DENTON, a chapelry in the parish of MANCHESTER,
hundred of SALFORD, county palatine of LANCASTER,
3 miles (N. E. by N.) from Stockport, containing 2012
inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with
£400 private benefaction, £800 royal bounty, and £400
parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Earl
of Wilton. The church, dedicated to St. James, was
erected about 1530, and has portions in the early and
decorated styles of English architecture, with some
fragments of stained glass .in the windows. The Wesleyan
Methodists have a place of worship here. A free
school has been erected and is supported by subscription,
affording the means of instruction to about three hundred
children of Denton and Haughton. The village
probably derived its name from Dane-town, an etymology
countenanced by the appellations Dane-headbank and
Daneditch-bourne, places in the neighbourhood. The
manufacture of hats, both for home trade and exportation,
is carried on upon a very large scale; and coal is
obtained at several places within the township.