Moston
Districts & Suburbs of Manchester including New Moston

MOSTON
Moston was incorporated, with neighbouring Blackley, into the City of Manchester in 1890 and currently has a resident population of around 12,500. The name Moston seems to refer to two simple old English words "moss" and "ton", where moss usually referred to a place that was mossy, marshy or peatbog, and ton signified a settlement or farmstead. The place was already named by the early 12th century having grown into a recognisable community near to the district known as White Moss.

Lying as it does on the northern limit of Manchester, it would have been open moorland and well away from the city. This distance enabled Moston to avoid much of the Industrial Revolution, and it continued as pleasant open countryside until well into the 1850s, with no more than a few manor houses and farmsteads within its district. At that time it was a place of choice for wealthier residents and a much sought after area to live in away from the filth and squalor of central Manchester. Even as late as the early 20th century Moston was essentially a rural settlement.

By the 14th century the Moston family had built and occupied Moston Hall, and the Bowkers, (hence nearby Bowker Vale), the Chaddertons, the Chethams and the Egertons had houses within the district. These great landowning families are still remembered in local placenames today.

By the 16th century, washing and bleaching of linen had become a major local cottage industry - carried out in local streams - and there is a record of a wadding mill in the district by 1714. By the early 19th century, dyeing had been added to to its textile skills and the Moston Print & Dye Works was set up in 1820, with Dean Brook Dye Works following soon after. Moston Mill was built in 1910, and nearly two centuries behind the rest of Manchester, Moston caught up with the Industrial Revolution.

Open seam coal mining had also been carried out in the district since the 16th century and in 1840 Moston Pit sunk its first pit shaft. Despite several new shafts, the pit suffered regular flooding and had a fairly short and unfortunate history. It finally closed its gates and sealed the shafts in 1950.

The arrival of industry in the area was accompanied by a population explosion, from around 50 residents in the 1831 census to over 1000 within the next half century. This saw much of its hitherto rural nature disappear under housing developments and the associated services and utilities that accompany urbanisation - schools, churches, pubs and shops. This rapid expansion of population inevitably brought with it severe sanitation problems, which as much as any other factor hastened its incorporation into Manchester, where a (then) advanced sewage system had already been constructed.

Local Moston celebrities have included television historian Michael Wood, social reformer and political reformer Samuel Bamford and Ben Brierley the local dialect poet and playwright.

Return to: Suburban Districts of Manchester

See also:

• Map of City Boundaries in 1838
• Map of City Boundaries in 1938
• Map of City Boundaries in 2002
• Gazetteer of Greater Manchester Place Names

NOTE:
We have made reference to several sources in compiling this web page, but must make special mention of the Breedon Books' "Illustrated History of Manchester's Suburbs" by Glynis Cooper, of which we made particular use. Information about this book can be found on our Books About Manchester webpage.