In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Horwich like this:
HORWICH, a town, a parochial chapelry, and a subdistrict in Bolton district, Lancashire. The town stands 1 mile N of a station on the Bolton and Preston railway, and 5 WNW of Bolton. The railway station serves for it and for Blackrod, and has a telegraph. The town occupies the site of a Roman settlement; was a seat of cotton manufacture so early as the time of Henry VIII.; carries on now cotton spinning, bleaching, and dyeing; also conducts trade in connection with stone quarries, fire brick, tile, and terracotta works in the chapelry, and with collieries there and in the neighbourhood; and has a post office‡ under Bolton, a church, three dissenting chapels, a national school, and charities £392. ...
The church was rebuilt in 1831, at a cost of £6, 000; is in the pointed style; comprises nave and two aisles, with lofty tower; and contains a monument, by Westmacott, to Joseph Ridgway, Esq. Two of the dissenting chapels are for Independents; and one of these is a large and handsome edifice of 1855. The national school is a spacious structure of 1832.—The chapelry contains also the village of Wilderswood, and is in the parish of Dean. Acres, 3, 230. Real property, £15, 880; of which £170 are in mines, and £82 in quarries. Pop., 3, 471. Houses, 682. The Stoner family and the Rev. Henry Wright are the chief landowners. The reservoir of the Liverpool water works, a large sheet of water, is in the W. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £334. * Patron, the Vicar of Dean.—The sub-district contains also a township of Bolton-le-Moors. Acres, 4, 656. Pop., 4, 051. Houses, 803.
Horwich through time
Horwich is now part of Bolton district. Click here for graphs and data of how Bolton has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Horwich itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Horwich, in Bolton and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1083
Date accessed: 23rd April 2024
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