Ashton under Lyne

Archives and libraries
Cemeteries
Census
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration
Description and Travel
Directories
Select map for larger scale
Gazetteers
Historical Geography
History
Maps
Newspapers
Poor Houses, Poor Law
Probate Records
Societies
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, a town, a parish, and a district, on the SE border of Lancashire. The town stands on the river Tame, at a convergence of canals and railways, 6½ miles E by N of Manchester. Its site is a rising-ground, from 30 to 40 feet high, on the N bank of the river; its environs are a low flat tract, reclaimed from the condition of a marsh, overlying rich strata of coal and sandstone, and studded with factories, villages, and mining-shafts; and many parts of both site and environs, previous to the introduction of the cotton trade in 1769, were bare, wet, and almost worthless. Pop. in 1841, 22,678; in 1861, 33,917. Houses, 6,460. The municipal borough includes also part of the parochial division called Audenshaw. Pop. in 1851, 30,676; in 1861, 34,886. Houses, 6,647. Electors in 1868, 967. Direct taxes, £14,798. Real property, £113,703. The parish consists of the four divisions of Ashton Town, Audenshaw, Knott-Lanes, and Hartshead; and includes the hamlets of Lees, Crossbank, Alt, Altedge, Althill, Taunton, Knott-Lanes, Wood-Park, Hazlehurst, Heyrod, Smallshaw, and Hartshead, the villages of Hooleyhill, Walkmill, Audenshaw, Littlemoss, Wood houses, North-Street, Hurst, Hurstbrooks, Mossley, and Mossley-Brow, and part of the town of Stalybridge. Acres, 9,300. Real property, £233,117. Pop. in 1841, 46,304; in 1861, 66,801. Houses, 12,962. The Earl of Stamford has about 2,030 tenants within the manor; and draws from it an income of upwards of £30,000. more...

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

Archives and libraries

Local Studies information is held at
Central Library,
Old Street,
Ashton under Lyne
OL6 7SG

They have made available a summary of the records, and finding aids that they hold.

Bibliography

The following books contain useful information about the history of Ashton and the surrounding area.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries and Crematorium,
Council Offices,
Wellington Road,
Ashton-under-Lyne.
OL6 6DL
Tel: 0161 330 1901

Census

Details about the census records, and indexes for Ashton under Lyne.

Church History

Church Records

You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Ashton under Lyne area that are recorded in the GENUKI church database. This will also help identify churches in nearby townships and/or parishes. You also have the option to see the location of the churches marked marked on a map.

If you keep this page loaded for a very long time and the database is updated since loading it, the church links above may become stale and may display the wrong church. If this happens, reloading this page will correct them.

Civil Registration

Tameside Register Office holds records of births, marriages and deaths since 1837.

Description and Travel

Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council provide a range of information about the town.

A description of the town with a good selection of pictures.

Directories

Ashton Trade Directory 1814

Ashton-under-Lyne 1832 inc. Dukinfield, Staly-Bridge, Hooley Hill and Neighbourhoods. extracted from Manchester & Salford Trade Directory 1832 by Gay Oliver.

Gazetteers

Ask for the gazetteer for a calculation of the distance from Ashton-under-Lyne to another place.

Historical Geography

In 1889 Stayley became part of Cheshire. In 1974 Ashton became part of Tameside Metropolitan Borough.

The division of Knott Lanes is bounded on the north by the parishes of Oldham and Saddleworth; by the division of Hartshead, in this parish, on the east; and by the said division, and the division of Audenshaw, on the south and west. It is in length from Birks, near Austerland in Saddleworth, to New Market below Taunton Fold, in the parish of Ashton-u-Lyne, about five miles: and in it's greatest breadth, from Boardmans edge to Fitton Hill, about two miles and a half. It contained about 1060 acres in 1618.
Taken from James Butterworths, Town and parish of Ashton-u-lyne,written in November 1823.

History

A description of Ashton under Lyne in the 19th century.

Ian Rhodes is providing an archive of The Way We Were section from the Ashton Reporter.

Maps

View maps of Ashton under Lyne and places within its boundaries.

Newspapers

Ian Rhodes provides extracts from the Yesterdays column in the Ashton Reporter Group of newspapers describing events that took place 50 and 100 years ago.

Poor Houses, Poor Law

The Workhouse site has an interesting description of Ashton workhouse.

Probate Records

For probate purposes prior to 1858, Ashton was in the Archdeaconry of Chester, in the Diocese of Chester. The original Lancashire wills for the Archdeaconry of Chester are held at the Lancashire Record Office.

Societies

The Manchester & Lancashire FHS.