New Manchester

Chapel at New Manchester

New Manchester or The City was an isolated mining village on the Manchester Coalfield north of Mosley Common in the Tyldesley township. It lies west of a boundary stone at Ellenbrook which marks the ancient boundary of the Hundreds of Salford and West Derby, the boundary of Eccles and Leigh ecclesiastical parishes, Tyldesley, Worsley and Little Hulton townships and the metropolitan districts of Wigan and Salford.^[1] The route of the Roman road from Manchester to Wigan and the Tyldesley Loopline passed south of the village. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Manchester to Southport line passed to the north.

History

Coal was got in New Manchester where the coal seams of the Manchester Coalfield outcrop and are not far below the surface. The community was in existence by 1803 in houses provided by the Duke of Bridgewater who owned the mining rights. The men who came to work in the pits named the streets after places in their hometown, Manchester, Shude Hill, Gatley Row and City Road, the only road ito the village.^[1]

In the 1830s Shude Hill Pit had a steam winding engine. City Pit and Gatley Pit were in operation by 1838 linked to the Worsley Navigable Levels and a a horse-drawn tramroad to Mathers Fold.^[2] These pits worked the Brassey mine (coal seam) at 262 feet and the Rams mine at 360 feet and employed 64 workers in 1852. They closed in 1877. The area has been opencasted.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "An Introduction to New Manchester". Tony Smith. http://freespace.virgin.net/tony.smith/city.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-03. 
2. ^ Townley 1995, p. 341
3. ^ Hayes 2004, p. 29

Bibliography

• Hayes, Geoffrey (2004), Collieries and their Railways in the Manchester Coalfields, Landmark, ISBN 1-84306-135-X 
• Townley, C.H.A.; Appleton, C.A., Matthew, Smith, C.E., Peden (1995), The Industrial railways of Bolton, Bury and the Manchester Coalfield, Part Two, The Manchester Coalfield, Runpast, ISBN 1-870754-32-8 

See also

• List of Collieries in Astley and Tyldesley

Coordinates: 53°30′51″N 2°25′09″W / 53.5142°N 2.4192°W / 53.5142; -2.4192