Atherton, Lancashire

Description
Atherton, a township and an ecclesiastical parish in the ancient parish of Leigh, Lancashire. The town stands about a mile E of the Bolton and Kenyon railway, 2 miles NNE of Leigh, and 13 WNW of Manchester. Part of the town bears the name of Chowbent, and it has a station of the name of Atherton on the L. & N.W.R., one at Chowbent on the same line, and a third, known as Atherton Central, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Manchester. The inhabitants are employed variously in cotton factories, iron works, nail factories, and collieries. Acreage, 2426; population, 15,833. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester; value, £215 with residence. Patron, Lord Lilford. The church was rebuilt in 1810, partly rebuilt in 1879, and completed in 1893. There are Baptist, Primitive and Independent Methodist, Wesleyan, and Unitarian chapels, Liberal and Conservative clubs a village club, public hall, a cemetery enlarged in 1888, and several schools.