| Please
note, all links open in a new tab or window |
| Again sorted into broad
headings: |
|
General
Canals
Churches General
Church Websites
Cotton Industry
|
Genealogy
Magazines
Hatting
Maps
Railways
Workhouses |
| General |
|
| Pathé
News
Lottery funding has put 3,500 hours free to view
clips from 60 years of Pathé cinema newsreels.
An excellent site. The British
Universities Newsreel Database is an index of
160,000 newsreels from 1910 - 1979.
Victorian
Times
A general social history site that gives an insight
into what life was like in the 1800s. Or try the
Victorian
Web.
Victorian
London
Although this site focuses on the capital, much
of the information in the Victorian Dictionary is
generic.
Victoria
County Past
This project has been chronacling the history of
England's counties since 1889.
How
Much is it Worth Today
An online currency converter that will tell you
today's purchasing power of any sum from 1600 onwards.
Stockport
Flashback
A visual journey through more than a century of
evocative photographs from the archives of the Stockport
Express and Times.
Working Class Movement Library
A collection of book, periodicals, pamphlets etc
on the labour movement since the late 18th century.
Includes history pages, such as felt
hatting and the union label.
English Accents and Dialects
Excellent resource if you want to hear what Lancashire
dialect sounds like.
Local Heritage Initiative
A £25 million ten year project to support
local heritage initiatives, including an online
video library.
|
Vision
of Britain
A useful site funded from Lottery money that
paints a social picture of the UK based on information
from the censuses from 1801 to 2001.
Lancashire Coal
Mines
Lots of information about coal mining in the county,
including photos, maps colliery histories, Harry
Tootle's mining dictionary and a family history
research section. The site is compiled by Alan Davies
of the recently closed Lancashire Mining Museum,
Salford.
Mining
Deaths
A database of 90,000 mining deaths from 1850 to
1914.
Newspaper
Archives
The British Library is developing an online newspaper
archive which makes interesting general reading.
Please note that it only supports Explorer 5 for
Windows and Mac users and others are not welcome
at the moment!
Traveling
Families
Pauline Gashinski comes from a family of showmen
who toured the Lancashire of Victoria. She has compiled
an excellent site on this subject - fascinating
material.
England
at Work
This project has created a digital image resource
illustrating England's industrial heritage. Photographs
have been selected which illustrate a variety of
industrial themes: including agriculture, coal mining,
railways, textiles, tin mining, transport, windmills
and social history.
Manchester and Lancashire Bookshop
Mail order genealogy and local history books, including
the excellent range from Neil
Richardson.
Handwriting 1500 - 1700
An online course to help decipher old English handwriting.
|
| Canals |
|
Pennine
Waterways
Useful guide to the waterways in the area,
including a virtual
tour of the Ashton
Canal.
Canal
Junction
A comprehensive guide to canals in the UK
and their history, including the Ashton
Canal.
South
Pennine Ring
The South Pennine Ring (SPRING) consists of the Huddersfield
Narrow, Rochdale, Ashton
and the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canals plus the
Northern Section of the Peak Forest Canal. |
Portland
Basin Museum
Excellent free museum on the social history of Ashton,
based in the renovated Victorian warehouse.
Jim
Shead's Waterways
An encyclopedia of the canals and rivers of England
and Wales, including historical data, provided by
Jim Shead, waterways writer and photographer.
Inland
Waterways Association
Campaigning for the conservation, use, maintenance,
restoration and development of the inland waterways
including Ashton. |
| Churches |
|
Richard's
Church Albums
Photographs of churches from various parts of the
UK, including some of mine.
Find
a Church
Search for church contact details by town.
Glossop
Churches
Old and new photos of churches in Glossopdale
with some background information, construction dates
etc.
|
Old
Photos of Manchester
The Central Library has a collection of 80,000 photos
of Manchester available in digitised form, including
churches.
Church
Plans Online
The Incorporated Church Building Society was founded
in 1818 to provide funds for the building and enlargement
of Anglican churches throughout England and Wales.
It was the principal voluntary society for promoting
the building and restoration of churches throughout
the most active period of church building since the
Middle Ages.
The
Parish Clerk
The Parish Clerk by Peter
Hampson Ditchfield published in 1907 details the
duty of the post. |
| Church
Websites |
|
Churches
have been among the slowest institutions to have a
presence on the web, but that is changing. Here is
a list of links to some of the churches mentioned
on this site:
St
Michael and All Angels, Ashton
There has been a church on this site since before
the Norman Conquest.
Christ Church, Ashton
Consecrated in 1848 to serve the hamlet of Charlestown.
Albion United Reform Church, Ashton
Built in 1895 following a tradition if independent
worship since 1780.
St
Mark's Church, Dukinfield
The church of my childhood. Also includes St Luke's
where my parents were married.
Manchester
Cathedral
There is evidence of an early Saxon church on the
site from the Angel Stone, which was discovered embedded
in the wall of the original South Porch of the Cathedral
in the 19th century, and which has been dated to around
700. |
Brookfield
Unitarian Church, Gorton
Not the church's website, but a short history and
memorabilia site by Robert Siddall.
Hyde Chapel
The first church built in Hyde, its history dating
back to 1708.
Flowery
Field Church, Hyde
Opened in 1878 thanks to the generosity of the Ashton
family.
St
Mark's Church, Bredbury
No historical detail of this church which became a
separate parish in 1846 serving Bredbury and part
of Brinnington.
