Deane

Deane parish extended from Horwich in the west, through Westhoughton and the Hultons (Over, Middle and Little) to Farnworth and Kearsley in the east. It occupied an elongate belt of high land forming the south side of the Croal Valley, in which nestled the emerging town of Bolton. The Parish Church of St Mary and All Angels is at Deane, originally a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere (Rumworth to be precise), but now comprising the SW suburbs of metropolitan Bolton.

In an arc due north of Atherton were the Deane Parish settlements of Westhoughton, Over Hulton and Middle Hulton. Many Deane parishioners from these areas migrated down-slope to the south to live in Atherton, but retained links with Deane St Mary, especially for baptisms and burials. Prominent among them were the Yates, Eckersley, Higson and Partington families.

In the year 1541 His Majesty King Henry VIII granted by Letters Patent that the chapel at Deane should be deemed to be a parish church.

The ancient church at Deane - in common with most old churches- was built on the best site in the neighbourhood. It stood prominently overlooking a well-wooded dene- from which Deane takes its name- with the distant view of Winter Hill across the wide valley of the Middlebrook. The Church as you see it today dates back to 1452 (565 years old). It replaced earlier buildings on this site and traces of those can be clearly seen. For example the North doorway on our left, and the tower behind us are older than the present building. If you look closely at the tower wall you can see the 'pitch' of the roof of an earlier building. You can get a better look a little later in the tour.

We know that there must have been a church here in Saxon times because 'Kirke - brok' (the name given to the stream that flows through Deane Clough) is a Saxon word meaning 'Church brook'. Incidentally 'Dene' is also a Saxon word meaning 'valley'. However, very little is known of this earlier history. We have to wait until the Norman Conquest before we get our first official mention of Deane in the Doomsday Book of 1086.

Again it is tradition that tells of the chapel of Saynte Mariden being built in the year 1100- about the time that Eccles Church was built; but as the church at Eccles was the mother church of Saynte Mariden it would seem that the folk of Deane, in this instance, have been over-anxious to claim antiquity.

The parish of Eccles was divided into four quarters- Worsley, Barton, Pendleton with Clifton, and Deane. Deane too, was divided into quarters- Westhoughton; Over Hulton, Middle Hulton, Little Hulton; Farnworth, Rumworth, Kearsley; and Heaton, Halliwell, Horwich. The whole of Deane parish covered 20,103 acres.

The New Lancashire Gazetteer or Topographical Dictionary 1830

Dean, a parish in the hundred of Salford, 2 miles S.W. from Bolton. A discharged vicarage in the archdeaconry of Chester, value £4. Patron the lord chancellor. The village and church of Dean are situated in the township of Rumworth, in the population of which it is included. The parish is opulent and extensive, containing many flourishing establishments in various branches of the cotton manufacture, and several bleaching grounds. Here are also valuable coal mines. It contains the following townships :-

Inhabitants

Farnworth 2044
Halliwell 2288
Heaton 826
Hulton, Little 2465
Hulton, Middle 938
Hulton, Over 591
Horwich 2873
Kersley 1833
Rumworth 847
Westhoughton 4211

Entire population 18,916

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis,Vol.2,London,1831,p.14

A parish in the hundred of SALFORD, county palatine of LANCASTER, 1-3/4 mile (S.W.by W.) from Great Bolton, comprising the chapelries of Farnworth, Little Hulton, Horwich, and West Houghton, and the townships of Heaton, Middle Hulton, Over Hulton, Halliwell, Kearsley, and Rumworth, and containing 18,916 inhabitants.

The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, rated in the king’s books at £4, endowed with £527 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £600 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Crown.

The church is dedicated to St. Mary.

There are some dissenting places of worship and endowed schools at the different townships in this parish.

The year 1452 is given in Crockford's Clerical Directory as the date of erection of the present Deane Church

DEANE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Bolton-le-Moors, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 1 mile (S. W. by W.) from Bolton. It comprises the townships of Heaton, Middle and Over Hulton, and Rumworth, which constitute the district attached to the parish church; and Halliwell, Horwich, Little Hulton,and West Houghton, which are separate chapelries. Tillvery lately, it included also Farnworth and Kearsley,which now form a separate vicarage.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

DEANE, a village and a parish in Bolton district, Lancashire. The village stands near the Bolton and Leigh railway, 1¾ mile SW of Bolton; and has a post office under Bolton. The parish contains also the town ships of Kersley, Farmworth, Little Hulton, Middle Hulton, Over Hulton, Rumworth, Westhoughton, Heaton, Halliwell, and Horwich. Acres, 19,340. Real property, £157,633; of which £46,743 are in mines. and £642 in quarries. Pop., 35,746. Houses, 7,077. The property, in many parts, is much subdivided. Large part of the population is employed in cotton factories, bleachfields, and coal-mines. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £350 * Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is good, and was recently enlarged. The vicarages of Halliwell-St. Peter, Halliwell-St Paul, Westhoughton, Wingates, and Horwich, and the p. curacy of Peel or Little Hulton, are separate benefices. Marsh, the martyr, was a native and vicar.

Deane is an area of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England.[1] It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south west of Bolton and 11 miles (17.7 km) northwest of the city of Manchester.
Historically a part of Lancashire, the Parish of Deane was one of four parishes within the hundred of Salford and covered roughly half of the present Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The Church of St Mary on which the parish was centred was in the township of Rumworth.

The name Deane derives from the Old English word "denu" - meaning valley.[3] In earlier times Deane was written without the final "e".[3] The stream running in the valley to the west of the church was named the Kirkbroke - meaning Church Brook from the Saxon.[4] The valley is also referred to as Deane Clough, "cloh" is Old English for a ravine or deep valley.

Lying within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire since the early 12th century, the Parish of Deane was subdivided into townships in 1660. The ten townships were Horwich, Halliwell, Heaton, Rumworth (where Deane Parish Church is situated), Westhoughton, Over Hulton, Middle Hulton, Little Hulton, Farnworth and Kearsley.[13]
In 1837 Rumworth along with neighbouring townships (or civil parishes) became part of the Bolton Poor Law Union which took responsibility for the administration and funding of the Poor Law in that area.[14] In the 19th century many of the Deane townships became independent civil parishes and were merged into Bolton Borough. In 1872 part of Rumworth township became part of Bolton Borough, the remainder of Rumworth (which included Deane Parish Church) was renamed Deane township in 1894 and in 1898 it too was merged into the County Borough of Bolton.