Prestwich

Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury.

Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham, centred around the Grade I listed Church of St Mary the Virgin. In recent times, it has grown in popularity as a commuter town of Manchester, being consistently named one of the best places to live in the UK by ''The Sunday Times'', and has been nicknamed the 'new Didsbury' in comparison with the affluent suburb in the south of the city.

The oldest part of Prestwich, around Bury New Road, is known as Prestwich Village. There is a large Jewish community in Prestwich which, together with neighbouring Whitefield, Broughton and Crumpsall, makes up the second largest Jewish community in the UK outside London.

Toponymy

Prestwich is possibly of Old English origin, derived from ''preost'' and ''wic'', which translates to the priest's farm. Another possible derivation is priest's retreat. Wic was a place-name element derived from the Latin vicus, place. Its most common meaning is dairy-farm.Domesday Book

The township was variously recorded as Prestwich in 1194, Prestwic in 1202 and Prestewic in 1203.

History

Early history

Bury New Road roughly follows the line of a Roman road connecting forts at ''Mamucium'' (Manchester) and ''Bremetennacum'' (Ribchester). It is possible that a Roman fort or encampment was built at "Castle Hill", near the Salford border, mirroring an encampment on Rainsough Hill equidistant from the Roman road. John Booker B.A., 19th century author and curate of the parish church, considered these were agrarian camps built to protect cattle kept in the woods of Broughton and Kersal. The camp was "just to the right of the old road to Bury, immediately beyond Singleton Brook, on the first field in the Parish of Prestwich, which was formerly known as Lowcaster". Roman coins have been found off Bury New Road, near Prestwich Golf Course and some in Prestwich Clough.

A hoard of 65 silver coins from the reign of King Stephen was found in the Sedgley Park area in 1972. The Prestwich manor emerged in the Middle Ages and in 1212 was assessed as four oxgang of land held by Adam de Prestwich whose father, Robert held it in 1193. The lord of the manor held the advowson for the church. Another Adam de Prestwich settled the manors of Prestwich, Alkrington and Pendlebury on his son John in 1297 but remarried and in 1313 settled the same manors on Thomas de Prestwich, his son by second wife. Thomas de Prestwich had daughters, Margaret who became a nun at Seaton Priory in 1360, but left the convent to marry Robert de Holland, and Agnes who married John de Radcliffe but died childless in 1362. Thomas de Prestwich granted his manors to Richard de Radcliffe for life and after that the manor was held by Richard de Langley. In 1371 Robert de Holland claimed the manor as the right of his wife. Roger de Langley was a minor and ward of the Duke of Lancaster in 1372 when Robert de Holland and a troop of armed men took possession of the manor by force and retained it until 1389. The Langleys regained the manor after 1403.

After Sir Robert Langley's death in 1561 the manor passed to his daughter Margaret, who married John Reddish. Their granddaughter Sarah married Clement Coke and the manor descended in the Coke family, until 1777, when Thomas William Coke, Coke of Norfolk, a leader in the agricultural revolution sold the land in Prestwich to increase his Norfolk estates. The manor was acquired by Peter Drinkwater of Irwell House in 1794 and it descended to his son Thomas who died in 1861. Irwell House and Drinkwater Park was sold to Salford Corporation and Prestwich Council. In 1561 other lands went to Sir Robert's other daughters. Polefield, on higher ground to the north of Prestwich, became a separate estate, with Polefield Hall coming in the 19th century to the Earls of Wilton.

In the hearth tax of 1666 there were 97 hearths in the township, the rector's house was the largest with ten. In the 17th and 18th centuries local government was based on the parish structure. The lord of the manor administered land tenure and inheritance, but law and order was kept by parish constables assisted by the church wardens. The local justices sat in the "Star Chamber" in the Ostrich Inn, now the Church Inn, close to the parish church where the justices' seat can still be seen. The village had stocks which remained in use until 1800.

Development

The settlement grew to serve the parish church making Church Lane the historic centre. In the late 18th century the area was mainly rural with scattered farms and small settlements grew at Great and Little Heaton. The population was estimated at 670. Rooden Lane which became part of Bury Old Road was a centre for hand loom weaving and at Simister and neighbouring Bowlee, silk weaving was established. During the 19th century another settlement grew around the junction of Fairfax Road and Bury New Road along with another village centre on Bury Old Road. The area between these centres remained rural, however, the arrival of the railway in 1881 encouraged affluent merchants from Manchester to build villas and move to the town.

Prestwich Hospital was built as an asylum in 1851 and by 1900 it had grown into the largest asylum in Europe. Sedgley Park Teacher Training College was established in Prestwich after the Faithful Companions of Jesus bought a house to accommodate it in 1903. When Mike Leigh was a lecturer at the Catholic women teachers' training college ''Sedgley Park'' he devised and directed two big-cast projects for the Manchester Youth Theatre: ''Big Basil'' and ''Glum Victoria and the Lad with Specs''. The National Archives holds records relating to the college.

By 1912 the population had increased to 12,800, and from the 1930s onwards the remaining fields were developed and by 1961 the population reached 31,000 and Prestwich had become a suburb of Manchester.

Governance

Political representation

Prestwich, together with Whitefield and Radcliffe, is part of the marginal Bury South Parliamentary constituency, which has been represented by MP Christian Wakeford since 2019. Wakeford stood as a Conservative and gained the seat from the Labour Party by 402 votes, which at the time made it one of the most marginal seats in the country. However, he defected to Labour in January 2022.

On Bury Council, Prestwich is served by three wards, St Mary's, covering the western half of the town, Holyrood covering the north-east, and Sedgeley to the south. In previous years, they have been represented by all three major political parties, but since the 2023 local elections, all nine seats across the three wards are held by Labour.

Civic history

Historically, Prestwich was the ecclesiastical