Municipal Borough of Heywood

The Municipal Borough of Heywood was, from 1881 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, with borough status and coterminate with the town of Heywood.

1. Civic history

The first local government in the area was formed in 1864, when part of the township of Heap adopted the Local Government Act 1858. Heap Middle Division Local Board was formed to govern the town. In 1867 the area of the local board was enlarged by the addition of parts of the townships of Birtle with Bamford, Castleton, Heap Hopwood, and Pilsworth. At the same time it was renamed as Heywood Local Board. In 1880 the inhabitant householders of the area petitioned the privy council for the grant of a charter of incorporation under the Municipal Corporations Act. The request was successful and a charter was granted on 18 February 1881, constituting Heywood a municipal borough. A borough council consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors replaced the local board. Thomas Isherwood was elected first mayor of Heywood. The borough boundaries were altered in 1900 and 1933. The municipal borough was abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, with its area included in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, one of ten districts in the new county of Greater Manchester.

1. Coat of arms

The Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of Heywood were granted armorial bearings by the College of Arms on 14 May 1881. The blazon was as follows: Or five pellets between two bendlets engrailed the whole between as many mascles sable; and for a crest on a wreath of the colours in front of the trunk of a tree eradicated fessewise and sprouting to the dexter a falcon rising proper each wing charged with a pellet and holding in the beak a sprig of oak also proper three mascles interlaced Or. The arms were based on those of the Heywood family: Argent, three roundels between two bendlets all gules, Crest: a falcon rising from a tree trunk proper. In the arms of the borough, the colouring was changed form silver and red to gold and black. The heralds also introduced mascles or hollow diamond shaped figures. It has been suggested that these were intended to represent the coal and iron industries. The Latin motto of the Heywood family Alte Volo or "I fly high" was also adopted.

1. Borough council

The borough council was initially composed of a mayor, eighteen councillors and six aldermen. The borough was divided into three wards, with six councillors and two aldermen returned for each ward. The first town council was controlled by the Liberal Party, with Conservatives forming an opposition group. Although there were annual elections of one third of the councillors, these were uncontested in many years. In 1892 the first Labour members joined the council, when three aldermen were returned unopposed.

From 1905 borough elections were contested. The Liberals retained their majority, with the Conservative and Labour parties also represented in the council. A local act of Parliament promoted by Heywood Corporation in 1908, the Heywood Corporation Act 1909 (9 Edw. 7. c. cxxxi), increased the number of wards, councillors and aldermen. The size of the council was increased to thirty-six, consisting of twenty-four councillors and eight aldermen. No party held a majority on the council for many years. By 1949 the composition was sixteen Conservatives, thirteen Liberals, six Labour and one Independent. The three main parties were to have approximate parity on the council until 1958, when Labour gained control. The Conservatives and Liberals formed an anti-Labour alliance which took control at the 1959 election. The council then alternated between Labour (1963–1965), Conservative/Liberal (1965–1967) and Conservative (1968–1970) administrations. For the last four years of the council's existence, no party had a majority, with Labour the largest party from 1972.

1. References

Nearby Places View Menu

Heywood, Greater Manchester

Heywood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, on the south bank of the River Roch, 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Bury, 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Rochdale, and 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Manchester. Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the Cheesden Valley, open moorland, and the Pennines. The Anglo-Saxons cleared the densely wooded area, dividing it into heys or fenced clearings. In the Middle Ages, Heywood formed a chapelry in the township, around Heywood Hall, a manor house owned by a family with that surname. Farming was the main industry of a sparsely populated rural area. The population supplemented their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system. The factory system in the town can be traced to a spinning mill in the late 18th century. Following the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Heywood developed into a mill town and coal mining district. A period of "extraordinary growth of the cotton-trade" in the mid 19th century was so quick and profound that there was "an influx of strangers causing a very dense population". The town became a municipal borough in 1881. Imports of foreign cotton goods in the mid-20th century precipitated the decline of Heywood's textile and mining industries, resulting in a more diverse industrial base. The town was well respected for the quality of its cotton goods. The Queen Mother once visited Heywood in the very early 1900s to admire the cotton in its factories. Cotton from Heywood cotton mills was used to create the dress that she wore for her 50th birthday celebration speech. Heywood is close to junction 19 of the M62 motorway, which provides transport links for the large distribution parks in the south of the town. The 1860s-built 188-foot (57 m) tall Parish Church of St Luke the Evangelist dominates the town centre and skyline. Heywood was the birthplace of Peter Heywood, the magistrate who aided the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, whose family seat was Heywood Hall. Heywood has a station on the East Lancashire heritage railway.

Industrial Neighbourhood

Church of St Luke, Heywood

The Church of St Luke is an Anglican parish church on York Street in Heywood, a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active church in the Diocese of Manchester and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building. Designed by the architect Joseph Clarke and built between 1860 and 1862, the church has an 188-foot (57 m) tower with a spire that forms one of the town's most recognisable landmarks.

Church Landmark

428 m

Holy Family Roman Catholic and Church of England College

Holy Family RC & CE College (formerly St Joseph's RC High School) is a coeducational secondary school located in Heywood in the English county of Greater Manchester. It is a voluntary aided school administered by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford and the Church of England Diocese of Manchester. It was previously known as St Joseph's RC High School serving the Catholic population of the local area, however it became a joint-faith Catholic/Church of England school in 2007 and was renamed Holy Family RC & CE College. Holy Family RC & CE College offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Broadfield railway station

Broadfield railway station served the district of Broadfield in Heywood in Greater Manchester, England from 1869 until October 1970, when the station was closed and passenger services between Bolton & Rochdale were withdrawn by British Rail. The line through the station has since been reopened by the heritage East Lancashire Railway, although the station itself remains disused.

Historic Site Train