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Baptisms |
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Atherton |
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Atherton had strong Puritan leanings and
supported Cromwell during the Civil War. An early industry in the town was the manufacture
of nails, which was continued by nut and bolt manufacturing in the 19th century.
During the 18th century handloom weaving was important, but Atherton suffered at the
beginning of the 19th century through power looms which put the weavers out of work. In
1812 groups of discontented weavers gathered at Flapper Fold and went in a mob to a new
mill at Westhoughton, smashing the machines and burning the factory. For this four people,
one a boy of 14, were hanged at Lancaster.
Later power-loom weaving came to Atherton, and in the middle of the century, coalmining.
One of the biggest ever pit disasters happened just outside Atherton on 21st December,
1910, when there was an explosion of fire damp in the Pretoria Pit. Three hundred and
thirty three men were killed, of whom 28 came from Atherton.
Noteworthy landmarks in the busy town center are Chowbent Chapel of 1722, the fine St John
the Baptist Church of 1879 - tragically damaged by fire in 1991.
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Bob Unsworth