A SHORT HISTORY OF WINSTANLEY HALL AND ESTATE
The Winstanley Family
Originally, the areas of Billinge and Winstanley were combined as one manor in the Barony of Makerfield. They were later split into two separate Manors. The Winstanley family held the Manor of Winstanley from at least the year 1252. In 1560, Edward Winstanley abandoned the old manor house, the site of which is still marked by its moat, to have a new hall constructed in the style of Birchley and Bispham Halls. This became the core if the present Winstanley Hall.
Moated manor houses became very common in the 1400’s. At this time there was much lawlessness; bands of outlaws roamed the land attacking and robbing wealthy landowners. There were also many feuds between neighbouring families, leading to attacks and the looting of properties. A property with a moat and only one crossing point was a lot easier to defend by household staff or a small group of soldiers.
Winstanley Estate is situated on the edge of a hill with a commanding distant view of Wigan, Haigh Hall and Rivington Pike. Also in the distance can be seen a range of the Yorkshire hills.
The earliest recorded coal mine in the Winstanley area dates back to about 1507, two years before the death of King Henry VII. When Sir Thomas Winstanley died in 1562 he had made provision in his will for the profits from the Winstanley Colliery, the sum of twenty pounds, to be paid to his wife and to be used for the benefit of his children. When the estate was sold in 1595 the list of tenants included ‘William Barton of the coal pits’.
The Bankes Family
In 1595, a goldsmith and banker, James Bankes, bought the Hall, which then remained in that family until quite recently. The chief commercial activities of the estate as listed in 1595 were agriculture, coalmining, nailmaking and domestic weaving. In 1615 the Winstanley Manor Courts were held at the ‘Bare Ring Ale House’ at the Windy Arbour crossroads, opposite the stocks and whipping post. At that time, the inn acted as the administrative centre of the Manor. The ‘Court of James Bankes’ heard mainly minor cases; the majority being of ‘Unlawful Gaming’. James Bankes died in 1617; he was buried in Wigan Parish Church on August 5th of that year.
William Bankes (1709 – 75) inherited the Estate in 1748 from his brother Robert. His son William succeeded him on his death in 1775. In that year the Winstanley Colliery was valued at over two hundred pounds.
In the Winstanley Colliery accounts for October 1776 it is recorded that there were five colliers employed at the Moorley Pit, four at the Lime Piece Pit, one at the Salterley Pit and three sinkers employed sinking a new pit.
The day wages at Winstanley Collieries in 1776 varied from 8d for a boy, 10d to 1s-1d for a youth and 1s-2d to 1s-4d for men. Those getting the higher rate were probably the better workers. The accounts also show that the Moorhey Pit produced 33 – 73 tons of coal per week with a face output of 44 – 60 cwt per man per shift, and the Lime Piece Pit produced 24 – 90 tons per week with a face output of 40 – 60 cwt per man per shift. These two pits produced profits of four to fifteen pounds per week during 1766. Development costs of more than three pounds for two other pits, sinking another pit and driving a sough etc had to be deducted from these profits.
The Winstanley colliers were allowed to work the pits once a year, for a whole week, without any payment of wages, for the production of their own ‘fire coal’, or ‘concessionary coal’. This happened at Michaelmas, when they were hired or rehired.
At Moorhey Pit the miners got 7tons 10cwt each and ‘like amount’ was shown as being ‘spent at hiring’. The miners at Lime Piece Pit got the same amount each but only 6tons was ‘spent at hiring’. The miners at Salterley Pit were engaged in ‘opening out’ and ‘development work’, they received over 7tons of coal each and 6tons ‘spent at hiring’.
The ‘fire coal’ was worth about three weeks wages to the miners and apart from the coal, 2s - 6d was paid to each miner when he was hired. On Good Friday, which was a holiday, the men and lads each received 3d.
In 1766 the annual output of the Winstanley pits was between 3500 and 5000 tons of coal. By 1799 the output had risen to 8030tons. This pattern of work continued at the ‘Old Winstanley Pits’ until, in the 1840s, they were eventually exhausted. By then Meyrick Bankes had already sunk four new pits in the area east of the Croppers House Fault.
In 1788 the Bankes family erected a stone building with a pyramid style roof on top of Billinge Hill, to be used as a summerhouse for Winstanley Hall. That building, now without the pyramid roof, still stands on Billinge Hill. Fire damage from the 1935 Silver Jubilee bonfire damaged the original roof.
