Red Rose Directories in Bolton - Local advertising for local businesses that really works.
Run by local people, for local people, supporting local business.
Articles
Matthew Fletcher (1731-1808)
by J F Horridge
About 1750, Matthew Fletcher from Breightmet, as a young mining surveyor, was engaged by land owner John Heathcote to sink a test pit on his estate at Clifton on the outskirts of Manchester. This was the beginning of Wet Earth Colliery, the first deep mine in the Irwell Valley which Matthew later acquired. The mine was subject to serious flooding from the Irwell Valley Fault and thus appropriately named.
An up and coming hydro-engineer, James Brindley from Derbyshire, was engaged in 1752 to solve the problem which he did by diverting water from the River Irwell through a series of channels and tunnels to operate a water-powered pump. This ingenious drainage system was in continuous use for 170 years; the pit closed in 1928.
In 1759 James Brindley was back in Lancashire to join John Gilbert at Worsley who was the agent and resident engineer for the Duke of Bridgewater`s new canal. Brindley then went on to engineer the 93 mile long Trent and Mersey Canal and was also consulted on the construction of about 20 other canals during his relatively short life.
Matthew Fletcher later became a leading figure in the promotion of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal. In 1790 he prepared the initial survey and estimate of cost and a year later supervised the early construction with his nephew John Nightingale acting as resident engineer. His previous experience in canal construction had been the mile long Fletcher`s Canal which he created to transport his coal from Wet Earth Colliery to Clifton.
Nephew John Nightingale was officially appointed Engineer to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal in 1793 and was responsible for the construction of the local Dameside Aquaduct. (see picture)
Matthew Fletcher`s connection with the district of Turton was his acquisition in 1784 of the freehold of Heights Farm, Harwood (now partly the extension of Harwood Golf Club) from his brother-in-law, Seth Flitcroft who had jointly inherited the estate in 1766. In the Enclosure of Harwood Commons in 1797, Matthew was allotted 26.7 acres and the farm was tenanted by a John Roscow..
As surveyors, Matthew and his grand-nephew Ralph Fletcher of the Haulgh were appointed Commissioners for the Enclosure of Bolton Moor in 1792 and Ralph acted in a similar capacity for the Enclosures of Edgworth and Harwood Commons a few years later; in the late 1700s he also acted as Treasurer for the Little Bolton to Edenfield Turnpike which traverses Bradshaw. Matthew Fletcher was the chairman of the Mersey and Irwell Company in 1797, the forerunner of the Manchester Ship Canal Company established in 1882.
The above Ralph Fletcher, in his position as Colonel of the Bolton Militia and a Magistrate, played a crucial role in the `Peterloo Massacre`at Manchester in 1819. At a gathering of 60,000 in St Peter`s Fields to support Parliamentary Reform, eleven people were killed and hundreds wounded by a merciless charge of yeomen and hussars.
In 1763 Matthew built and resided in Clifton House adjacent to Wet Earth Colliery; this was demolished in 1962 but a farm of that name remains. Shortly after the turn of the 19th Century he acquired the 56 acre Crompton Fold Estate at Breightmet where he lived until his death in 1808.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Further details of the above are included in Turton Local History Society publications ‘The Enclosure of Harwood Commons’ by J J Francis and ‘Harwood – the Early Years’ by J F Horridge, obtainable from Harwood Library, Sweeten`s Bookshop, Bolton, Walkden`s Newsagents, Harwood or from Mrs Jean Gerrard, Tel 308322
