The village of Farnworth has existed at least as long as Farnworth Church, which was built in the year 1108, over 800 years ago. The name Farnworth ia Anglo-Saxon and means the fern-farm from fearn (or brake - from the Scandinavian bräken) and weorthig meaning farm or estate.
The early history of the village is closely linked to the fortunes of the Bold family, the local nobility who dominated village and church life for 600 years from their seat at Bold Hall. The Bold family estates dated from before the Norman invasion and covered about six thousand acres of farmland. The estates employed many of the villagers as farm labourers but also as servants or craftsmen such as blacksmiths. The parish of Farnworth also included a number of smaller villages and hamlets; Appleton, Bold, Cronton, Cuerdley, Ditton, Hale, Tarbuck, Upton.
Farnworth Agricultural Society's Annual Show 1886
Agriculture dominated Farnworth Village life for centuries and this catalogue for the Annual Agricultural Show was the 22nd in order.
To the North of the River Mersey
Farnworth is located on high ground two miles north of the northern bank of the River Mersey, with the church occupying the highest point. The land closer to the river was marshy and unsuitable for either farming or housing. From Farnworth Church and Farnworth Street it was possible to see the river – in fact there was an inn off Church Street called Sea View Inn, with Sea Víew Pleasure Gardens and bowling green.
The road down to the river (Peel House Lane, a continuation of Farnworth Street) was about two miles long and quite steep. My family lived in Derby Road (Puzzle Pate running East – West on the map above) near the crossing with Farnworth Street. My father cycled down to work by the river and back again every working day. He used to say “It’s a steep brew” when he arrived home, out of breath after a hard day’s work and pedal-pushing up to Farnworth.
Alan Foster
Read more about the Village of Farnworth in local historian Alan Foster’s fascinating and knowledgeable books “A History of Farnworth Church Its Village and Parish” (1981) and "A Walk Around Old Farnworth Village Past and Present”. Copies may be obtained from the Bridewell Museum and Widnes Historical Society.
I am indebted to Alan Foster for the information and photographs presented here.
Medieval Farnworth
This map of medieval Farnworth shows St Wilfrid's Church (marked in blue) high above the village, at the top of Church Street - now Farnworth Street. The village comprised a single row of cottages on either side of Church Street, south of the church (marked in yellow). The cottages just below the church can be seen in the photograph below.
The surrounding area was all agricultural land, which has been used for housing as the village expanded and became a suburb of Widnes.The present village is marked in black.
Cottages in School Brow, with Farnworth Church in background
Typical cottages in Farnworth at this time. Between the cottages and the church is the Bridewell - the village jailhouse.
Late 19th century Farnworth
A comparison of Farnworth Village in the Middle Ages and in 1875 when the first Ordnance Survey map was published (top of page), shows little change in the structure of the village. Farnworth Street has grown southwards to the Griffin Public House and is crossed by the east-west road called Puzzle Pate (meaning unknown), now Derby Road. I grew up close to the crossroads, which by then had become the centre of the village,
Industrial beginnings
The 1875 map of Farnworth shows several signs of industrialisation. The Liverpool - Manchester railway line ran just south of the village in a deep cutting (bottom right on map). There were three or four canvas and sailcloth factories, based on locla grown flax, to supply the sailing boats which plied their trade along the Mersey and out past Liverpool in the west to the Irish Sea. The largest sail-making factory (the New Mills spinning and canvas works) in Factory Lane off Puzzle Pate/Derby Road later became a glue factory and soap manufacturers. It closed in 1956.
Farnworth Street 1905
Seen looking north towards Farnworth Church.
Victorian houses have replaced the old cottages as Farnworth Street expanded southwards in the early 20th century.