Chadkirk
Chapel
A beautifully restored 14th Century Chapel set in
the heart of Chadkirk Country Estate and Local Nature
Reserve.
St
Paul's Church, Compstall
Built in 1841 funded ny local mill owner, George Andrew.
St
Michael and All Angels, Mottram
There is evidence of a church on the site since 1225
and the present church dates from the end of 15th
century. |
| Cotton
Industry |
|
The
Cotton Industry
Many members of my family worked in the cotton industry
of south east Lancashire. Here you will find information
about life in the mills. The BBC has two games for
budding cotton entrepreneurs in Who
Wants to be a Cotton Millionaire and Muck
and Brass.
Spinning
the Web
Funded by New Opportunities money and produced by
Manchester City Council, this site tells the story
of cotton and its importance to north west England.
The
Cotton Industry: Its Growth and Impact
A paper by Stanley Chapman of the University of Nottingham.
Cotton
on Film
The BBC's contribution to the recording of the cotton
industry, inlcuding fascinating clips, such as the
closing of Reddish Mill in 1958, not far from where
I live, and Fred Dibnah demolishing one of the chimneys.
Cotton
Town
The rise and decline of the cotton industry in Blackburn
and Darwen.
King
Cotton
Cotton and the American Civil War. Also see this Louisiana
page. |
Cotton
Industry in Ashton
A history of why cotton was so important to the
town. You can also buy Ian Haynes book, Cotton
in Ashton, through the Tameside local government
site.
Quarry
Bank Mill
Very much worth a visit for anyone interested in learning
how the cotton industry developed and to see how mill
worked. It is very much water, rather than steam-powered,
but a hands on experience. The BBC has an animated
explanation of line
shafting in a spinning mill.
Cotton
in Manchester
Background article on the importance of the cotton
industry in the north west of England.
Cotton
Times
A useful cotton industry resource, including helpful
pages explaining Lancashire
dialect.
The
Open Door Website
A brief history of the cotton industry with links
to key inventors, such as Kay,
Hargreaves
and Arkwright,
plus a useful timeline.
GMCRO
Education Pack
Greater Manchester County Records education pack about
the cotton industry, a PDF of 1.3Mb. |
| Genealogy
Magazines |
|
Family
Tree Magazine
The site has a helpful toolkit including forms to
download, plus an online Soundex Code generator. |
Family
Chronicle
Mostly US based, I think.
Helm's Genealogy Toolbox
Premiered in 1995, the site now claims the largest
categorised lists. The usual annoying pop-up ads! |
| Hatting |
|
The
Hatworks
Based in Stockport, this is the UK's first and only
museum dedicated to hatting, a major industry in the
area in the 19th and 20th century. |
Tameside
History
A section of the local government website on the history
of Denton.
Hatting and Trade Unionism
Reference to hatting in Denton and the use of the
'union label.' |
| Maps |
|
Old
Ordnance Survey Maps
Ordnance Survey makes old maps available online with
a database that can be searched by address or postcode.
Electronic copies of the maps can also be bought online.
Modern
Orndance Survey maps are also available on their
main site. Alternatively, they can be found at Multimap,
along with aerial photographs, with a facility to
overlay the two. There are also links to many old
maps from around Lancashire and Cheshire on Rootsweb.
Bodleian
Library Map Room
An interesting site to visit. There is a non-frames
version, although this does not appear to have
been updated since 1998.
Godfrey
Edition Maps
These reprints of old Ordnance Survey maps can be
very useful. They are quite detailed and can even
help you identify an individual house.
Genmaps
Old and interesting maps of England, Wales and Scotland.
|
Cheshire
Tithe Maps Online
Excellent website if your ancestors owned
or rented land or buildings in Cheshire with this
searchable database of tithe maps, old OS maps and
contemporary maps and aerial photos.
Multimap
Modern maps with links to aerial photos.
Ashton-under-Lyne.com
Contemporary and historic information on the town,
including old maps.
John
Speed Maps
More old maps.
Scots
Maps
Maps of Scotland from 1560 to 1920, and Ordnance Survey
town plans 1847 to 1895.
Baedeker's Guide Books
Maps and town plans from around Great Britain from
about 1910, inlcuding Manchester. |
| Railways |
|
Dukinfield
Wagon Works
This site is dedicated to the Great Central carriage
and wagon works at Dukinfield. Opened in 1910 on a
30 acre site situated close to the main line from
Manchester to London. The site opened with lots of
new machinery plus some old ones from Gorton Works.
When opened it was one of the most modern in Europe. |
Glossary
of railway terms
From Absolute-block working to nothing under Z!
The Railways Archive
A free online archive of documents charting the development
of Britain's railways. |
| Workhouses |
|
www.workhouses.org.uk
Dedicated to the workhouse — its buildings,
its inmates, its staff and administrators, and even
its poets. Includes the full text of the 1601 and
1834 Acts.
Rossbret
Webring
An expanding repository of information that
includes workhouses,
asylums and other institutions. Includes a photo
and floorplan of Ashton
Workhouse.
Workhouse Children
Many mill owners would solve their workforce problems
by buying children from the workhouses. |
Five
Pence Per Day
Is the title of Gay Oliver's article on Ashton Workhouse.
Ashton-under-Lyne.com
Contemporary and historic information on the town,
including old maps showing the workhouse.
The Union Workhouse
A Study Guide for Teachers and Local Historians by
Andy Reid. Costs £10.95, although I haven't
read it, so can't recommend. This is an Amazon link
and you may have your preferred supplier.
Conditions
in the Workhouse
More on institutional life. |
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