BIRCH, a chapelry in the parish of MIDDLETON,
hundred of SALFORD, county palatine of LANCASTER,
2 miles (W. N. W.) from Middleton. The population
is returned with the township of Hopwood. The living
is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese
of Chester, and in the patronage of the Rector of Middleton.
The chapel, dedicated to St. Mary, was built
by means of a parliamentary grant of £4000, and consecrated
December llth, 1828; it contains one thousand
sittings, of which five hundred and four are free. The
spinning of cotton, and the manufacture of gingham,
are carried on in this chapelry to a' limited extent.