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St Helens did not exist as a town in its own rights until as late as the middle of the 19th Century. The town has a complex evolution spurred on by rapid population growth in the region during the period of the Industrial Revolution. Between 1629 and 1839 St Helens grew from a small collection of houses surrounding an old chapel, to a village, before finally becoming the significant urban centre of the four primary Manors and surrounding townships that make up the modern Town.
The origin of the name "St Helens" stretches back at least to a "chapel of ease" dedicated to St Elyn the earliest documented reference to which is in 1552. The first time the Chapel is formally referred to appears to be 1558 when Thomas Parr of Parr bequeathed a sum of money "to a stock towards finding a priest at St. Helen's Chapel in Hardshaw, and to the maintenance of God's divine service there for ever, if the stock go forward and that the priest do service as is aforesaid".Early maps show that it originally existed on Chapel Lane, around the approximate site of the modern pedestrianised Church Street. Historically this would have fallen within the berewick of Hardshaw, within greater Township of Windle (making up the southern border)abutting onto the open farmland of Parr to the East, and Sutton and Eccleston to the South and West respectively.
The completion of the Domesday Book in 1086 reveals several Manors existed at that time although there are no specific references to "St Elyn", or mentions of the particular "vill" or villages. Windle is first recorded on some maps as "Windhull" (or variations thereof) in 1201,Bold in 1212 (as Bolde)and Parr (or Parre) in 1246,whilst Sutton and Ecclestone are expected to have composed part of the Widnes "fee" (a hereditary entitlement of ownership) under a Knight or Earl. It is known that The Hospitallers held lands in the area of Hardshaw as early as 1292, known as Crossgate (which may be referred to by the long built over Cross Street in the town centre located beneath the modern College campus) and many of the original Parishes, Townships and local areas are named after the families that owned the land between the 11th and 18th century.
The Ecclestone family owned the Eccleston township. Their ancestral home dates to 1100, built by Hugh Ecclestone and are referred to throughout the period until the 18th century when they departed for nearby Southport.
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