Monkey Town: The History of Heywood

For centuries, Darn Hill was a rural farming area in the township of Heap. That changed dramatically in the 1960s, in the lingering aftermath of World War II. Manchester had suffered heavy bombing during that war, leaving it with a housing crisis. Manchester City Council’s solution was to buy land from neighbouring boroughs for the construction of new municipal housing outside the city boundaries, although the residents of these new estates would still pay rent and rates to MCC. By 1955 at least 68,000 houses in Manchester were unfit for human habitation, 600 were falling down per year, and there was a pressing need for 81,000 new houses. 171 acres of land in the west of Heywood, mainly home to fields and some farm buildings, had been identified in 1952 as a potential site for what was termed an ‘overspill development’. A request from Manchester Town Hall was made to Heywood councillors to allow them to use the land for construction. A subsequent public inquiry revealed many local

The following article about the nicknames of various English towns - including Heywood - appeared in numerous Australian newspapers in the year 1900: "Many towns bear nicknames reflecting what are supposed to be their characteristics. To inquire whether such sobriquets fit, whether they are apt or otherwise, would be an endless and unprofitable task. They exist, they are used, and to argue about them is as futile as injudicious. Numbers of place nicknames 'hit off' an alleged inordinate fondness for something or other. Bolton is called ' Trotter town’ because the natives are believed to have a great partiality for that delicacy. Macclesfield, for a similar reason, is derisively styled ‘Treacle town’. The story goes that 'once upon a time' a cask of the sticky edible fell off a lorry as the mill hands were going to work, and bursting, sent a stream of golden syrup running down the street. Thereupon the factory lads and lasses threw themselves on the grou

A lot of great photographs from personal collections have been posted on the 'Remembering Heywood' Facebook page, but one particular set that stands out was a series of photos taken around the town centre in the middle of a cold and grey day in February 1981. It was a pretty cold and grey time all round. There was a recession on, Margaret Thatcher was a deeply unpopular prime minister, and most people still thought the Falkland Islands were somewhere off the coast of Scotland. Locally, the Labour MP Joel Barnett was into his 17th year representing the old seat of 'Heywood and Royton'. The music charts were very diverse. This was just a couple of months after John Lennon had been shot dead, and during that time his re-released music had topped the chart non-stop, a run that ended when 'Woman' was knocked off the top spot in February by Joe Dolce's 'Shaddap You Face'. Shakin' Stevens, Julio Iglesias, Human League, the Specials and Smokey

J ohn Lennon: 'We write about our past... We really got into the groove of imagining Penny Lane - the bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just reliving childhood.' Interviewer: 'You really had a place where you grew up!' Lennon: 'Oh, yeah. Didn't you?' Interviewer: 'Well, Manhattan isn't Liverpool.' Lennon: 'Well, you could write about your local bus station.' Interviewer: 'In Manhattan?' Lennon: 'Sure, why not? Everywhere is somewhere.' (John Lennon interview, Rolling Stone , 23 November 1968) John Lennon was right when he said 'everywhere is somewhere', but the further away from Heywood you travel, the blanker the look you get when (after being asked) you tell people that you're from Heywood. To most other people the town is nowhere, but for thousands of Heywoodites the recent suc

The Roch might be a little river in the wider scheme of things, being a tributary of a tributary of the Mersey, but it's the biggest river that Heywood has and it has played a big part in the history and development of the town. This Ten Thousand Years in Monkey Town slideshow charts the wandering course of the waters from a tiny spring emerging from under a rock high up on Chelburn Moor, then right down to the Irwell. Enjoy. (Best viewed on 'expand screen' option in YouTube)

A ‘ research index ’ of old copies of Heywood Living Memories , the quarterly magazine of the ‘Heywood Memories Society’ (HMS), is currently under development for this website. That publication has been running since 1990 and mainly features personal ‘reminiscences’ of the lives and memories of Heywoodites, dating back through the 20th century. There are also other historical articles and features. This indexing work involves listing articles, subject matter and dates, and (eventually) listing names mentioned. It is a slow process, but in the end it will produce a searchable digital record to help Monkey Town researchers quickly locate references to specific subjects in the pages of all the magazines. It is not comprehensive as it will only include information that directly relates to Heywood history, but over 95% of the magazine will be covered. The index is a snapshot of what is actually an excellent historical record of 20th-century Heywood. Heywood Living Memories is not on