Anne Bankes of Winstanley, who married Hugh Holme of Holland House in 1731, was the sole heiress of her father, brothers and nephew. Her eldest son, Thomas Holme, was William Bankes’ cousin and he inherited the Winstanley estate on the latter’s death in 1800. There was an attempt by the Isle of Man branch of the Bankes family to lay claim to the estate upon William Bankes’ death, but this claim came to nothing.
Thomas Holme died in 1803 and was succeeded by his son Meyrick, who, under the terms of William Bankes’ will, changed his name to Bankes and took up the Bankes’ family Coat of Arms. The UpHolland and Orrell Collieries of the Holme family, and those at Winstanley belonging to the Bankes family, all came under the ownership of the one family. This made the Bankes family one of the largest landowners in the area.
In 1792 William Bankes had leased coal seams under the Winstanley estate to John Clarke of Orrell. The lease was extended in 1812. A statement of coal worked up to April 1846 shows that 102 acres 3 roods 40 square yards had been worked under the 1812 lease. This had yielded £31,832 in royalties for the Bankes family. The statement also shows that £1000 was paid to the Bankes as compensation for ‘wagon roads, coal pit brows, roads and other trespass, the land not being made arable as required by the lease.
Ian Gregson comments on the Winstanley area in his ‘Portfolio of Fragments’ published in 1817. He says:
Winstanley Hall is pleasantly situated on a hill with commanding distant views. Not far hence are two chapels under Wigan, Billinge and Holland. Billinge is about one mile and a half south and Holland church or priory the same distance northwest. Vast quantities of coal are raised in the district, which is very populous. Most excellent nails, screws and hinges are made in this neighborhood where there are also many weavers.
Meyrick Bankes snr died in 1827 at Cromwell House, Old Brompton Road, London and
was succeeded in turn by his son, also called Meyrick (1811 – 1881).
In 1834 – 1835 Meyrick Bankes made a survey of the properties that belonged to him in Winstanley, Orrell, Pemberton, Billinge and UpHrolland. At this time he owned about a quarter of the land in all five townships. He later extended his holdings by buying the following estates; Bispham Hall, Norley Hall and Hawkley Hall. The Bankes family also owned estates in Yorkshire and in Scotland.
In the 1834 – 35 survey, the soil of the Winstanley area is described as ‘sandy mixed with clay in places with sandstone rock not far from the surface’. The estates farm’s main crops at the time were oats, potatoes, hay and wheat. Also being grown on the estate were clover, beans, peas and turnips. A considerable amount of land was also given over to pasture and meadow with many small woods.
Included in the buildings mentioned in the 1834 – 35 survey were various workers small cottages. It stated:
There are six dirty, nasty cottages that should come down, twelve dirty cottages, eighteen small cottages with one small bedroom, twenty-six with two or more bedrooms and thirteen good comfortable cottages. Some of those with one bedroom had a parlour as well as a buttery.
The Ordnance Survey map for 1845 clearly shows an area called ‘New Houses’. These cottages date back to about 1800 and may be some of those mentioned in the Bankes survey.
The cottages were in rows of about ten. The picture of the ‘Upper Row’ of cottages shows what they were like in the late 1800s. The row shown was demolished a few years ago. In the remaining row, numbers 134 – 152 Pemberton Road, I live at 138. There was a communal well in the front garden of 140. It was used by the rest of the row to draw fresh water before the cottages had indoor plumbing.
The cottages have two quite large buildings, about 30ft by 10ft, and 20ft by 10ft in their back garden area. These were used as washhouses for the inhabitants of the Row. The area backs onto ‘New Houses Farm’, which was probably built at the same time as the ‘Rows’. The land has recently been sold and now awaits development.
Also on the 1845 map is the ‘Bankes Mineral Railway’. This can be clearly seen starting at the Winstanley Collieries and ending at ‘Bankes Pier’ on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. A little known fact is that the famous ‘Wigan Pier’ was probably originally the ‘Bankes Pier’.
The original tramway serving Bankes’ Pier was built in the early 1820s for Thomas Claughton, linking Stone House Colliery in Goose Green with the coal tippler on the canal, near the Wallgate basin. By the 1840s the railway line, the pier and Stone House Colliery had all been acquired by Meyrick Bankes.
The following extract comes from the Wigan Observer of March 3rd 1965 and gives a fascinating insight into the history of the pier.
