preservation project. The town had its own canal, the

Heywood Branch Canal The Heywood Branch Canal was a branch of the Rochdale Canal from Castleton which led to Heywood. It opened in 1834 and carried traffic until 1937. It was abandoned in 1952, along with most of the Rochdale Canal, and although the Rochdale Canal ...

which is now infilled and largely gone. There is a local legend that men from Heywood used to have tails and that

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s had holes in their benches for tails to fit through. The legend led to the town developing the nickname of "Monkey Town". A more prosaic explanation is that in the 19th Century, the town was based around Heap Bridge, now barely a suburb of the town, when, in the accent (of the locals) and Irish "Navvies" working on the railway, the town was 'Ape bridge. In the 20th century, the town's cotton mills went into steep decline, only Glossop in Derbyshire went into sharper recession; in contrast, the spinning capacity of nearby Rochdale shrank more slowly than any other mill town apart from Wigan. Church Heywood centre 30 0ctober 2005 - geograph

Church Heywood centre 30 0ctober 2005 - geograph

The southern wing of St Luke's Church, well known throughout the area for its beautiful proportions and ornate carvings, is suggested to have been one of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's high-priority items for acquisition had he won the war. In 2007 plans were announced to shake off an area's 'mill town' image and rejuvenate the town over a 10–15-year period to appeal to a younger generation. The plan involves creating new retail, business and community spaces, demolishing 300 flats and houses and replacing them with 1,000 new homes. Heywood Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1905. The club disappeared at the time of

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Governance

Civic history

Lying within the historic county boundaries of

since the early 12th century, Heywood during the

constituted a

in the

of Heap, parish of Bury, and hundred of Salford. The Heywood family, who had their seat at Heywood Hall, exercised considerable political power throughout the Middle Ages on the locale. Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relie ...

, Heywood formed part of the Bury Poor Law Union, an inter-parish unit established to provide

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Heywood's first local authority was a

Local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

established in 1864; Heap Middle Division Local Board of Health was a regulatory body responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation for the Heywood part of Heap township. In 1867 the local board was reconstituted as the Heywood Local Board of Health which covered the whole of Heap township and parts of Hopwood, Birtle-with-Bamford, Pilsworth and Castleton townships. In 1879 further parts of Hopwood and Pilsworth townships were added to the area under the local board. It was not recognised as a borough in the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, but on 18 February 1881 the area of the local board was granted borough status and became the

. Following the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

(which formally dissolved all townships) the municipal borough became a local government district of the

administrative county An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...

of Lancashire. The borough council was based out of Heywood's Municipal Buildings. In 1900 a part of Castleton Urban District was added to Heywood, and in 1933 part of the Heywood borough was transferred to the

County Borough of Bury Bury was a local government district centred on Bury in the northwest of England from 1846 to 1974. Under the Bury Improvement Act 1846 a board of twenty-seven improvement commissioners was formed for Bury. The Improvement Commissioners Distric ...

, whilst in exchange, parts of Norden Urban District and Birtle-with-Bamford and

Unsworth Unsworth is a village and residential area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of Unsworth Ward, as of the 2011 census is 9,492. The village sits approximately north of the city of Manchester and ...

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

were added to Heywood. In 1967, the Borough of Heywood twinned with

Peine Peine (; Eastphalian: ''Paane'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Peine. It is situated on the river Fuhse and the Mittellandkanal, approximately west of Braunschweig, and east of Hanover. History A deed from 11 ...

in Germany. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the Municipal Borough of Heywood was abolished, and Heywood has, since 1 April 1974, formed an

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unpa ...

of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, a local government district of the metropolitan county of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. Municipal Buildings, which served as the former town hall, were demolished in the mid-1980s. Since 1992, Heywood has been one of four township committee areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. The Heywood Township Committee meets six times per year, with the vision of making Heywood "a safe, small town set in attractive countryside ... part of a successful borough and city region". Each meeting commences with an open forum session, which gives local residents the opportunity to ask questions of their local members or to raise issues of local concern.

Parliamentary representation

In terms of parliamentary representation, Heywood after the Reform Act 1832 was represented as part of the South Lancashire constituency, of which the first Members of Parliaments (MPs) were the Liberals George William Wood and Charles Molyneux. Constituency boundaries changed throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and Heywood has lain within the South East Lancashire (1868–1885), Heywood (1885–1918), Heywood and Radcliffe (1918–1950), and Heywood and Royton (1950–1983) constituencies. Since 1983, Heywood has lain within Heywood and Middleton. It was represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

by Liz McInnes, a member of the Labour Party from 2014 to 2019. At the 2019 general election, McInnes was defeated by

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate,

Chris Clarkson Christopher Clarkson (born 7 April 1990) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays in the forward for the York Knights in the Betfred Championship. He is an England Knights international. He has previously played for Hull ...

