Listed buildings in Astley

Astley is a settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Originally a village, it now forms a continuous urban area with Tyldesley to the north. It lies on flat land north of Chat Moss and is crossed by the Bridgewater Canal and the A580 "East Lancashire Road". Astley contains several listed buildings designated by English Heritage and included in the National Heritage List for England. Most are listed at Grade II, the lowest of the three gradings given to listed buildings and is applied to "buildings of national importance and special interest".^[1]

Astley's listed buildings reflect its history and include farmhouses and ancient halls, two with moated sites. Damhouse or Astley Hall, which for centuries was the manor house for the township, is included in this list although it is just across the boundary in Tyldesley. Astley's second chapel was destroyed in an arson attack in 1961 but the vicarage stands and is listed. Industry in the 20th century is represented by the former engine house and headgear at Astley Green Colliery Museum.

In the United Kingdom "listed building" refers to a building or structure designated as being of special architectural, historical, or cultural significance. They are categorised in three grades: Grade I consists of buildings of outstanding architectural or historical interest, Grade II* includes significant buildings of more than local interest and Grade II consists of buildings of special architectural or historical interest. Buildings in England are listed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on recommendations provided by English Heritage, which also determines the grading.^[2]

Key

Buildings and structures

Name and location	Photograph	Date	Notes	Grade
Damhouse 53°30′11″N 2°27′22″W / 53.503°N 2.456°W / 53.503; -2.456 (Damhouse)		1650	Damhouse or Astley Hall was the manor house for Astley though it is inside the Tyldesley boundary. It was used as the administration block for Astley Hospital. Since 1991 Morts Astley Heritage Trust has renovated it for office use and tea room.[4] The house is built of rendered brick with stone details and a slate roof. The three-storey frontage has five unequal bays with stone mullioned windows and crosswing gables. The central three-storey porch bay has a studded oak door with Doric columns, pediment and a fanlight. The frontage is largely as built but the plaque over the door is a replacement. The east wing dating from the early 19th century is of rendered brick and has a chapel on the first floor.[5] Restoration in 1999-2000 discovered the attic contained a "short" long gallery that had subsequently been subdivided.[6]	B !II*
Morleys Hall 53°29′21″N 2°28′09″W / 53.4892°N 2.4693°W / 53.4892; -2.4693 (Morleys Hall)		16th century	Morleys Hall, now a private residence, is a moated hall converted to two houses on the edge of Astley Moss. The hall which was largely rebuilt in the 19th century on the site of a medieval timber-framed house, incorporates elements from the 16th and 17th centuries.[7] The moat a scheduled ancient monument.[8]	B !II*
Morleys Hall Barn 53°29′21″N 2°28′09″W / 53.4892°N 2.4693°W / 53.4892; -2.4693 (Morleys Hall Barn)		early 19th century	Morleys Hall Barn comprises an early 19th-century threshing barn, byre and overloft and a lower range to south. It is built in red brick in English garden wall bond and has a slated roof. It has a recessed entry bay above which are stacked decorative ventilation panels.[9] The moat a scheduled ancient monument.[8]	B !II
Astley Vicarage 53°30′10″N 2°27′14″W / 53.5029°N 2.4540°W / 53.5029; -2.4540 (Astley Vicarage)		1704	Astley Vicarage is built in English garden wall bond brick. It has three storeys and its twin-gabled front has five bays and a central door. The house has had few alterations since it was built and is a combination of early Classical and vernacular architecture.[10] Pevsner considers it a "very attractive and interesting house" possibly dating to 1704.[6]	B !II*
Gatepiers at Astley Vicarage 53°30′10″N 2°27′14″W / 53.5029°N 2.4540°W / 53.5029; -2.4540 (Gatepiers at Astley Vicarage)		18th century	The 18th-century square stone gate piers at Astley Vicarage have moulded bases and caps. The timber gate is a replacement.[11]	B !II
Astley Green Mining Museum Engine House 53°29′44″N 2°26′48″W / 53.4956°N 2.4467°W / 53.4956; -2.4467 (Astley Green Mining Museum Engine House)		1912	The former engine house housing Astley Green Colliery's twin tandem compound steam engine is now part of Astley Green Colliery Museum. It is built in brick, seven bays long and three bays wide under a slate roof. The bays have round-arched windows with iron glazing bars.[12] The site is protected as a Scheduled Monument.[13]	B !II
Astley Green Museum Winding Tower 53°29′43″N 2°26′48″W / 53.4952°N 2.4467°W / 53.4952; -2.4467 (Astley Green Museum Winding Tower)		1912	Astley Green Colliery Museum has the only surviving headgear on the Lancashire Coalfield. It is made from wrought iron lattice girders with rivetted plates at the joints. It has two large and one small wheels mounted at the top. It is nearly 30 metres (98 ft) high and was built by Head Wrightson of Stockton-on-Tees in 1912 for Astley Green Colliery.[14] The site is protected as a Scheduled Monument.[13]	B !II
Manor House Farmhouse 53°29′55″N 2°26′52″W / 53.4986°N 2.4477°W / 53.4986; -2.4477 (Manor House Farmhouse)		1730	Manor House Farmhouse is a three-storey house built in brick with slate roof. Originally built with three bays a fourth was added later. The doorway has Ionic half-columns and plain entablature. The house has sash windows to the front and casement windows to the rear.[15]	B !II
Sales House 53°29′01″N 2°27′56″W / 53.4836°N 2.4656°W / 53.4836; -2.4656 (Sales House)		17th century	Sales House is a mid-to-late 17th-century farmhouse built in English garden wall bond brick with a stone slate and slate roof. The two-storey house has a T-shaped plan and four bays one of which is a gabled crosswing. It has its original boarded door with strap hinges.[16]	B !II
Peel Hall 53°29′36″N 2°27′21″W / 53.4934°N 2.4559°W / 53.4934; -2.4559 (Peel Hall)		16th century	Peel Hall was built in the 16th century but rebuilt in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It is built on a moated site of English garden wall bond brick with slate roof on a projecting stone plinth from an earlier building on the site once owned by Cockersand Abbey.[17]	B !II

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Pollard, Richard; Sharples, Joseph (2006), Buildings of England: Liverpool and the southwest, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10910-5