The exact location of the famous ‘Wigan Pier’ is still a matter of considerable controversy; the best information pinpointing the location comes from the history book ‘A Nineteenth Century Colliery Railway’. The book was written by Mrs Joyce Bankes of Winstanley Hall, granddaughter of Meyrick Bankes, who built the railway to transport coal from his mines at Winstanley to Wigan.
The fact that Meyrick Bankes’ railway ended at Wallgate basin on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Wigan is not conclusive proof that the railway terminus was Wigan Pier, but it is reasonable to suppose that it was so. The landing stage at Wallgate basin may have been called ‘Wigan Pier’ before the Bankes’ mineral railway was completed in 1845, the Wigan canal link had been built 71 years before. Records show that sailing trips were being held on the canal before 1845, with the Wallgate basin being their starting point.
Mrs Bankes wrote in her book:
The opening of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway line in 1830, 56 years after the construction of the canal, and the connecting Newton to Wigan extension a year later opened up the Wigan coalfields and stimulated a variety of trades which had been encouraged by the canal.
Among the trades referred to were pottery, earthenware, iron mills and corn mills. The focal point for activity was a small area of land between Wallgate and the River Douglas. Here wound the Leeds and Liverpool canal with its convenient Wallgate basin. A pier head, well placed for canal transport, had already attracted colliery proprietors and the possession of a coal wharf was deemed to be extremely desirable.
On the death of his father in 1827 Mryrick Bankes set his hand to the expansion of his collieries. After protracted negotiations for various rights of way, and a rebuff from Mr Blundell Hollonghead concerning the use of his tram road from Pemberton Collieries, he found it more and more urgent to find a convenient outlet for his Winstanley coal
Along with his agent, Thomas Tebay, Meyrick Bankes took the first steps towards building his own railway in 1836. In that year, Mr. E Stanley, a Liverpool surveyor, produced a plan and section for a railway from Winstanley to Wigan on his behalf. A large part of the route crossed land belonging to Mr Bankes but he had to negotiate with seven other landowners in adding to the trustees of the Warrington – Wigan Turnpike Road. Many difficulties were overcome.
The length of Stanley’s 4ft gauge line, starting from Mr Bankes’ No 2 pit and ending on the canal wharf at Wigan, was stated in his own plan to be 3791 yards.
The system of transportation at Winstanley was a combination of inclined planes and horse power. Transportation of coal on private railways was obviously a matter of general interest in the early part of the 19th century.
In 1828 the Liverpool Mercury published a description of a horse wagon or ‘dandy cart’ for use on mineral railways:
It was a two-wheeled truck boarded up on two sides and hitched to the back ok the train of wagons. Two or more horses rode on the truck and were destined to pull the empty wagons back up the inclines to the collieries. The train carrying coal to Wigan, made up of six to eight wagons, was operated by two brakemen. Each wagon had a door at the front ready to run on to the tippler and a long handled brake fitted with a wooden shoe. In addition there were two horse wagons with their accompanying horsemen in readiness for pulling the empties back up the line.
Mrs Bankes adds in her historical notes:
In 1842, it is indicated by account book entries that the total length of rail, approximately three and a half miles from No 4 pit to Wigan pier head, was completed in 1845. Meyrick Bankes and Thomas Tebay, his agent, were justly proud of the success of the railway scheme, brought to fruition in the face of many difficulties and much opposition from rival coal owners.
The railway’s final route was from Winstanley Colliery to Winstanley No 3 Colliery then on to Clapgate Pit, down to Stonehouse Colliery and finally to the canal. In 1929 the pier was no longer needed, it was demolished by Calderbanks and the metal work sent for scrap.
Near the Winstanley Hall estate, on Billinge Road, was a public house called ‘The Pony Dick Inn’. It was named after the favourite white pony of Meyrick Bankes. The pony died in 1841, aged 36, and was buried near to the Hall. The gravestone can still be seen there today. The public house was originally called ‘The Horse and Jockey’ before William Starkey changed the name when he became landlord.
In 1856 Meyrick Bankes sank the Winstanley No 5 pit at Windy Arbour. It was a basket winding pit and went down to two of the best coal seams in the area, the Orrell 4ft and the Orrell 5ft.
WINSTANLEY’S FULL LISTING IN THE FIRST WIGAN DIRECTORY, 1869.
WINSTANLEY township, which comprises an area of nearly three square miles, is surrounded by the townships of Orrell, Pemberton and Billinge. It is mostly occupied by the Park of Meyrick Bankes Esquire, whose residence, Winstanley Hall, is within it. There are coal pits in the eastern part of the township. There are neither public houses nor schools within its boundaries, though access is easy to the neighbouring townships.
