Shakerley | |
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Houses in Shakerley |
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Shakerley shown within Greater Manchester | |
OS grid reference | SD695035 |
• London | 170 mi (274 km) SE |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MANCHESTER |
Postcode district | M29 |
Dialling code | 01942 |
Police | Greater Manchester |
Fire | Greater Manchester |
Ambulance | North West |
EU Parliament | North West England |
UK Parliament | |
Shakerley is a suburb of Tyldesley in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It was anciently a hamlet in the northwest of the township of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, in the ancient parish of Leigh. The boundary between Shakerley and Hindsford is the Hindsford Brook. It remains the boundary between Tyldesley and Atherton. Hyndforth Bridge across the brook, was rebuilt in stone in 1629.
Shakerley is derived from the Old English sceacere and leah meaning the robbers woodland glade or clearing. It was recorded as Shakerlee in 1210. The ending "ley" denotes the area was once cleared of forest. Two old house names, "Higher Oak" and "Lower Oak", refer to the oak forest that once covered the area. Hindsford Brook, once the Goderic Brook, was named after a Saxon saint.
An ancient Roman road from Mamucium to Coccium (Manchester to Wigan) passed through the hamlet.
Shakerley was home to the Shakerley family who lived at Shakerley Old Hall, close to the Shakerley Brook and the old Roman road between Manchester and Wigan. It was not a manor house but a manor by reputation. Hugh Tyldesley endowed Cockersand Abbey with the hamlet of Shakerley in the early 13th century and the Shakerley family paid rent to the canons of the abbey and also paid dues to the Tyldesleys. The Shakerleys finally left the Old Hall in about 1520 and the family migrated to Cheshire. The last of the Shakerleys to live at Shakerley Old Hall, Hugh, was buried in Leigh and the hall became a farmhouse.
In 1646 the Royalist Geoffrey Shakerley was ordered to pay a fine and sequestration of his lands for his support of King Charles I. They included Shakerley Old Hall, land and the corn mill, and five nail smithies at Shakerley. In 1667 Shakerley Old Hall was a magnificent home containing the hall, cellars, brewhouse, buttery, dairy, dining room, parlour and various chambers. By 1742 it was home to a succession of tenant farmers.