TYLDERSLEY, or TILDESLEY, a district (parochial)
in the hundred of WEST-DERBY, county palatine of
LANCASTER, 2 miles (E. N, E.) from Leigh, containing
4325 inhabitants. In 1827, the township of Tyldesley
was erected into a district parish, as regards ecclesiastical
affairs. The living is a perpetual curacy, in
the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester, endowed with
£600 private benefaction, and £1600 royal bounty, and
in the patronage of Lord Lilford. The church, dedicated
to St. George, was erected by the commissioners
for promoting the building of additional churches, at
an expense of more than £12,000, and will accommodate
two thousand persons; it is a chaste and handsome
structure, designed by Smirke, in the later style of English
architecture, with a spire rising to the height of one
hundred and fifty feet, and was consecrated in September
1825. The site was presented by the late Thomas
Johnson, Esq.; and the munificence of George Ormerod,
Esq. has supplied the enclosure of the cemetery,
a peal of six fine-toned bells, three beautiful painted
windows, an organ, an elegant communion cloth, &c.
the communion plate was the gift of Mrs. Ormerod.
There are places of worship for those in the connexion
of the late Countess of Huntingdon, and Wesleyan Methodists.
The freehold of the village belonged originally
to the family of Tildesley; the present proprietor is
George Ormerod, Esq.: about half a century ago, its
population consisted of only three families; it is now
estimated at about three thousand individuals, and is
still increasing. The Leeds and Liverpool canal, which
extends also to Manchester, passes within two miles of
the place. Cotton-spinning is extensively carried on,
and affords employment to about one thousand persons;
the remainder of the labouring classes are employed in
weaving, in agriculture, and in the neighbouring collieries,
which are very considerable; there are several
cotton-mills, and one for the making of machinery. A
National school, erected in 1827, at an expense of
£ 650, on a site given by George Ormerod, Esq., adjacent
to the church, is a neat and substantial stone building
of two stories, calculated to contain two hundred and
fifty boys and as many girls: it is supported by subscription,
and by small weekly payments from the scholars.
A subscription library was established in 1828. Of the
several antique mansions in the neighbourhood, there
are considerable remains of Dam House, a very old brick
building, with bay windows and gables; and, near it,
the ruins of another, still more ancient: the site of
Shackerley Hall is surrounded by a moat.