In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Astley like this:
ASTLEY, or East Leigh, a township-chapelry in Leigh parish, Lancashire; near the Bridgewater canal and the Manchester and Liverpool railway, 8½ miles W of Manchester. It has a station on the railway, and a post office under Manchester. Acres, 2,628. Real property, £11,967,-of which £5,000 are in mines. ...
Pop., 2,109. Houses, 437. There are collieries and a large cotton mill. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £250.* Patron, the Vicar of Leigh. The church is modern, and has been thrice enlarged There are a Wesleyan chapel, a free grammar school, a national school, and some small charities.
Astley through time
Astley is now part of Wigan district. Click here for graphs and data of how Wigan has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Astley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Astley, in Wigan and Lancashire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9845
Date accessed: 17th October 2024
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