Mossley, Lancashire

Description
Mossley, a market-town and a municipal borough on the mutual border of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the river Tame, the Huddersfield Canal, and the Manchester and Leeds line of the North-Western railway, under Hartshcad Pike, 3 miles NE of Ashton-under-Lyne, 10 from Manchester, and 188 from London. It was originally a hamlet of Ashton-under-Lyne parish, all within Lancashire; has risen since about 1840 into great manufacturing importance ; was placed under the provisions of the Local Government Act, and then denned to include portions of Micklehurst and Tintwistle townships in Cheshire and the entire tract of Qnickmere in Saddleworth township, W. R. Yorkshire. In 1885 the town was incorporated, and is now governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors, who also form the urban sanitary authority. The borough has a separate commission of the peace, and is lighted with gas from works purchased by the corporation in 1885. It includes suburbs called Mossley Bottom, Mossley Brow, Roughton, and Micklehurst; has several woollen factories, and extensive cotton mills; is supplied with water from Ashton and Stalybridge Waterworks; and has two railway stations (Mossley and Micklehurst), and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Manchester. There are in the borough the churches of St George, St John (Roughton), and All Saints (Micklehurst). There are also Roman Catholic, Congregational, New Connexion Methodist, Wesleyan, and Free Christian chapels, two banks, a mechanics'institute, and a Gospel temperance hall. A large mansion in the borough has been converted into a handsome and commodious town-hall. A public park and recreation grounds of 8 acres have also been laid out. The parish church of St George, erected in 1879-80, to take the place of an older church consecrated in 1757, is in the Decorated style; consists of chancel, nave, aisles, W porch, and a tower added in 1887 ; and has several memorial windows and a carved marble reredos representing the Last Supper. The Congregational chapel stands at Mossley Brow, and is a large and handsome structure. The Wesleyan chapel stands in Stamford Road, was built in 1867, and is in the Lombardo-Venetian style. The mechanics' institute was built in 1858, and is a commodious and well-contrived stone structure with a large lecture-hall and a library. The cemetery was formed at Micklehurst in 1875, and has two mortuary chapels. The market day is Friday. Fairs are held on 21 June and the last Monday in Oct. The chief residences in the vicinity are Apsley House, Highfield House, Rock Bank, Westhoime, Manor Lodge, and Valley Cottage. Area of the municipal borough, 3934 acres; population, 14,162. The Countess of Stamford and Warrington is lady of the manor. The ecclesiastical parish of St George was constituted in 1865, and is bounded from N to SW by the County Brook and the river Tame. Population, 7307. For parish council purposes part of the parish of St George outside the municipal borough was added to the parish of Hartshead. The living of St George's is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Rector of Ashton-under-Lyne. A handsome church (All Saints) was erected at Micklehurst in 1893. It consists of nave and chancel, and is in style a combination of Early English and Perpendicular.