Geography

River Roch, near Hooley Bridge - geograph

Located north-northwest of central London, Heywood lies south of the

, on the south bank of the River Roch. The larger towns of Bury, Middleton and

lie to the west, south and northeast respectively. For purposes of the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for t ...

, Heywood forms part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area, with

Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

itself south of Heywood. At the north of Heywood, the River Roch meanders westerly into Bury, and then onwards to Radcliffe where it unites its waters with the River Irwell. The general slope of the land in Heywood increases in height away from the Roch. From the north bank of the Roch is the Roch Valley and Cheesden Valley. The Cheesden Valley is a wooded river valley of the Cheesden Brook, flanked on all sides by high moorland and small

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

, like Birtle. The soil is

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

y, and the subsoil is

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

Heywood's

built environment The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human a ...

follows a standard

urban structure Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in urban areas, in other words, how the land use of a city is set out. Urban planners, economists, and geographers have developed several models that explain where different types of people and busin ...

, consisting of residential dwellings centred around Market Street in the town centre, which is the local centre of commerce. There is a mixture of low-density

urban areas An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Heywood, but overwhelmingly the

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

in the town is residential. Heywood is surrounded on all sides by

Green Belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ...

, variously consisting of wooded river valleys and high

in the north, and flat farmland in the south. Suburban localities in Heywood include Broadfield, Captain Fold, Crimble, Darnhill and Hopwood. Hopwood was formerly a

of itself, but was amalgamated into Heywood in the 19th century. Darnhill is the site of a planned overspill council estate, built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

project throughout inner-city Manchester. Heywood's population increased when thousands of people were moved out of Manchester's slums and into what was then the Heywood countryside of Darnhill.

Demography

According to the

, at the time of the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for Nationa ...

, Heywood had a population of 28,024. The 2001 population density was 11,338 per mi² (4,378 per km²), with a 100 to 94.3 female-to-male ratio. Of those over 16 years old, 30.3% were single (never married) and 39.7% married. Heywood's 11,724 households included 31.2% one-person, 34.6% married couples living together, 10.5% were co-habiting couples, and 12.6% single parents with their children. Of those aged 16–74, 38.3% had no academic qualifications. At the 2001 UK census, 80.6% of Heywood's residents reported themselves as being Christian, 1.1% Muslim, 0.1% Hindu, 0.1% Buddhist and 0.1% Jewish. The census recorded 9.9% as having no religion, 0.1% had an alternative religion and 8.0% did not state their religion. Heywood's population remained constant for most of the 20th century, but increased from 24,090 in 1960 to 30,443 in 1970, following the opening of the Darnhill overspill council estate, which transferred thousands of people from inner-city Manchester, to Heywood. The first families to move to Heywood from Manchester as part of the

s came in 1963.

Economy

From the 18th century onwards, Heywood's economy was closely tied with that of Britain's

, particularly the cotton spinning sector. Since deindustrialisation in the 20th century, Heywood's economic activity has been focused around Heywood town centre, and the Heywood Distribution Park, one of the UK's largest single-owned

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

s. Heywood town centre lies at the convergence of Heywood's Market Street and York Street. Heywood Market Hall on York Street, offers a variety of stalls and small retail outlets. Heywood Distribution Park lies in the south of the town, in Pilsworth, and spans over . It is part of Segro, a property investment and development company with

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

status. Heywood Distribution was sold to Segro (then Slough Estates) for £276M, and was one of a number of properties in Greater Manchester that Slough Estates described as "important strategic sites, and provide prime industrial property with high-calibre occupiers as well as development land". It is the largest single-owned distribution park in the region, and has won 16 awards for security. Companies with property in the park include Character Options, Eddie Stobart,

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

, and

Shop Direct Group The Very Group is a multi-brand online retailer and financial services provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head offices are based in the Speke area of the city of Liverpool, England. The brand was established in November 2005 as a re ...

The whole town is undergoing a major regeneration as part of the government's New Deal for Communities, and New Heart for Heywood are investing around £52 million. The scheme is designed to renew deprived areas. This bid was initially won in 2000 and work to regenerate this town is still ongoing. Some of the planned works for 2006–08 included a new health connections centre, a new family surestart centre, a new primary school (although several are being knocked down as a result) and a multimillion-pound sports and leisure village. According to the

2001 UK census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

, the industry of employment of residents aged 16–74 was 24.6% retail and wholesale, 19.2% manufacturing, 10.7% health and social work, 5.5% education, 8.2% transport and communications, 8.1% property and business services, 7.9% construction, 4.2% public administration, 3.8% hotels and restaurants, 3.0% finance, 0.7% energy and water supply, 0.4% agriculture, 0.1 mining and 3.6% other. Compared with national figures, the town had a relatively low percentage working in agriculture. The census recorded the economic activity of residents aged 16–74, 1.9% students were with jobs, 3.3% students without jobs, 5.6% looking after home or family, 8.5% permanently sick or disabled, economically inactive for other reasons. The ''Heywood Advertiser'' was founded in the 19th century. The newspaper has a readership of 16,500 and runs its own website.

