Bradshaw, Greater Manchester

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Bradshaw is a village in the South Turton area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It gives its name to the Bradshaw electoral ward, which also includes Harwood.

The village lies on the southern edge of the West Pennine Moors and was historically part of Lancashire. The name Bradshaw comes from Old English: “brad” meaning broad and “sceaga” (shaw) meaning a copse, so it literally means a broad copse. In old documents it was spelled Bradeshaye and Bradshaigh. The Bradshaw family were landowners here in the 13th century, and they were an important Lancashire family in the late 1500s and early 1600s. John Bradshaw died in 1542 while holding the Manor of Bradshaw; the lordship later passed to Henry Bradshaw of Marple Hall and then to the Isherwood family.

Bradshaw was a township and chapelry in the Bolton-le-Moors parish within the Salford Hundred from the 12th century until 1974. In 1837 it joined the Bolton Poor Law Union, and in 1866 it became a civil parish. In 1894 it became part of the Bolton Rural District, which was dissolved in 1898 and its parishes were absorbed into larger authorities. On 30 September 1898 Bradshaw parish was abolished and merged with Turton, becoming part of the Turton Urban District. In 1891 the parish had a population of 647.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, Turton Urban District was dissolved in 1974. The northern part, North Turton, joined Blackburn (later Blackburn with Darwen) in Lancashire, while the southern part, South Turton (including Bradshaw), became part of Bolton in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Bradshaw has a War Memorial in St Maxentius’ Churchyard that honors residents who died in the First and Second World Wars. The churchyard also contains seven war graves (six from World War I and one from World War II).

There are two local schools: St Maxentius Church of England Primary School and Canon Slade School.

Bradshaw is famous for the saying “a tower without a church and a church without a tower.” It refers to St Maxentius’ Church, whose 16th-century tower still stands, while the present church building from 1872 is near but separate from the tower. The tower is all that remains of the original chapel of ease for Bolton Parish Church.