The Town of St Helens in the County of -- Lancashire --

ST HELEN’S, a market town, in the townships Windle with Hardshaw, Eccleston, Sutton, and Parr, in the parish and division of Prescot, and hundred of West Derby, 11 miles E. N. E. of Liverpool. Manor courts are held for Windle, Eccleston, and Sutton. The erection of this town was chiefly occasioned by the establishment of glass and copper works subsequent to 1773: the buildings of the place were originally in Hardshaw, but have spread into the adjacent townships; the town portion is still principally in Windle with Hardshaw. There are two episcopal chapels in Windle with Hardshaw, exclusive of one in Parr: St. Helen’s existed before 1662, enlarged 1816, now St. Mary’s, annual value of curacy £240, patrons Trustees; and St. Thomas’s, built 1838-9, at a cost of £10,000.- The Catholics, Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitives have chapels. The general lighting and watching act is in operation; and petit sessions are held. A customary market is held on Saturdays; and fairs, Monday and Tuesday after Easter, and Friday and Saturday after September 8. The market place was formed 1835-6. In 1835 there were 16 collieries, 5 large glass works, 7 chemical works and 2 copper works, in the town and vicinity; connected with which there were above 60 steam engines: in 1838 all these works had increased, particularly those of plate glass. The plate glass works of the British plate glass company, built 1773, at Ravenhead, in Sutton, cover about 25 acres, cost £40,000, employ 300 hands; and the Union plate glass company’s works, Sutton, built 1838, cover 9 acres. The Manchester and Liverpool railway, date 1827-30; St. Helen’s and Runcorn Gap railway, formed 1831; and Sankey canal, date 1758, enrich this prosperous place. The population of the town in 1801 was about 4,400; 1831, 10,000. There are 4 endowed schools, and about 8 sunday schools. There are a neat town hall, built 1839, at a cost of £3,000; Gas Works, erected 1832-3; Water Works, date 1829; and a Savings’ Bank, date 1819. The value of property in the township of Windle with Hardshaw in 1815 was £11,986; 1829, £14,521.

“A Statistical Sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster (1841)”, by Edwin Butterworth, facsimile reprint 1968, by the ‘Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society’. With grateful thanks to the Society.