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Source Wikipedia
Evidence attests that human activity in the area extends back to the Mesolithic period; flints have been found in Heywood, in the Cheesden Valley and Knowl Moor areas.[6] Artefacts from theRoman period and Bronze Age have been discovered.[7] A Bronze Age cairn 0.6 metres (2 ft) high and 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter was discovered in the 1960s. Excavations by the Bury Archaeological Group revealed beakers associated with human burials.[8] The name Heywood is believed to derive from the Old English word "haga", meaning hedge or animal-enclosure.[3] In the 12th century, Heywood was recorded as a hamlet in the township of Heap.[7]
A family surnamed Heywood can be traced back to the 11th century, and in 1286, Adam de Bury granted the land of Heywood to Peter of Heywood.[5] Heywood Hall, the administrative centre of the manor and the seat of the Heywood family, was built in the 13th century.[7] A member of the family and a resident of Heywood Hall was Peter Heywood, the magistrate who, with a party of men, arrested Guy Fawkes during the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.[3][7] Another member of the family, also called Peter Heywood, was aboard the HMS Bounty when its crew mutinied in 1789.[9]
Heywood History
During the Middle Ages the area was thinly populated and consisted of several hamlets. Apart from the Heywoods of Heywood Hall, the sparse population of Heywood comprised a small community of farmers, most of whom were involved with pasture but supplemented their incomes by weaving woollens and fustiansin the domestic system.[3][5] During the Early Modern period, the weavers of Heywood had been using spinning wheels in makeshift weavers' cottages, but as the demand for cotton goods increased and the technology of cotton-spinning machinery improved during the early 18th century, the need for larger structures to house bigger and more efficient equipment became apparent. Industrial textile manufacture was introduced in the town in the late 18th century and the first spinning-mill – Makin Mill – was built at Wrigley Brook (later known as Queens Park Road).[3] By 1780 there remained less than 100 hand-loom fustian weavers out of a population of 2,000[5] and industrialist Sir Robert Peel (father of Prime Minister Robert Peel) converted Makin Mill for cotton production.[5][7] This initiated a process of urbanisation and socioeconomic transformation in the area and the population moved away from farming, adopting employment in the factory system. The cotton-trade in Heywood grew, and by 1833 there were 27 cotton mills.[3]
What was described as a period of "extraordinary growth of the cotton-trade" in the mid-19th century,[4] led to "an influx of strangers causing a very dense population".[5] Urbanisation caused by the expansion of factories and housing meant that in 1885, Rochdale-born poet Edwin Waugh, was able to describe Heywood as "almost entirely the creation of the cotton industry".[3]
footnote.
The name Monkey Town originates from Appeswood name (Apes) hence Monkey.
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