Landmarks

Historically, Heywood's only landmark was Heywood Hall, the town's former

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

which was inhabited by the Heywood family. On Heywood in 1881, Edwin Waugh said: The parish church of St Luke the Evangelist is Heywood's major landmark – the focal point of the town centre. A place of worship at the site of St Luke's is known to have existed prior to 1611.. The church started life as a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

chapel for the Heywood family. The Old Heywood Chapel was demolished in 1859 to make way for the present church, built to the designs of Joseph Clarke. The

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

was laid on 31 May 1860, and the building was completed in 1862 using stone from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and ashlar from Staffordshire and Bath. St Luke's was consecrated on 8 October 1862 following a public subscription appeal, and dedicated to

Luke the Evangelist Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...

. The tower and spire is detached from the main church building and stands high, dominating Heywood's centre and townscape. Heywood War Memorial & Memorial Garden - geograph

Heywood War Memorial & Memorial Garden - geograph

Heywood War Memorial lies in Memorial Gardens opposite the Parish Church of St Luke the Evangelist, and was originally erected "to the men of Heywood who gave their lives" during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but later, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It is a grey granite

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

decorated with wreaths and crosses. At the front is a bronze female figure holding a laurel wreath to symbolise peace. It was sculpted by Walter Marsden. Heywood War Memorial was commissioned by the Heywood War Memorial Committee and unveiled on 22 August 1925 by

Hewlett Johnson Hewlett Johnson (25 January 1874 – 22 October 1966) was an English priest of the Church of England, Marxist Theorist and Stalinist. He was Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname "The Red Dean of Ca ...

, the

Dean of Manchester The Dean of Manchester is based in Manchester, England and is the head of the Chapter of Manchester Cathedral. The current dean is Rogers Govender MBE. List of deans *1840–1847 William Herbert *1847–1872 George Bowers *1872–1883 Benj ...

. The roll of honour was not engraved on the memorial at the time of its unveiling owing to a lack of funds. Lobbying by the Heywood branch of the

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ...

secured a grant from Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council to cover the £5,000 required; names from both world wars were engraved in 1986. Ashworth Valley is a renowned local beauty spot. Queens Park re-opened in 2006 after a multimillion-pound facelift, with many of its Victorian attractions restored, including the old fountain and many of the statues.

Transport

Public transport in Heywood is co-ordinated by

Transport for Greater Manchester Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities ...

. Bus services include the 471 to

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

, Bury, and

and the 163 to Bury, Darn Hill, Middleton and Manchester, as well as other local services, mainly operated by First Greater Manchester and

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The Ar ...

. Major A roads link Heywood with other settlements. The M62 motorway passes to the south and can be accessed at Junction 19. Heywood railway station is on the

, a heritage railway which connects Heywood with Rawtenstall railway station via Ramsbottom railway station. The original station opened on the national rail network in 1841 and closed in 1970. It re-opened in 2003 as an extension of the East Lancashire Railway from Bury Bolton Street railway station.

Education

Heywood Technical School was opened on 1 December 1894, on a site then known as the Market Ground. The building, which had technical school status, also contained an art school. The school was doubled in size eighteen years later and opened as the Heywood Day Secondary School. It was renamed 12 years after that as Heywood Grammar School. In 2010

Heywood Community High School Heywood Community High School was a secondary school in the Heywood district of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. The school closed 30 June 2010 to students but officially closed on 31 August 2010.

closed despite being found outstanding in many areas by Ofsted and being one of the country's most improved schools. ;List *Hopwood County Primary School *St. Luke's C.E. Primary School *All Souls' Primary School *St. Joseph's R.C. Primary School *Harwood Park Primary School *Heapbridge Primary School *Woodland Primary School *St. Margaret's Primary School *Our Lady and St Paul's R.C. Primary School * Newhouse Academy * Holy Family RC & CE College (Previously St. Joseph's R.C. High School)

Birtle View

Birtle View was a school for children with special needs. The school closed on 31 August 2007 2 the building has now been demolished and replaced by a doctors' surgery.

