Toponymy The derivation of the name is uncertain, but two suggestions have been proposed. The received one is that the
Eccles place-name is derived from the
Romano-British Ecles or
Eglys ( in
Welsh means 'church'), which in turn is derived from the Ancient Greek via the Latin. Following the arrival in AD 613 of the invading
Anglo-Saxons in Lancashire, many existing British place-names, especially rivers and hills (the
River Irwell for example), survived intact. The root
Ecles, found in several village names, could be an example of this. So, the suggestion is that the word denoted the site of a building, or a ruin featuring the landscape, which was recognised by the Anglo-Saxons as a church. Eccles would then have been a village founded around one such, and so
Ecles may be the likely source of the modern name. In Kenyon's
Origins of Lancashire (1991), however, the author casts doubt on the further suggestion that native British Church administration survived into Anglo-Saxon times, as there is not an exact correlation between
Eccles place-names and pre-
Domesday hundreds in south Lancashire.
Early history Pre-historic finds in the parish of Eccles include
dugout boats found at
Barton upon Irwell, an
arrowhead, a
spear and
axes at
Winton, which taken together appear to suggest the existence of a hunting and travelling society. Human habitation in the area may extend as far back as 6000 BC, with two separate periods of settlement on
Chat Moss, the first around 500 BC and the second during the
Romano-British period. The village may have been founded by refugees from Manchester (
Mamucium) during the
Diocletianic Persecution in the early 4th century, Throughout the
Dark Ages the parish appears to have been remote enough to be untouched by any local conflicts, while absorbing successive waves of immigrants from nearby towns. The
Manor of Barton upon Irwell once covered a large area; in 1276 it included townships such as Asphull, Halghton, Halliwelle, Farnword, Eccles, Workedele, Withington (latterly Winton), Irwelham, Hulm, Quicklewicke, Suynhul and Swinton. Before this date it would appear to have been even larger, but by 1320 the manor boundaries were described as "Tordhale Siche descending to Caldebroc, then to the pit near Preste Platteforde and then to another pit, then to the ditch of Roger the Clerk, then to the hedge of Richard the Rimeur, then following the hedge to Caldebroc." The manor was originally controlled by the Barton family until about 1292 when by marriage it came into the ownership of the Booth family, who retained it for almost 300 years. In 1586 the Trafford family assumed control of the manor, and established themselves in 1632 at Whittleswick, which was renamed
Trafford Park. The parish of Eccles contained the townships of Barton upon Irwell, Clifton,
Pendlebury, Pendleton and Worsley. Toward the end of the
Middle Ages the parish had an estimated population of about 4,000
Communicants. Agriculture remained an important local industry, with little change from the
Medieval system due to a lack of adequate drainage and fertiliser. No evidence exists to demonstrate the layout of the area, but it would likely have been the same as the surrounding areas of Salford,
Urmston and
Warrington where
oats and
barley would have been grown. Local
cottage industries included
blacksmiths,
butchers,
thatching,
basket weaving,
skinning and
tanning.
Weaving was popular, using linen and wool;
merchants traded in corn;
badgers bought and sold local produce. Although the local
gentry supported the
Royalists, the
English Civil War had little effect on the area. Troops would occasionally pass through the parish and there was a skirmish at Woolden, but the only other mention of local involvement was the burial of two (probably) local soldiers in 1643. In
Memoirs of seventy years of an eventful life (1852)
Charles Hulbert wrote: The principal employment of the working population of Eccles and vicinity at that time, was the manufacture of Cotton Goods on the home or domestic plan. These were not then, according to my present recollection, more than two Spinning Manufactories in Manchester, Arkwright's with its loft chimney, and Douglas's extensive Works, on the River Irwell, near the Broken bank ... At the period of my first residence in Eccles Parish, I believe the above Mills chiefly supplied the Weavers of Eccles and other parishes with twist for warps, which were purchased by the Master Manufacturers. in
Patricroft. The
Liverpool and Manchester Railway can be seen to the south of the building as it crosses the
Bridgewater Canal. During the early 19th century the growth of industry meant the majority of the area's inhabitants were employed in textiles or trade, while a minority worked in agriculture. The
factory system was also introduced; in 1835, 1,124 people were employed in cotton mills, and two mills used
power looms. Local hand-produced specialities included striped
cotton ticks, checks,
Nankeens and Camrays. Two cotton mills are visible on the 1845
Ordnance Survey map of the area. The area also became renowned for its production of
silk, with two mills at Eccles and one at
Patricroft. Many factory workers were children under 12 years of age. In 1830
James Nasmyth (son of
Alexander Nasmyth) visited the newly opened
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and on his return to Manchester noted the suitability of a site alongside the canal at
Patricroft for an engineering works. He and his brother leased the land from
Thomas de Trafford, and established the
Bridgewater Foundry in 1836. The foundry was completed the following year with a design based upon
assembly line production. In 1839 Nasmyth invented the
steam hammer, which enabled the manufacture of forgings at a scale and speed not seen before. In the same year the foundry started to manufacture railway
locomotives, with 109 built by 1853. Nasmyth died a wealthy man in 1890. mill alongside the
Bridgewater Canal in Winton. Built in 1906 by the Eccles Spinning and Manufacturing Company, the mill was demolished in 2010. The Eccles Spinning and Manufacturing Company came into being following a meeting called by the Mayor of Eccles, in which concern was expressed at the decline in local industry. Two earlier Eccles mills had been destroyed by fire, resulting in significant local unemployment. Designed by Potts, Son and Hennings of Manchester,
Bolton and
Oldham, it was opened in 1906. The imposing mill contained a multi-storey spinning mill, engine house and extensive weaving sheds. Early housing in the village consisted of groups of
thatched cottages clustered around and near the parish church. The influx of workers from areas around the village accompanied an increased demand for extra housing. Even after the establishment of the
local board of health new properties were often built in the gardens of existing dwellings, leading to severe overcrowding. In 1852 the streets were paved with boulders, sewerage was non-existent, and water supply was a local
well. During the latter half of the 19th century new housing was erected alongside the railway, and large areas of open land were soon occupied with new housing estates built for the area's more wealthy residents. The construction of the
Manchester Ship Canal provided many local residents with jobs; 1,888 people were employed on the section of the new canal at Barton. A stone aqueduct over the River Iwell dating from 1761 and designed by
James Brindley was demolished and replaced by a new moveable aqueduct: the
Barton Swing Aqueduct.
Post-industrial history Eccles was not immune to the general decline of the textile industry in the 20th century. The Bridgewater Foundry ceased operations in 1940, taken over by the
Ministry of Supply and converted into a
Royal Ordnance Factory. The factory closed in the late 1980s, and the land is now occupied by a housing estate. Eccles is included in the City of Salford's Unitary Development Plan 2004–2016 as part of the western gateway, a major focus for economic development during the plan period. Areas to be developed include the Barton Strategic Regional Site, Dock 9 at
Salford Quays,
Weaste Quarry near Eccles, and remaining land at Northbank, and the plan provides for improvements which include the
A57 – Trafford Park link at Barton and provisional support for a further expansion of the
Metrolink system through the area and a link between the A57 and
M62 at Barton. Under this plan the town's retail environment would also be maintained and enhanced. == Governance ==