Swinton, Greater Manchester

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For other places named Swinton, see the Swinton disambiguation page.

Swinton is one half of the town of "Swinton and Pendlebury", in the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. Not traditionally part of Salford it was, up until 1974, a borough in its own right. Since then it has become part of the council area of the City of Salford when the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester was created.

Notable buildings in the town include its town hall, built in 1938 which became the administrative centre of the City of Salford in 1974.

Swinton Lions RLFC were based in the town until 1992, when financial mis-management necessitated a relocation from the world-famous Station Road ground to play at Gigg Lane in Bury. Exposure of main creditor Hugh Eaves as a fraudster in 2002 put the future of the club in jeopardy and they spent a short time regrouping at Moor Lane in Kersal as tenants of Salford City FC. Since 2003 the Lions have played their home games in nearby Whitefield at Sedgley Park RUFC. The club has an impressive record in Rugby League considering the size of the town, in fact the clubs 6 Championships and 3 Challenge Cup wins betters that of their local rivals Salford City Reds.

Famous Swinton names include footballer Ryan Giggs (his father Danny Wilson played for Swinton Lions) and Tony Warren, creator of Coronation Street. Swinton Insurance was also born in the town.

It was once reported that Swinton has the greatest number of chip shops per capita in Britain.

Although parts of Swinton fall into many different council wards, the two main ones are Swinton North and Swinton South.

History

The name Swinton is said to derive from pig-rearing - an early form was Swynton.

During the Middle Ages, Swinton belonged to Whalley Abbey. Later, lands at Swinton were granted to Thurston Tyldesley of Wardley Hall. Documents record that certain areas belonged to the Knights Hospitallers.

In 1817 some Swinton weavers joined in the 'Blanketeer' demonstration and marched to London to put their grievances to the Prince Regent. In 1842 some Swinton people took part in Chartist agitations and tried to destroy a local colliery.

Sunday schools and libraries were established in Swinton at quite an early period. An Industrial School was visited by Charles Dickens. The school opened in 1843 and survived until the 1920s. During demolition of the school buildings in the early thirties, the foundations proved particularly difficult. Finally explosives were used, which resulted in a huge number of rats being disturbed. It was a number of weeks before council workers were able to remove the rats from the surrounding streets and houses. Huge nests of baby rats were carried out of the rafters of many buildings. The site was used for the present Town Hall.

External links

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