Kersal
Kersal is a district of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, northwest of Manchester city centre.
History
Kersal has been variously known as Kereshale, Kershal, Kereshole, Carshall and Kersall.The name incorporates the Old English word halh, meaning "a piece of flat alluvial land by the side of a river". "Kersal" indicates that this was land where cress grew.
In 1142, Kereshale was given to the Priory of Lenton, an order of Cluniac monks, who established an early cell there named St Leonard's. On the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 Henry VIII sold the priory and its lands to one Baldwin Willoughby. It was sold eight years later to Ralph Kenyon, who was acting on behalf of himself, James Chetham of Crumpsall and Richard Siddall of Withington. The Kenyon third was sold about the year 1660 to the Byroms of Manchester, whose line terminated on the death of Eleanora Atherton in 1870. All the land eventually descended to, or was bought by, the Clowes family who began to sell off the land for development in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most famous resident of Kersal Cell was John Byrom. It is said that he wrote the hymn Christians Awake there, but it is more likely that it was written at his home in the Old Shambles in Manchester above what is now the Wellington Inn. After John and his wife's death Kersal Cell was left to his daughter the enthusiastic Jacobite Elizabeth Byrom. Her diary of her time with Bonnie Prince Charlie was discovered in the house.
In the 17th century, the Kersal Moor races were the great event of the year. They usually took place around Whit Week when large numbers of people turned the area into a giant fairground for several days. The moor was also used for nude male races, allowing females to study the form before choosing their mates. Indeed, in the 18th century, Roger Aytoun, known as "Spanking Roger", later a hero of the Siege of Gibraltar, acquired Hough Hall in Moston, through marriage after such a race. Kersal Moor was also host to one of the great political events of the 19th century, when it was the meeting place for the largest of the Chartist Assemblies attended by at least 30,000 people in September 1838 and again in May 1839. It was also the site of one of the first golf courses to be built outside Scotland. Kersal Links opened in 1818, and was the oldest golf course between the Thames and the Tweed until it closed in 1960. The Kersal Moor races began prior to 1680 and continued, with various interruptions, until 1847 when the course was switched to the other side of the River Irwell, to Castle Irwell, where it remained until 1963. In 1961 the Members' Stand at the Castle Irwell Racecourse was opened and contained the world's first executive boxes. The architect for the racecourse, Ernest Atherden, showed this to the directors of Manchester United who opened their first executive box in 1965, and hence began the modern corporatisation of sport.
Kersal remained a rural area until about 1840 when the Clowes family, who owned most of the land in the area, began to sell it off for development, and merchants and manufacturers began to build their mansions in the green fields of Higher Broughton and Kersal. In keeping with their own ideas of social engineering they imposed strict covenants on how the land was used, reserving the higher ground for more well-to-do residents and the lower ground for workers' cottages. The number of public houses was severely restricted and then, only beer houses that didn't sell spirits were allowed. Singleton Road and Moor Lane were the only roads connecting Bury Old Road and Bolton Road and there was a toll bar on the corner of Bury Old Road. When Bury New Road was built in 1831 a gate or bar was erected and travellers had to pay a toll to the turnpike trust to pass through. A toll house was erected on Bury New Road with a bay window projecting out so that the toll collector had a clear view of the road. By 1848 the local authority had taken over the road, the tolls were abolished and the toll collector's house became a newsagent's. This was the only shop in an area where the landowner's restrictive covenants prevented commercial development. The exterior of the house remains largely unchanged to this day, although it was renovated in 2007 with a two-storey extension being added to the rear. The Toll House is now a Grade II listed building.
In the 1930s a large council housing estate was built to the east of Littleton Road. Twelve high-rise tower blocks, known as Kersal flats, were constructed for Salford Council in the 1960s. Eight of these were demolished in 1990. The other blocks were sold to private developers to renovate for private sale. The Housing Act 1980 gave tenants the right to buy. Since then much of the council estate has been sold to sitting tenants and by 2011 just over 50% of homes in the Kersal Ward were in owner-occupation.
Governance
Kersal was originally a hamlet in the township of Broughton. In 1853 the township amalgamated with Salford despite opposition from some of its more wealthy residents, who did not wish to "assimilate the cotton of Manchester or the filth of Salford". Kersal & Broughton Park ward is one of twenty, each represented by three councillors, which make up the City of Salford.;Councillors
The ward is represented by three councillors: Ari Leitner, Arnold Saunders and Andrew Walters.
indicates seat up for re-election.
indicates seat won in by-election.
Geography
Kersal is bounded on the north by Singleton Brook, which defines the border with Prestwich, on the south and west by the River Irwell and on the east by Broughton, although the exact position of the border with Broughton is difficult to determine. The west and south of the district lie in the flood-plain of the River Irwell, and consequently have historically been subject to flooding. Serious floods were documented in 1866, 1946, 1954 and 1980. The River Irwell Flood Defence Scheme, officially opened in 2005, uses levees and the playing fields alongside the river as an emergency water catchment area to alleviate this problem.The land in the north east rises steeply before flattening out into a series of rolling hills. At one time it was a pastoral area known as Kersal Woods or Kersal Moor. Much of it has now been developed for residential purposes or as a football ground, and the open land known today as Kersal Moor comprises an area of only.
Demography
A profile of the ward conducted by Salford City Council in 2014 recorded a population of 12,929 with 86.8% of people describing themselves as white, 2.3% African, 1.4% Pakistani and 2.7% as other ethnic group.The 2011 UK Census recorded that the religious mix is mainly Christian and Jewish with 34.3% of the population describing themselves as Christian and 40.96% as Jewish. 3.30% describe themselves as Muslim with none of the other faiths exceeding 0.5%.
Religion
Churches in Kersal include the Anglican St Paul's Church on Moor Lane, built at the instigation of Colonel William Legh Clowes and Eleanora Atherton of Kersal Cell "for the benefit of the poor of Rainscow" in 1851–1852.The only church in Lower Kersal is the Anglican St Aidan's on Littleton Road, a brick-built church opened in 1972 which seats about 120 people.
There is also the Roman Catholic church Our Lady of Dolours, on Bury New Road served by Servite Friars and known locally as "the Servites". The building adjacent to the church at number 500 Bury New Road, now used as the Servite Priory for the church, was originally the Greek Consulate and still has many Greek motifs adorning its internal decor.
The former Catholic Chaplaincy at St Philip's Church on Northallerton Road, Lower Kersal, is now home to the "Just Youth" ministry of the Holy Ghost Fathers.
There are convents of the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Cross and Passion on Bury New Road and Faithful Companions of Jesus on Singleton Road, and there was also a closed order of nuns at a Carmelite Convent on Vine Street for many years.
Synagogues in Kersal include the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, founded in 1873, and North Salford Synagogue. Greater Manchester has the largest Jewish community in the United Kingdom outside London and Kersal, along with Higher Broughton, Prestwich, and Whitefield, is home to most of the Orthodox Jewish community.