Hindley, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
HINDLEY, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Wigan, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 3 miles (E. S. E.) from Wigan; containing 5459 inhabitants. The family of Hindley, then Hindele, held lands here as early as the reign of Henry II.: in the eighth of Richard II., Robert, of this family, married Emma, one of the heiresses of Pemberton; and the Hindleys were living at the Hall in 1613. The chapelry comprises 2527 acres, whereof 169 are arable land, and 2358 pasture: there is an abundance of excellent coal; and seven cotton-mills, worked by steamengines of 330-horse power in the aggregate, and having 78,370 spindles, afford employment to 1500 hands. The Liverpool and Bury railway has a station here. Hindley Hall, in the township of Aspull, yet near the village of Hindley, and now the residence of the Rt. Hon. Pemberton Leigh, is a massive brick edifice of the last century. Hindley Lodge is the seat of Richard Pennington, Esq.; and there is another seat, called Higher Hall. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Wigan; net income, £200, with a house. The chapel, dedicated to All Saints, is a large fabric, with a handsome cemetery. The tithes have been commuted for £298. 11. There are places of worship for Independents, Unitarians, and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel. In 1632 Mary Abram built a school, which has an endowment of £150; and a few other sums are appropriated to charitable purposes. Here was formerly a rare phenomenon, called the "Burning Well," which attracted many visiters. It was similar to that at Petoa Mela, near Fierenzota, in Italy, except that the flame of the Italian spring is perpetual, in the absence of heavy rain, and consists of sulphuric gas; while the inflammable principle of that at Hindley was, the decomposition of water acting upon ores and sulphate of iron. The working of the coal-mines exhausted this well.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 514-518. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51033 Date accessed: 01 July 2010.

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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