ORRELL
Horul, 1212; Orel, 1292; Orhull, 1294; Orul,
1307.
This township, sometimes called Orrell in Makerfield, to distinguish it from Orrell in Sefton parish,
has an area of 1,617½ acres. (fn. 1) It is divided from Upholland on the west by Dean Brook, flowing through
a pleasantly-wooded dingle to join the Douglas, which
forms the northern boundary. It is situated on the
eastern slope of the ridge of high ground stretching
north from Billinge to Dalton. The country is open
and varied, and consists of pasture land and fields,
where the crops are chiefly potatoes, wheat, and oats.
Towards the south the country is even more bare and
treeless as it merges into the colliery district. The
soil is clay with a mixture of sand, over a foundation
of hard stone. The town of Upholland is partly
situated in this township, and the Abbey Lake, a small
sheet of water, is the rendezvous of picnic parties and
excursions from the larger towns in the neighbourhood,
such a lake being attractive on account of the scarcity
of water in the district.
The principal road is that from Ormskirk to Wigan,
which passes through the township from west to
east, and is crossed by a road leading northwards
from St. Helens to Standish. Orrell Mount, over
300 ft., and Orrell Post are to the east of the
point where the roads cross; to the south-west is
Far Moor, and to the north Ackhurst. Lamberhead
Green lies on the eastern edge, partly in Pemberton.
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company's Liverpool
and Wigan line crosses the southern corner of the
township, having a station there called Orrell; the
same company's Wigan and Southport line passes
through the northern portion, close to the Douglas,
with a station called Gathurst.
The population in 1901 numbered 5, 436.
Nail-making is carried on, and there is a cotton
mill. Roburite is made at Gathurst. In 1787 there
were coal mines working under five different ownerships. (fn. 2)
A local board was formed in 1872. (fn. 3) The township is now governed by an urban district council of
twelve members.
MANOR
Before the Conquest, as afterwards,
ORRELL was the extreme north-west
berewick of the manor or fee of Newton
in Makerfield, (fn. 4) and it remained a member of it until
the 17th century. (fn. 5) The available materials for its
history are but scanty. At the survey of 1212 it was
held in thegnage by Richard de Orrell as half a ploughland, by the service of 10s. rent and finding a judge;
this was an arrangement 'of ancient time.' (fn. 6) There
was an ancient subordinate holding, William holding
half an oxgang after giving Thomas de Orrell two oxgangs in free marriage in the time of King Richard.
Richard de Orrell himself had recently given one
oxgang to his brother John, and previously 4 acres to
the Hospitallers. (fn. 7) Soon afterwards grants were made
to Cockersand Abbey by Richard de Orrell and John
his son. (fn. 8)
Before the end of the century, in what way does
not appear, the manor was acquired by the Holands
of Upholland, (fn. 9) from whom it descended, like their
other manors, to the Lovels, (fn. 10) and, after forfeiture, to
the Earls of Derby. (fn. 11)
William, the sixth earl, sold it to William Orrell
of Turton, (fn. 12) and the latter soon after sold to the
Bisphams, lords of part of the adjacent manor of
Billinge; (fn. 13) then by marriage it descended to Thomas
Owen, (fn. 14) and to Holt Leigh of Wigan. (fn. 15) His son,
Sir Roger Holt Leigh, of Hindley Hall in Aspull,
left it to his cousin, afterwards Lord Kingsdown, for
life, and then to the present owner, Mr. Roger
Leigh of Aspull. (fn. 16)
The Orrell family had numerous offshoots, but the
relationships cannot be traced. The survey of 1212,
quoted above, shows that there were then two subordinate holdings of one-eighth and a quarter of the
manor. The former may have descended to the
Orrells of Turton, (fn. 17) and the latter may be the holding
of Alexander Orrell of Orrell Post, whose land in
1607 was held by a rent of 3s. (fn. 18)
The freeholders in 1600 were the Alexander Orrell
just named, William Prescott, and Thomas Tipping. (fn. 19)
James Bankes of Winstanley also held lands here in
1618. (fn. 20)
About the same time another family, the Leighs of
Ackhurst, are mentioned, continuing down to the
middle of the 18th century. (fn. 21) They were recusants
and incurred the usual penalties. Emma, or Emerentia, Leigh, widow, Margaret and Catherine Leigh,
spinsters, and their sister, Anne Sandford, widow,
registered their estates in 1717. (fn. 22) Thomas Duxon
and William Tarleton were the other 'papists' who
did the same. (fn. 23)
Orrell was formerly considered part of the chapelry
of Upholland. Recently, in connexion with the
Established Church, St. Luke's Chapel-of-ease has
been erected.
The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have
chapels in the township, as also have the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.
Salem Chapel, built in 1824, belongs to the Congregationalists, who formed a church here about 1805
and erected a temporary chapel about 1810. The
building is still called John Holgate's Chapel, from
the name of one of the early ministers, 1820–50. A
later minister conformed to the Established religion,
an occurrence which almost ruined the Congregational
interest. (fn. 24)
The Roman Catholic mission was founded at Crossbrook in 1699 and removed to the present site at Far
Moor in 1805; the church of St. James was enlarged
in 1841, and a bell-tower erected in 1882. There is a
burial-ground attached. (fn. 25) Anne Sandford in 1740 gave
£100 to the mission with an obligation to say mass
for herself, her mother, and two sisters. (fn. 26) A convent
of French Benedictine nuns, driven out of their
country by the Revolution, in the first half of last
century occupied the house at Orrell Mount, but
afterwards removed to Princethorpe, Warwickshire.