Wallsuches is a small district of

Horwich Horwich ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. It is southeast of Chorley, northwest of Bolton and northwest of Manchester. It ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England.

Etymology

The etymology of the place-name itself is unclear, although it is believed the name may be from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''wella'' (or the regional dialect variant wella) "stream" and ''soc'' "to soak", from Old English socian "to make wet/damp". This is probably because there are several streams running through the area from the moors.

History

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

a part of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, Wallsuches was first built on substantially by the Ridgway family in the 1770s. Thomas Ridgway Snr. owned a bleach works in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

until 1770 when a fire destroyed most of the stock and equipment. Wallsuches was selected as the new site due to the availability of land and streams to provide water power to run the

bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

works and

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 ...

. The main road through

to Bolton had been improved, which was good for business access and employees. In 1777, the new works were opened as "Thomas Ridgway and Sons". At the time Horwich was a

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

of 320 residents, mostly self-employed farmers and cotton weavers. "Wallsuches Bleach Works" brought employment to Horwich and workers came from Horwich,

Blackrod Blackrod is a town and civil parish situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Nestled in the historic County of Lancashire, Blackrod is positioned 3.9 miles (6.3 km) northeast of Wigan and 6.6 mi ...

, Adlington and

Rivington Rivington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of ...

. Wallsuches was highly successful, and by 1780 the former shippon and hut had been converted into a bleach works powered by six water wheels. The Ridgways lived across the main access road from the works in a house called "Whitehouse", which they renamed "Ridgmont House", which still stands. Thomas Ridgmont sponsored French chemists Matthew Vallet and Anthony Bourboulon de Boneuil who pioneered the development of chemical bleaching, using

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

and Wallsuches became one of the first to use the technology. Beforehand, bleaching was carried out using sunlight. The bleach works operated as one of the main industries in Horwich until 1933. The works were closed and the site became derelict and run-down. The area has since been developed for housing by

Redrow Redrow plc was one of the largest British housebuilders with a network of 12 operational divisions across the UK. It was based in Flintshire, Wales and employed 2,300 people. In October 2024, its merger with Barratt Developments was finalised an ...

, incorporating the

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

buildings.

References

Notes Bibliography * {{refend

External links

Wallsuches
Horwich Areas of Greater Manchester Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links