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- source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Royton (pop. 21,284 as of 2011 UK census) has been since 1974 a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies by the source of the River Irk, on undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) north-northwest of Oldham, 3.2 miles (5.1 km) south-southeast of Rochdale and 7.6 miles (12.2 km) northeast of the city of Manchester.
Before 1974 Royton was located in the county of Lancashire. During the Middle Ages, Royton formed a small township centred on Royton Hall, a manor house owned by a long succession of dignitaries which included the Byrons and Radcliffes. A settlement expanded outwards from the hall which, by as late as 1780, "contained only a few straggling and mean-built cottages". Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving produced in the home and sold by agents.
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In 1764 a powered cotton mill was built at the hamlet of Thorp, providing Royton with the distinction of being the first locality to have one. It quickly went on to adopt the factory system of cloth production. The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Royton had emerged as a mill town. At its zenith, there were 40 cotton mills—some of the largest in the United Kingdom—employing 80% of the local population. The introduction of the factory system led to a tenfold increase of Royton's population in less than a century; from 260 in 1714 to 2,719 in 1810. As late the 1950s, 80% of Royton's population was employed in the textile mills. During the mid-20th century imports of foreign cotton goods began the decline in Royton's textile industry. Its last mill closed in 1998.
Today, fewer than a dozen mills are still standing, the majority of which are used for light engineering or as distribution centres. Despite an economic depression brought about by the demise of cotton spinning, Royton's population has continued to grow as a result of intensive housing redevelopment which has modernised its former Edwardian districts.
History
Royton does not appear in records until 1212, when it was documented to have been a thegnage estate, or manor, comprising twelve oxgangs of land, with an annual rate of 24 shillings payable by the tenant, William Fitz William, to King John, the monarch of the time. From William, who died in 1223, Royton passed to his son Thomas, who was still alive in 1254. Thomas's daughter Margery, who married Alexander Luttrell of Somerset, sold the majority of Royton and its outlying land to John de Byron in around 1260. It is from this exchange that the Byron family came to use Royton as their chief place of residence until the early part of the 17th century.
The early history of Royton is linked closely with what was then its manor house, Royton Hall, which was inhabited by the Byron family for over 350 years. During that period the Byrons' involvement in regional and national affairs added prestige to what was otherwise an obscure and rural township. John de Byron was a witness to the charter of incorporation of 1301, which elevated the township of Manchester to the status of a borough. A descendant of John—John Byron—served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1572, and was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1579. John served as Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire at the time of the Spanish Armada, and sourced infantry from Royton for the English army. His son, also called John, fought during the English Civil War on the side of the Royalists. His actions led to making him John Byron, 1st Baron Byron of Rochdale by way of a peerage granted by King Charles I. Following the regicide of Charles I, and the rise of Cromwellian England, Baron Byron's possessions, including his lands in Royton, were confiscated. Royton Hall was then purchased by Thomas Percival, a wealthy linen manufacturer whose descendants continued to occupy the hall until around 1814. The hall was then inherited by the Radcliffe Baronets.
Governance
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Royton during the Middle Ages formed a township in the ancient parish of Prestwich cum Oldham, and Hundred of Salford.
Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, Royton formed part of the Oldham Poor Law Union, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security. Royton first local administrative body was a local board of health established in 1863; This was a regulatory body responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation in the township. In 1871 Royton was noted as a large village-chapelry, and a sub-district of the Oldham Registration District. In 1879, a part of the neighbouring township of Thornham (near Middleston) was amalgamated into the area of the local board. Following the Local Government Act 1894, the area of the Local Board became the Royton Urban District, a local government district within the administrative county of Lancashire. In 1933, a part of the neighbouring Municipal Borough of Middleton was transferred to Royton Urban District.
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Under the Local Government Act 1972, the Royton Urban District was abolished, and Royton has, since 1 April 1974, formed an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, a local government district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.
Research Tips
- See the Wikipedia articles on parishes and civil parishes for descriptions of this lowest rung of local administration. The original parishes (known as ancient parishes) were ecclesiastical, under the jurisdiction of the local priest. A parish covered a specific geographical area and was sometimes equivalent to that of a manor. Sometimes, in the case of very large rural parishes, there were chapelries where a "chapel of ease" allowed parishioners to worship closer to their homes. In the 19th century the term civil parish was adopted to define parishes with a secular form of local government. In WeRelate both civil and ecclesiastical parishes are included in the type of place called a "parish". Smaller places within parishes, such as chapelries and hamlets, have been redirected into the parish in which they are located. The names of these smaller places are italicized within the text.
- Rural districts were groups of geographically close civil parishes in existence between 1894 and 1974. They were formed as a middle layer of administration between the county and the civil parish. Inspecting the archives of a rural district will not be of much help to the genealogist or family historian, unless there is need to study land records in depth.
- Civil registration or vital statistics and census records will be found within registration districts. To ascertain the registration district to which a parish belongs, see Registration Districts in Lancashire, part of the UK_BMD website.
- Lancashire Online Parish Clerks provide free online information from the various parishes, along with other data of value to family and local historians conducting research in the County of Lancashire.
- FamilySearch Lancashire Research Wiki provides a good overview of the county and also articles on most of the individual parishes (very small or short-lived ones may have been missed).
- Ancestry (international subscription necessary) has a number of county-wide collections of Church of England baptisms, marriages and burials, some from the 1500s, and some providing microfilm copies of the manuscript entries. There are specific collections for Liverpool (including Catholic baptisms and marriages) and for Manchester. Their databases now include electoral registers 1832-1935. Another pay site is FindMyPast.
- A map of Lancashire circa 1888 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time includes the boundaries between the parishes and shows the hamlets within them.
- A map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time is a similar map for a later timeframe.
- GENUKI provides a website covering many sources of genealogical information for Lancashire. The organization is gradually updating the website and the volunteer organizers may not have yet picked up all the changes that have come with improving technology.
- The Victoria County History for Lancashire, provided by British History Online, covers the whole of the county in six volumes (the seventh available volume [numbered Vol 2] covers religious institutions). The county is separated into its original hundreds and the volumes were first published between 1907 and 1914. Most parishes within each hundred are covered in detail. Maps within the text can contain historical information not available elsewhere.
- A description of the township of Royton from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1911
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