View source for Ince-in-Makerfield

{{for|the former parliamentary constituency|Ince (UK Parliament constituency)}}
{{other uses|Ince (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country                  = England
| coordinates              = {{coord|53.5402|-2.5990|display=inline,title}}
| static_image_name        = Christ Church, Ince-in-Makerfield.jpg
| static_image_caption     = Christ Church, Ince-in-Makerfield
| official_name            = Ince-in-Makerfield
| metropolitan_borough     = [[Metropolitan Borough of Wigan|Wigan]]
| metropolitan_county      = [[Greater Manchester]]
| region                   = North West England
| constituency_westminster = [[Wigan (UK Parliament constituency)|Wigan]]
| post_town                = WIGAN
| postcode_area            = WN
| postcode_district        = WN1–WN3
| dial_code                = 01942
| os_grid_reference        = SD565005
| population               = 15,664
| population_ref           = (2011 Census)
| london_distance          = 
}}
'''Ince-in-Makerfield''' or '''Ince'''  is a town<ref>{{cite web|url=https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/ince-in-makerfield-wigan/|title=Ince-in-Makerfield, Wigan - area information, map, walks and more|website=OS GetOutside}}</ref> in the [[Metropolitan Borough of Wigan]], in [[Greater Manchester]], England. The population of the Ince ward at the 2011 census was 13,486,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/ince-e05000851|title=Ince - UK Census Data 2011|first=Good Stuff IT|last=Services|website=UK Census Data}}</ref> but a southern part of Ince was also listed under the Abram ward (north of Warrington Road in this ward).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/abram-e05000840|title=Abram - UK Census Data 2011|first=Good Stuff IT|last=Services|website=UK Census Data}}</ref> Adding on this area brings the total in 2011 to 15,664.

Within the boundaries of the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] of [[Lancashire]], Ince is contiguous to [[Wigan]] and is a residential suburb divided by a railway line into two separate areas, Higher Ince and Lower Ince.  From 1894 Ince was an [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|urban district]] of the [[administrative county]] of Lancashire and in 1974 became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.

==Toponymy==
The name ''Ince'' may be of [[Cumbric]] origin and derived from ''ïnïs'', meaning 'island' or, as is likely in this case, 'dry land' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''ynys'').<ref name="bliton">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan |title=A Guide to the Place-Name Evidence |url=http://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary.pdf |website=SPNS - The Brittonic Language in the Old North |access-date=25 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813011121/http://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Ince Public Hall - geograph.org.uk - 93743.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ince-in-Makerfield Town Hall]]]]
The earliest mention of the [[Manorialism|manor]] of Ince and the Ince family dates from 1202, at which point it was under the barony of Newton in Makerfield (Newton le Willows).<ref name=BHO>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp101-106|title=Townships: Ince - British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> There were four halls in Ince.  Both the manor of Ince and the original hall on Warrington Road were held by a family of the same name, who also owned the manor of Aspull and had close ties to the Hindley family.  The lineage was replaced by the Gerard family by marriage in the reign of [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]], who adopted the name Gerard family of Ince, and the manor remained with them for several centuries until William Gerard sold it to the Earl of Balcarres at some point between 1796 and 1825.  It was of [[timber frame]]d construction.<ref name=tde>{{citation |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=Samuel|title=Illington - Ingatestone |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51061#s19|work=A Topographical Dictionary of England |publisher=British History Online |pages=608–611|year=1848 |access-date=3 June 2011}}</ref> A branch of the Gerard family lived at New Hall from about 1600 until the line died out with marriage to the Andertons of Euxton, who adopted the name Ince Anderton and temporarily inhabited the hall from 1760 to 1818 before moving to Euxton Hall. The third, also known as Ince Hall, was originally a timber and plaster building built in the reign of James I off Manchester Road. It originally had a [[moat]], Italian chimneys and an oak panelled interior but in 1854 was heavily damaged by fire and rebuilt in plain brick of no architectural merit and modernised inside.<ref name=BHO/><ref name=vch>{{citation |editor-last1=Farrer |editor-first1=William  |editor-last2=Brownbill |editor-first2= J |chapter=Ince |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41387 |title=A History of the County of Lancaster, Volume 4 |publisher=[[Victoria County History]] |pages=101–106 |year=1907 |access-date=17 December 2012}}</ref> All three halls were still standing in 1911 but none remain today. [[Ince-in-Makerfield Town Hall]], designed by Heaton Ralph and Heaton, was completed in 1903.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dl_ghLUNVGsC&pg=PA73  |title=Lancashire: Liverpool and the southwest|first1= Richard |last1=Pollard|first2=Nikolaus |last2=Pevsner|first3=Joseph |last3=Sharples|year=2006|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300109108|page=73}}</ref>

