Astley is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is crossed by the Bridgewater Canal and the A580 East Lancashire Road. Continuous with Tyldesley, it is equidistant from Wigan and Manchester, both away. Astley Mosley Common ward had a population of 11,270 at the 2011 Census.
Astley's name is Old English, indicating Anglo-Saxon settlement. It means either "east (of) Leigh", or ēastlēah the "eastern wood or clearing". Throughout the Middle Ages, Astley constituted a township within the parish of Leigh and hundred of West Derby. Astley appears in written form as Asteleghe in 1210, when its lord of the manor granted land to the religious order of Premonstratensian canons at Cockersand Abbey.
Medieval and Early Modern Astley is distinguished by the dignitaries who occupied Damhouse, the local manor house around which a settlement expanded. The Bridgewater Canal reached Astley in 1795, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. The Industrial Revolution introduced the factory system when the village's cotton mill was built in 1833. Coal mining became an important industry.
Mining subsidence and a decline in coal production led to a reduction in the industry in the mid-20th century; its cotton mill closed in 1955, and the last coal was brought to the surface in 1970. Astley has grown as part of a commuter belt, supported by its proximity to Manchester city centre and inter-city transport links. Astley Green Colliery Museum houses collections of Astley's industrial heritage.
History
Toponymy
Astley is of Old English derivation, and means "East Leigh", a reference to its position in relation to Leigh. Leigh is derived from leah, meaning a "wood", a "clearing" or a "meadow". The earliest written record of Astley was in documents dated 1210 when it appeared as the Middle English Asteleghe. Other archaic spellings include Asteleye (1292) and Astlegh (14th and 15th centuries).
Early history
The earliest evidence of human activity in the area is the remains of a Roman road which served as the route between Roman camps at Coccium (Wigan) and Mamucium (Manchester). The road ran to the north of Astley, past Keeper Delph and through Tyldesley. Evidence for the presence of Anglo-Saxons in the sparsely populated, heavily wooded and isolated region is provided by place names incorporating the Old English suffix leah, such as in Leigh, Tyldesley, Shakerley and Astley.
Manor
Astley emerged during the Early Middle Ages as a township in the parish of Leigh. It was mentioned in documents in 1210, when Hugh of Tyldesley, Lord of the Manors of Tyldesley and Astley, granted land to Cockersand Abbey. In 1212, he was recorded as tenant of Astley Hall, the manor house for both Astley and Tyldesley, located just inside the Tyldesley township. After his death, his son Henry inherited the manors. He was succeeded by his son, another Henry, who, when he died in 1301, divided the lands between three of his six sons. It is from this division that the manors of Astley and Tyldesley were separated. Tyldesleys lived at the Astley manor until April 1353 when Richard Radcliff bought it for 100 marks. The Radcliffs remained there until 1561 when William Radcliff died childless and the land passed to his half-sister Anne, who married Gilbert Gerard.
In 1606 Adam Mort bought the manor house and land in Astley. He was a wealthy man who built the first Astley Chapel as a chapel of ease for the parish church in Leigh. The chapel was consecrated in 1631, the year that he died. He built a grammar school that stood for over 200 years until 1833, when it was demolished and rebuilt. Adam Mort's grandson, also Adam, rebuilt Damhouse in 1650 and his initials are carved in the plaque over the front door. The stone and timber structure was named from the stream which was dammed to supply water to a waterwheel powering a corn mill near the house. It is possible the hall was once surrounded by a moat.