Patricroft

Coordinates: 53°28′48″N 2°21′04″W / 53.480°N 2.351°W / 53.480; -2.351

Patricroft
Patricroft  Patricroft shown within Greater Manchester
OS grid reference	SJ767982
Metropolitan borough	City of Salford
Metropolitan county	Greater Manchester
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MANCHESTER
Postcode district	M30
Dialling code	0161
Police	Greater Manchester
Fire	Greater Manchester
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Salford and Eccles
List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester

Patricroft is a district, which along with Peel Green and Barton upon Irwell forms the western end of the town of Eccles, in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The distinct boundaries between the three areas are today indistinguishable.

History

Patricroft may derive its name from 'Pear-tree croft', or more likely, 'Patrick's Croft'. In 1836, James Nasmyth, in partnership with Holbrook Gaskell, built the Bridgewater Foundry in Patricroft. The foundry soon expanded to become a major supplier of steam locomotives. During World War I the factory's production was mainly diverted to munitions work. At the start of the Second World War it became a Royal Ordnance Factory, producing shells, tanks and guns. The engineering works closed in 1989: the site is now part of a business and technology centre.

The area was administered by the municipal borough of Eccles in the administrative county of Lancashire until both were abolished in 1974.

Churches

• Christ Church

Christ Church on Liverpool Road is the Anglican Parish Church of Patricroft. Construction was begun by the Rev Samuel Dale, curate at Eccles and later first Vicar at Patricroft. The church was built to seat 750 worshippers and was designed by John Lowe, it was opened circa 1868.^[1]

• The Holy Cross

The Church of the Holy Cross at Patricroft Bridge is the Roman Catholic Parish Church of Patricroft. It was opened in 1961.^[2]

• The Patricroft Methodist Church

The Patricroft Methodist Church (technically located in Peel Green) on the corner of Alexandra Road and Liverpool Road came into being from the merger of the Trinity Methodist Church and the Ebenezer Methodist Church in 1964.^[3] A new church was opened on the Trinity site in February 1972. Later the Barton Methodist Church and the Winton Methodist Churches merged in with them.^[4]

• The United Reformed Church

The URC have a church on Shakespeare Crescent and their North Western Synod on Franklin Street.^[5]

Transport

The district is served by Patricroft railway station which was opened on 15 September 1830 by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and is situated in Green Lane. A large steam locomotive running shed was situated immediately north of the line until closure in 1967.

Bus services in the area are provided by Arriva Manchester, Arriva North West, and First Manchester.^[6] Routes are co-ordinated by GMPTE.

Notable people

Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon Roe was born in Patricroft in 1877. He was the first Englishman to make a powered flight (in 1908 at Brooklands), and the first Englishman to fly an all British machine a year later, on Hackney Marshes. He founded the Avro company, one of the world's first aircraft manufacturers, in 1910. Humphrey Verdon Roe, his brother, was co-founder of Avro and also co-founder of the first birth control clinic in Britain with Marie Stopes.

References

1. ^ Bleakley, JR, A Short History of the Parish Church of Patricroft, Eccles
2. ^ Pevsner, The Buildings of England
3. ^ http://www.salfordcircuit.org.uk/page6.html
4. ^ http://www.patricroft-methodist.telinco.co.uk/page4.html
5. ^ http://www.nwsynod.org.uk/contact/index.php?&styles=on
6. ^ "Transport (bus, coach, train) and other local services in Patricroft" (HTTP). Travel Search. http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistr.asp?L3=PAT008. Retrieved 2007-07-19.