Flixton, Greater Manchester

The area may have been inhabited during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Stone axes have been found on the banks of the River Mersey in Flixton, as well as on the banks of the River Irwell in Old Trafford. Further afield, two Neolithic arrowheads have been found in Altrincham and Dunham Massey, and a Bronze Age arrowhead in Warburton.[5]

The Radclyff Brass, now in St Michael's Church. Richard Radclyff lived at Newcroft Hall in nearby Urmston.[6]

Medieval Flixton was one of several parishes which existed in the Hundred of Salford. The parish encompassed the manors of Urmston and Flixton; the latter is first mentioned between 1189 and 1181 and was granted by the Mascy family of Dunham. The manor of Flixton's boundaries are unclear, although they were perhaps formed by a mixture of natural and man-made features including Carr Ditch, which divided Flixton and Urmston.[7] St Michael's Church is also first recorded at about the same time, although the building may date from an earlier period.[8] In keeping with a pattern found in northern and eastern Cheshire and south-eastern Lancashire, the parish comprised isolated farmsteads and a medieval manor house, rather than a village centre.[9] Notable place names in medieval Flixton include Shaw Hall, located near the present-day Roebuck Hotel, east of the modern Flixton village. The location of Berne is unknown, while Booths was possibly somewhere near Hulme Bridge Farm, close to the Irwell. An area named Wood may have existed in the north-western part of Flixton, near a Woods-end Farm noted in an 1818 survey. A Shaw Hall, whose name first appears in 1508 and was derived from a small wood, was described by historian Michael Nevell as "the most significant medieval estate within the township".[10] Reputed to be a Jacobean era mansion,[11] it was referred to as a manor in 1594, although whether this was also the case during the medieval period is unknown.[3] It was the home of the Valentines, the Asshawes and the Egertons, and during the English Civil War was defended against a potential attack by Royalist forces. The Egertons remained at Shaw Hall until 1757; thereafter it was occupied by various families, until it was demolished in the 20th century.[12]

An early mention of Flixton appears in the Testa de Nevil, which includes the entry: "Albert Gredle, sen., gave to Henry, son of Siward, one carucate of land in Flixton by 10s. yearly. The heirs hold that land." The manor of Flixton was, for a time, controlled by the Grelleys, Barons of Manchester. Robert of Lathom, who inherited the manor, granted the parish of Flixton to the newly created Burscough Priory, located near Ormskirk, in 1190. The Grelleys may not have been Flixton manor's only masters, as in 1250–1251 part of the area came into the possession of David de Hulton.[13] The Hultons united what in the 12th century was a fragmented manor. In 1330 they sub-let one half of it to the Valentine family and the other to two branches of the Radcliffe family. The Valentines are included in the Exchequer Lay Subsidy Rolls of 1332, which show five tax payers in Flixton: Richard le Valentine, Henry de l'Wode, William de l'Berne, Richard son of Robert and John de Booth.[3] The name Valentine also appears in Flixton's parish registers, which begin in 1570. Written on vellum and mostly in Latin,[14] the first records 11 baptisms, 2 marriages and 7 burials. Christian names include Hamlet, Randle and Ralph. The registers show that surnames such as Gilbody, Valentine, Millatt and Low remained prevalent in the area well into the 19th century.[15]

The River Mersey forms Flixton's southern border

Flixton's population remained fairly stable until the end of the 17th century, when, along with other nearby parishes, it began to rise steadily. It was by that time a small hamlet, with several buildings around the parish church and its parsonage.[16] The 1664 hearth tax returns show that Flixton had 70 heads of household,[17] who were likely engaged mainly in agricultural activities. Evidence exists to suggest that some areas in the parish were used for textile production, with "yarn croft" in Flixton, Stretford and Warburton indicating the production of flax. Almost 20 per cent of wills and other documents gathered from nearby areas contain references to textiles, hemp and flax.[18]

Flixton played an important part in the early campaigns for public rights of way. The local squire, Ralph Wright, who lived at Flixton House, tried to close a footpath which crossed his land. This closure was opposed by local people with the support of Archibald Prentice of the Manchester Gazette, which lead to the creation of the "Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Public Footpaths" in 1826.[19] This evolved into the "Peak and Northern Footpath Society" which still exists today.

