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Sights in Horwich
Horwich is a town in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it is 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Bolton, 10 miles (16 km) east of Wigan and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Manchester.
The town had a population of 22,059 at the 2011 census.
Horwich is twinned with Thourotte in France and Wesel in Germany.
History
The name Horwich is derived from Old English and means “town on a hill”.[3] The town began to develop in the Middle Ages. It is pronounced “Horeitch” by locals.
Horwich Town Hall, completed in 1885, was designed by the architect George Woodhouse.
Governance
Horwich has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton since 1974. It previously was an urban district in the administrative county of Lancashire.
The local authority is Horwich Town Council. Unusually for a town of its size, Horwich has always had a town council, even after becoming an urban district, and it maintains many traditional local customs such as parade diabetes awareness walk, the Town Crier, the Beating of the Bounds and the Novice Showman competition.
Geography
Horwich is on the flat, lowlying land south of the West Pennine Moors. In the northwest, toward Rivington, the land consists of strongly acidic soils overlying a sandy substrate. Elsewhere the soils are neutral to slightly alkaline and derived from glacial till.
Climate
The climate of Horwich, like the rest of Greater Manchester, is temperate. The nearest Met Office weather station is at Rivington, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the northeast.
Demography
According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the ethnic makeup of Horwich was 97.4% White British, 0.7% White Irish, 0.5% White Other, 0.4% Mixed Race, 0.3% Indian, 0.2% Pakistani, 0.1% Bangladeshi, 0.1% Chinese and 0.1% African Caribbean.
Religion
As of the 2011 UK census, Horwich had a population of 22,059. Of these 74.6% identified themselves as Christian, 1.3% were Buddhist, 0.9% were Muslim, 0.8% were Hindu, 0.5% were Jewish, 0.4% were Sikh, 0.1% were Pagan, 14.0% followed no religion or did not state their religion and 8.5% did not answer the question on religion.
Landmarks
Horwich Heritage Centre, formerly Horwich Library
The main landmark in Horwich is Horwich Town Hall, opened in 1885. It was designed by the Boltonbased architect George Woodhouse and is in the Victorian Italianate style. It has been Grade II listed with Historic England since 1974.
Horwich Loco Works
Horwich Loco Works were built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1886. The works – situated on the west side of the town between Wigan Road and Longworth Street – built and repaired locomotives until closure in 1957. Portions of the site were reused by BAE Systems until 2010. There are plans to redevelop the whole site.
Transport
Public transport in Horwich is provided by Stagecoach in Greater Manchester, Diamond North West and First Greater Manchester. The majority of buses run to and from Bolton. There are also services to Wigan, Leigh, Chorley, Bury, Manchester, Rochdale and Lostock.
Horwich Parkway railway station opened in June 2004. It is on the Bolton to Preston Line and provides links with Manchester, Preston and Blackpool North. There are also regular buses to Manchester Airport.
There are several cycle routes in Horwich. The National Cycle Network Route 62 passes through the town, heading east to Westhoughton and Leigh and west to Belmont. The Trans Pennine Trail also passes through the town centre, heading north to Rivington and south to Walkden.
Education
Secondary schools include Rivington and Blackrod High School (formerly Rivington County Secondary School), Horwich Vale High School, Kirkby High School Sixth Form and Canon Slade School.
Primary schools includeBeacon Primary, Horizon Community College, Westhoughton High School, Blackrod Church of England Primary School, Brownlow Fold Primary School, Daisyfield St Paul’s CofE Primary School, Horwich Parochial CofE Primary School, Lee Moor Primary School, Lostock Hall Academy, Markland Hill Methodist Primary School, Rivington and Blackrod
History of Horwich
Horwich is a town in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southwest of Chorley, 5.8 miles (9.3 km) northeast of Bolton, 10.8 miles (17.4 km) northwest of Manchester and 20.9 miles (33.7 km) southeast of Preston. It is separated from Westhoughton by the M61 motorway.
The town of Horwich is recorded in the Domesday Book as ” Houuedech “, meaning ” oxhouse “. It is thought that the name refers to a farmstead where oxen were kept or may be derived from the Old English ” hoh ” meaning a hillock or high place.
Horwich Priory was founded in 1219 by Robert de Holland. The priory was home to a community of Augustinian Canons and remained in operation until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. At the Dissolution, the priory lands were given to Sir Thomas Holcroft.
Horwich Moor, the site of the former priory, was enclosed in 1824 and used for mining. In 1838, a railway was built from Bolton to Horwich, which was extended to Rivington in 1848. This made Horwich an attractive location for industry, and by the end of the 19th century the town was home to several engineering firms.
During the Second World War, Horwich was again home to a PF camp, this time No. 55, on the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory.
In recent years, Horwich has become a commuter town for Bolton and Manchester. However, the town still has a number of light engineering and manufacturing businesses.
Vacation in Horwich
Horwich is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Chorley, 7.8 miles (12.6 km) northwest of Wigan and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) northwest of Manchester.
The town, which includes the civil parishes of Horwich and Westhoughton, had a population of 26,663 recorded in the 2011 census.
A former market town, Horwich developed rapidly as a mill town during the Industrial Revolution in the late18th and early19th centuries. The town’s rapid growth helped to absorb the neighbouring village of Blackrod, which at the time of the 1851 census had a population of 1,046.
The town is twinned with ThononlesBains in France and Molfetta in Italy.
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