KNOTT-LANES, formerly a district in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, county Lancaster, 5 miles N.E. of Manchester. It contains the hamlets of Woodpark, Knott-Lanes, Cross Bank, Alt-Edge, and Lees, and the villages of Taunton, Waterloo, Hey, and Bardsley. This last-named place has greatly increased within the last twenty years, and is now a market town, with many good streets, which are well paved and lighted with gas. The rapid increase of this place is mainly owing to the extensive business done in the cotton manufactures, which afford employment to most of the inhabitants. It has a district parish church, and chapels for Wesleyans, Primitive and New Connexion Methodists, and several excellent schools. There are churches at Hey and Bardsley. The People's Hall was erected in 1850, in which balls, concerts, and public meetings are held. The Literary and Scientific associations also meet in this building. Near Bardsley House is an oak tree which at 2 feet from the ground measures over 16 feet in circumference, while its branches extend over an area of nearly 14,000 square yards.

ALT, a hamlet in the district of Knott Lanes, in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, in the county palatine of Lancaster.

BARDSLEY, a chapelry, in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, and hundred of Salford, in the county palatine of Lancashire, near Ashton. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Manchester, value £160, in the patronage of Hulme's Trustees.

CROSSBANK, a hamlet in the district of Knott Lanes, parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the county of Lancaster, 1½ mile from Ashton-under-Lyne

LEES, a hamlet in the district of Knott Lane, parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, county Lancaster, 8½ miles N.E. of Manchester, and 2 from Ashton-under-Lyne, its post town. It is a station on the Oldham and Delph branch of the Manchester and Leeds railway. The village is situated on the road from Oldham to Huddersfield. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the neighbouring factories, which are numerous and extensive. A short distance from the village is a chalybeate spring, called Lea Spa.

It is joined with Crossbank to form a chapelry. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Manchester, value £150. The church, dedicated to St. John, is a stone structure, erected in 1742. There are National schools. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. Fairs are held in the spring and autumn.

Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868

©Antony Lambert