Heywood

Heywood, a municipal town of Lancashire, 3 miles E. of Bury and 9 N. of Manchester. It is connected with the Rochdale Canal by a branch canal, and is on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. Incorporated in 1881, Heywood has increased with great rapidity, both in population and wealth, since the beginning of the 19th century, partly in consequence of extensive coal-mines in the neighbourhood and partly in consequence of the enterprise of the Peel family, who introduced there the cotton manufacture. Iron and brass founding, boiler-making, and the manufacture of cotton, woollens, machinery, railway plant, and chemicals are carried on. The Free Libraries Act was adopted in 1873; and the Queen's Park, 20 acres in extent, was opened in 1879. Pop. (1851) 12,194; (1881) 22,979; (1891) 23,286.