During the Industrial Revolution many of the townships in the region experienced fairly rapid population growth, although Flixton remained an exception, its population growing by only 22 per cent between 1801 and 1851. This was in stark contrast to Altrincham (165%), Bowdon (242%) and Stretford (238%), and is attributed to the emigration of villagers to more industrialised areas like Manchester, and the agricultural depression of the 1830s and 1840s. The domestic production of textiles, popular during the 17th and early 18th centuries in Flixton and other nearby townships, and the newer factory-based system which replaced it, had disappeared in Altrincham by the middle of the 19th century. Weaving continued in Flixton, although within ten years of the construction of Flixton Cotton Mills in 1851, domestic textile production had ended. In nearby Urmston, 28 per cent of the township's population was in 1851 engaged in textile work,[20] but the area did not experience the level of industrialisation seen in towns like Ashton-under-Lyne, east of Manchester, where 16 mills were built between 1815 and 1829, doubling the population. The reasons for this reliance on land rather than industry are unclear.[21]

Flixton was a remote rural area with few transport links to nearby towns, the rivers Irwell and Mersey for the most part cutting off access to other areas. To the southwest, Carrington Old Bridge, removed in about 1840, was an old wooden structure too narrow to accommodate carts, which were forced to use a nearby ford. Another ford existed near Flixton Church and yet another near Shaw Hall.[23] An omnibus service carried passengers to and from Stretford, where the nearest railway station was located, but it was the town's connection on 2 September 1873 to the UK's railway network, through the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later the Cheshire Lines Committee) line from Manchester to Liverpool, which helped transform the area.[24] A new bridge across the Mersey was built around 1906–1907, replacing the earlier structure nearer to Carrington.[25] Flixton gradually became a middle-class railway suburb of Manchester.[26]

In 1841 Davyhulme, Flixton and Urmston became part of the Chorlton Poor Law Union, until 1849 when, with Stretford, it was transferred to Barton upon Irwell Poor Law Union. An 1894 Act of Parliament created urban and rural district councils, and along with Carrington, Davyhulme, Dunham Massey, Hale, Partington, Timperley and Warburton, Flixton became part of Barton upon Irwell Rural District (Urmston gained an urban district council).[27][28] Land was exchanged between Flixton and Irlam Urban District and Barton Moss civil parish. A further exchange of land occurred in 1920, with Carrington civil parish. In 1933 the civil parish became a part of Urmston Urban District.[29]

From 1918 to 1950 Flixton was a part of the Stretford Division of Lancashire and from 1950 to 1983 a part of the borough constituency of Stretford.[30][31] From 1983 to 1997 it was included in the new constituency of Davyhulme and represented by the Conservative Party MP Winston Spencer-Churchill, grandson of Winston Churchill. The Davyhulme constituency was replaced in 1997 by Stretford and Urmston, whose first MP was Labour's Beverley Hughes. She won the 1997 General Election with 58.5 per cent of the vote, against the Conservatives' John Gregory with 30.5 per cent. She was replaced in 2010 by Kate Green, who won 48.6 per cent of the vote, compared to the Conservatives' Alex Williams with 28.7 per cent. The Liberal Democrats gained 16.9 per cent of the vote.[32]

Flixton elects three councillors to Trafford Council; as of the 2019 local election, two seats are held by the Labour Party and one by the Conservative Party.[33]

Flixton is in the Church of England Diocese of Manchester and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford.[46][47] Historically church life has centred around the Grade II* listed 12th-century St Michaels Church, built on raised land close to the centre of Flixton village.[48] For about 500 years the church was attached to Lichfield Cathedral.[49][50] Another Church of England place of worship, St John's Church, can be found on Irlam Road.[51] Flixton's Catholic Community worships at St Monica's Church on Woodsend Road South. The parish was founded in 1950 and the church built from 1968 to 1969.[52]

The village is served by two local railway stations, Flixton and Chassen Road, both managed by Northern.[62]

Bus services in Flixton run to destinations such as Davyhulme, Urmston, Stretford, Partington, Hulme and Manchester.[63]