Venue and date/time: We meet at 1.30-3.30pm on alternate Wednesdays at Monton Unitarian Church Hall.

The main focus of the group is nineteenth and early twentieth century history of the Salford and Manchester region. We have a few invited talks but most topics are presented by the members of the group. Some present materials that they have researched, others introduce the discussion by reading articles on items of forgotten local history.

Past topics have included ‘Haigh Hall’, ‘Queen Victoria’s 1851 visit to Worsley’, ‘Salford Pals’ and ‘Irwell valley coal mines’. The group has also visited the following historical sites over recent years: Ordsall Hall; Eccles Parish Church; All Saints Church Barton; Chetham’s Library and School; Styal Village and Quarry Bank Mill; the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum; Erddig Hall; and the Moravian Settlement in Droylsden.

Links you may be interested in:

• Cottonopolis – a Greater Manchester u3a network booklet
• Our Salford mills survey
• A gallery of photos from our 2022 trip to the Avro Heritage Museum and Bramall Hall

Past members of the group have researched and published a variety of books, which are listed below. Present members have completed a book entitled ‘A Brief History of Travel in Eccles, Barton and Patricroft since 1628’ which covers many of the events of the eighteenth and nineteenth century travel revolution, all within a few square miles of Lancashire. See Travel History Booklet by Mark Child for further information.

Other publications researched and published by the group are:

1. ‘Church St Eccles’ by Helen Whickham and other group members
2. ‘A walk around Barton’ by Doreen and Eddie Rowbottom
3. ‘Industrial History of Eccles’ by Ronald Britton
4. ‘A Chronological History of Eccles’ by Doreen Rowbottom
5. ‘Treasures of Eccles, Past and Present’ by Doreen Rowbottom
6. ‘Pendleton: the Rise and Fall of a Northern Township’ by Don Lingard
7. ‘A Brief History of Travel in Eccles, Barton and Patricroft since 1628‘ by Mark Child
8. ‘Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere’ by Mark Child

2022 programme

Date	Name	Subject
12 Jan		Christmas meal at George’s in Worsley
26 Jan	Rick McGarry	Local explosions
9 Feb	Mark Child	The Bridgewater Estates
23 Feb	Alan Corbett	Walkden Textile Mills
9 Mar	Sheila Thomas	Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee
23 Mar	David Roughley	A whistle-stop tour of Manchester City Centre
*5 Apr	Andy Scutt	Full-day outing to Avro Heritage Museum and Bramhall Hall (Note: this outing is on a Tuesday)
20 Apr	Hazel Walker and Marlene Walker	Mavis Hermione Sapple: a Salford childhood
4 May	Anne McGarry	Suffragists and Suffragettes in Manchester and Salford
18 May	David Astbury (guest lecturer)	Prince Albert: Consort and Manchester Man
1 Jun	Paul Sherlock	The roots of Salford’s Mayoralty
15 Jun	George Waterhouse	History of the County Palatinate in early maps
29 Jun	Alan Corbett	Eccles cakes, wakes and guisings
13 Jul	Andy Scutt	Full day outing to Saltaire
27 Jul	Betty Baker and Anne McGarry	Lancashire in wartime
10 Aug		No meeting
24 Aug		No meeting
7 Sep	Judith Gibson	Life as a Salford girl
21 Sep	Mark Child	James Nasmyth
5 Oct	Mary McBride	William Cowherd: a vegetarian pioneer
19 Oct	Andy Scutt	tba
2 Nov	Hugh Jones	A paranumismatic ramble around Salford and Manchester
16 Nov	Amos Millington	Manchester Cathedral and a history of its environs
30 Nov	David Pease	A famous opera singer died in Manchester?
14 Dec	David Roughley	Taking a look back at the reign of Queen Elizabeth II

2021 programme

at the Local Histories Festival, Oct 2021

You may also be interested in:

Our group is one of several members of the Salford Forum of Local History Organisations. You can access their website here for details of all the groups that belong to this forum, including the Eccles and District History Society and the Age UK (Salford) local history group who meet regularly in Swinton.

Anyone wishing to explore the history of our area may be interested in viewing the extensive collection of books, documents, photographs and newspapers at the Salford Local History Library.