The population in 1861 was 633, or about one person to every three acres.
Chadwick Green is partly in Winstanley and partly in Billinge.
Abbott, John farmer
Alker, Robert farmer
Ashall, Ann farmer
Ashall, Mary farmer
Ashton, James farmer
Bankes, Meyrick esq Winstanley Hall
Barton, William farmer
Cliff, John farmer
Daniels, Thomas nail manufacturer
Davenport, John farmer
Dearden, Edward farmer
Dearden, William farmer
Ellison, Edward farmer
Fairbrother, William farmer
Fairclough, William farmer
Fouracre, Samuel farmer
Halliwell, Thomas gamekeeper
Hodson, James and Co farmers
Laithwaite, Sarah farmer
Latham, Thomas farmer
Longton, James corn miller
Moyers, James farmer
Nicolson, John farmer
Nicolson, Peter farmer
Shortrede, Thomas agent to Mr Bankes, coal proprietor
Tasker, Thomas farmer
Turner, Henry Farmer and stone quarry master
Town Surgeon Mr J L Molyneux
Relieving Officer Richard Wright
Assistant Overseer John Birchall
Inspector of Nuisances William Nickson
Registrar J Baynes, Lamberhesd Green
Meyrick Bankes esq was also listed as a County Magistrate
WINSTANLEY POPULATION CHART
- 631
1821 800
- 675
- 633
- 602
- 545
- 564
These figures are taken from the Borough Census Reports.
The population of Winstanley, scattered over 1852 acres, was fairly static. The rise from 1801 to 1821 may be due to increased coal production during the war with France and the increased industrialisation of the Wigan area.
A few strange things happened at Winstanley Hall. Mrs Shortrede, wife of the estate agent Thomas Shortrede, was found drowned in a well in Winstanley Park on 10th August 1880. Shortly afterwards the estate’s mason’s wife hanged herself at the straw yard and quite soon after this, Thomas Shortrede shot himself. What went on? No one seemed to know or, more likely, no one was saying.
Meyrick Bankes spent a lot of the money he earned from his collieries on remodelling and extending Winstanley Hall.
The Hall recently appeared on the ‘English Heritage’ list of buildings at risk. The Hall is described as being ‘in immediate danger of further rapid deterioration’. It was kept in reasonable condition after the last resident, Captain James Bankes, died in 1984. More recently, a badly leaking roof and rampant rot have taken their toll on the old Hall and the outbuildings have not fared much better. The Hall, outbuildings included, boasts upwards of seventy rooms, many of them quite large. The size has been something of a hindrance to Tim Bankes, the present owner of the Hall, in his plans to convert the buildings into flats. Limitations have also been placed on redevelopment by the building’s Grade Two listed status.
Mr Bankes had a feasibility study carried out on the property which stated that up to five million pounds would be required to renovate and convert the Hall and its outbuildings into apartments.
In the year 2000 Dorbcrest acquired the property, they hope to retain the wood panelled walls and Victorian bulls-eye windows when they carry out the work required to make it into thirty-five high quality apartments.
The plans are in abeyance at the time of writing because planning permission has been refused on the grounds that the size of the ground floor rooms could not be altered and the redevelopment would change the appearance of the Hall too much. This would not be in keeping with its Grade Two Listed status.
If the buildings become too hazardous, Wigan Borough Council could order the owners to carry out basic repairs or issue a compulsory purchase order and buy the Hall.
Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council’s conservation officer commented:
Because of the nature of the Hall – which has a large number of rooms – it is quite difficult to convert without altering the look. It is one of the Borough’s most significant houses and it is in the green belt, which makes it problematical for certain uses. But we will certainly look at proposals to save it.
What the future holds for Winstanley Hall and its 470-acre estate is not too clear. Hopefully it will remain intact and not be developed too much. Maybe one day the Hall and its grounds will be open to the public so that everyone will be able to enjoy them.
Bibliography of Works Consulted
The Internet Various sites
O.S.Maps
D Anderson The Orrell Coalfield, Lancashire 1740-1850
R Blakeman Wigan. A Historical Souvenir
G Shryhane Wigan Hotpot
J Bankes The Early Years of the Bankes Family at Winstanley
J Bankes Historical Notes on the Bankes Family
I have made use of the Archive Department of the ‘Wigan History Shop’
A G Mitchell
March 2001