The township covered 2,221 acres. The underlying rocks contained strata of [[cannel]] and [[coal]] and many collieries were sunk.  The early pits were 120 to 900 feet deep, and subsequently to 1,800 feet.<ref name=tde/> Its coal pits included Moss, Ince Hall, Rose Bridge and Ince Collieries. Mining left a legacy of spoil heaps and flashes. 
Stone was also quarried and used to build bridges on the railway. Ince became heavily industrialised in the [[Industrial Revolution]]. The [[Leeds and Liverpool Canal]], the [[North Union Railway|North Union]] and Liverpool and Bury railways passed through the township and a [[cotton mill]] was built.<ref name=tde/>

==Transport==
Ince is served by [[Ince (Wigan) railway station|Ince railway station]] on the [[Manchester to Southport line]], however to distinguish it from Ince & Elton in Cheshire.  On destination boards it is displayed as Ince(Manchester)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/INC/details.html|title=National Rail Enquiries - Station facilities for Ince (Manchester)|website=www.nationalrail.co.uk}}</ref>

Ince was once criss-crossed by railway lines on the [[London and North Western Railway]]'s Warrington to Wigan, [[Manchester and Wigan Railway|Eccles to Wigan]], Wigan to St Helens and Springs Branch to [[Haigh, Greater Manchester|Haigh]], and [[Aspull]] lines, the [[Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway]]'s Bury to Liverpool line and the [[Great Central Railway]] line from Glazebrook to Wigan (on which Lower Ince station was located, between 1884 and 1964), as well as local colliery lines.<ref name = "AshmoreP101">{{Harvnb|Ashmore|1982|p=101}}</ref>

The [[Leeds and Liverpool Canal]] passes through Higher Ince, and 16 of the Wigan flight of locks are within the township.<ref name = "AshmoreP101"/>

== Industry ==
Ince had a railway wagon works until 1980. First opened in the 1870s by Richard & John Olive, it became the Ince Waggon & Iron Works Co. in July 1883.  In January 1933 it came under control of the Central Wagon Company, who owned it until closure.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sambrook|first=Chris|title=British Carriage & Wagon Builders & Repairers 1839-2006|publisher=Lightmoor Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-899889-27-3}}</ref> As the need for new build wagons diminished in the 1960s, the company continued to repair wagons but also diversified to scrap redundant British Railways rolling stock (wagons and carriages) and steam locomotives.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Clarke|first=John |title=At Journey's End: The breakers yard, where locomotives, wagons and carriages meet ignominious destruction |magazine=Railway Magazine |volume=112 |date=June 1966 |pages=316–319 |issue=782 }}</ref> It is recorded that they cut up qty 315 BR steam locomotives from the mid to late 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RAILUK|url=https://railuk.info/steam/getscrap.php?id=30}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Greater Manchester}}
* [[Listed buildings in Ince-in-Makerfield]]
* [[St Mary's Church, Lower Ince]]
* [[Rose Bridge Academy]]
* [[Makerfield]]
* [[List of mining disasters in Lancashire]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{Citation |last=Ashmore|first=Owen|title=The Industrial archaeology of North-west England|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1982|isbn=0-7190-0820-4}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

{{Greater Manchester}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Unparished areas in Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Former civil parishes in Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan]]