HINDLEY, a chapelry in that part of the parish
of WIGAN which is in the hundred of WEST-DERBY,
county palatine of LANCASTER, 2 miles (E.S.E.) from
Wigan, containing 3757 inhabitants. The living is a
perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Chester, endowed with £ 400 private benefaction, £ 200
royal bounty, and £300 parliamentary grant, and in
the patronage of the Rector of Wigan. The chapel was
erected in 1651. There are places of worship for Independents
and Unitarians. A school-room was built
in .1632, by Mrs. Mary Abram; the master has a residence,
with certain land attached, £10 a year arising
from property vested in the corporation of Liverpool,
and two shillings and sixpence entrance money from
each pupil; the average number taught is thirty. Three
Sunday schools have been built, and are supported by
voluntary subscriptions. Here is a rare phenomenon,
called "The Burning Well," which attracts many visitors;
it is similar to that at Petoa Mela, near Fierenzota in
Italy, except that the flame of the Italian spring is perpetual,
in the absence of heavy rains, and consists of sulphuric
gas; while the inflammable principle of that at
Hindley is the decomposition of water acting upon ores
and sulphate of iron.