Sports

Heywood Cricket Club Heywood Cricket Club, based in Heywood, Greater Manchester, are an English cricket team that plays in the Central Lancashire Cricket League. They were founded around 1879. Currently the team also carries the name of Biwater's, a locally based ...

plays in the

Central Lancashire Cricket League The Central Lancashire Cricket League (CLCL) was a fifteen team cricket league, traditionally based in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was then based in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The league ran competitions at First T ...

. The club has won the Wood Cup on nine occasions since the cup competition began in 1921. Heywood, Heywood Central, Heywood St James and Heywood United are all association football clubs that have been based in Heywood. Heywood St James F.C. plays in Division One of the Manchester Football League. Heywood Hockey Club is a men's

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

club based in Heywood. Darnhill and Heywood Amateur Boxing Club is based in Darnhill. Heywood Sports Culture and Leisure Village is under construction, and was due to open in July 2010.

Notable people born in Heywood

Lewis Alessandra Lewis Peter Alessandra (born 8 February 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker or winger for South Shields. He has played in the English Football League for Oldham Athletic, Morecambe, Plymouth Argyle, Rochdale, Yor ...

, professional footballer with over 400 appearances in the Football League. * William Brett (1942–2012) The late Lord Brett, former head of the Institution of Professionals, Managers and Specialist, and the ILO, was born in Heywood, the son of

Irish immigrants The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

. *

Roger Fenton Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers. Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested i ...

a pioneering

war photographer ''War Photographer'' is a documentary by Christian Frei about the photographer James Nachtwey. As well as telling the story of an iconic man in the field of war photography, the film addresses the broader scope of ideas common to all those in ...

, was born at Crimble Hall in Heywood in 1819. *Christine Gaskell, 100 m breaststroke gold medallist at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, was born, brought up and still lives in Heywood. The community swimming baths, Gaskell Pool, are named in her honour. *

Paul Gerrard Paul William Gerrard (born 22 January 1973) is an English football goalkeeping coach and retired player. He is currently employed by Football League Two side Carlisle United as a goalkeeping coach, having previously been employed as a player-go ...

, professional

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, born in Heywood in 1973. He played for

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and England under-21s. *

Julie Goodyear Julie Goodyear MBE (''née'' Kemp; born 29 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Bet Lynch in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She first appeared as Bet for nine episodes in 1966, before becoming ...

, star of ITV's '' Coronation Street'' for many years. She played Bet Lynch. * Peter Kane, World flyweight boxing champion, 1938–39, was born in Heywood. *

David Malin David Frederick Malin (born 28 March 1941) is a British-Australian astronomer and photographer. He is principally known for his spectacular colour images of astronomical objects. A galaxy is named after him, Malin 1, which he discovered in ...

The noted

astrophotographer Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was no ...

grew up in the Ashworth Valley area of Heywood *

Nico Mirallegro ' Nico Cristian Mirallegro ( ; born 26 January 1991) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Barry "Newt" Newton in the soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' (2007–2010), Finn Nelson in ''My Mad Fat Diary'' (2013–2015), Joe Middleton in ...

, actor, who plays Finn Nelson in My Mad Fat Diary. *

Keri-Anne Payne Keri-anne Payne (born 9 December 1987), also known by her married name Keri-anne Carry, is a South African-born British swimmer, specialising in marathon open water swimming, and long-distance freestyle swimming in the pool. She is a two-time 1 ...

, British olympic swimmer and silver medallist, born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, has lived in Heywood since the age of 13. *

Debbie Rush Debbie Rush (born 29 March 1966) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Anna Windass in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 2008 to 2018. Career Early career After training at the Manchester School of Acting when she ...

, who plays Anna Windass in '' Coronation Street'' is also from the town. * Ian Simpson, architect, co-founded SimpsonHaugh and Partners in 1987. *

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

, R&B and soul singer, was born and brought up in Heywood. * Elliott and

Luke Tittensor Luke James Tittensor (born 3 November 1989) is an English actor best known for his role as Carl Gallagher in '' Shameless'' (a role he shared with his twin brother, Elliott Tittensor) and his role as Daz Eden in '' Emmerdale''. Career Tittens ...

, actors, were born and brought up in Heywood. * Ryan Tunnicliffe, professional footballer who started out at Manchester United and went on to play for several

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

sides.

Twinned city

Heywood is twinned with

in Germany

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

www.heartofheywood.org
a community webspace.
www.heywood.org.uk
a community webspace.
www.heywoodadvertiser.co.uk
website of the local newspaper of the same name.
Monkey Town: The History of Heywood
website all about the history of Heywood. {{Authority control Towns in Greater Manchester Areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Unparished areas in Greater Manchester

History

Governance

Civic history

Parliamentary representation

Geography

Demography

Economy

Landmarks

Transport

Education

Birtle View

Sports

Notable people born in Heywood

Twinned city

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links