HOUGHTON (WEST), a chapelry in the parish of DEAN, hundred of SALFORD, county palatine of LANCASTER, 4 miles (E.) from Wigan, containing 4211 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with £400 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Dean. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. A free school was built by subscription in 1742, and enlarged in 1784; the present income is about £20 per annum, and thirteen children are educated free. The manufactur of muslin and jaconet prevails to a considerable extent: in 1812, a manufactory was burnt down here by the rioters on the Luddite system, four of whom were executed.