page_title: Heywood, Greater Manchester
section_title: Civic history
hierarchical_section_title: Heywood, Greater Manchester / Governance / Civic history
caption_attribution_description: English: The coat of arms of the Heywood Municipal Borough Council. Granted in 1881: ARMS: Or five Pellets between two Bendlets engrailed the whole between as many Mascles Sable. CREST: On a Wreath of the Colours in front of the Trunk of a Tree eradicated fessewise and sprouting to the dexter a Falcon rising proper each wing charged with a Pellet and holding in the beak a Sprig of Oak also proper three Mascles interlaced Or. MOTTO: ALTE VOLO
context_page_description: Heywood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it had a population of 28,205 at the 2011 Census. The town lies on the south bank of the River Roch, 2.4 miles east of Bury, 3.7 miles west-southwest of Rochdale, and 7.4 miles north of Manchester. Middleton lies to the south, whilst to the north is the Cheesden Valley, open moorland, and the Pennines. Heywood's nickname, Monkey Town, is known to date back to 1857.
  The Anglo-Saxons cleared the densely wooded area, dividing it into heys or fenced clearings. In the Middle Ages, Heywood formed a chapelry in the township, centred on Heywood Hall, a manor house owned by a family with the surname Heywood. Farming was the main industry of a sparsely populated rural area. The population supplemented their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system.
  The factory system in the town can be traced to a spinning mill in the late 18th century. Following the introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, Heywood developed into a mill town and coal mining district.
context_section_description: Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire since the early 12th century, Heywood during the Middle Ages constituted a chapelry in the township of Heap, parish of Bury, and hundred of Salford. The Heywood family, who had their seat at Heywood Hall, exercised considerable political power throughout the Middle Ages on the locale.
  Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, Heywood formed part of the Bury Poor Law Union, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security. Heywood's first local authority was a Local board of health established in 1864; Heap Middle Division Local Board of Health was a regulatory body responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation for the Heywood part of Heap township. In 1867 the local board was reconstituted as the Heywood Local Board of Health which covered the whole of Heap township and parts of Hopwood, Birtle-with-Bamford, Pilsworth and Castleton townships. In 1879 further parts of Hopwood and Pilsworth townships were added to the area under the local board. It was not recognised as a borough in the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, but on 18 February 1881 the area of the local board was granted borough status and became the Municipal Borough of Heywood. Following the Local Government Act 1894 (which formally dissolved all townships) the municipal borough became a local government district of the administrative county of Lancashire. The borough council was based out of Heywood's Municipal Buildings. In 1900 a part of Castleton Urban District was added to Heywood, and in 1933 part of the Heywood borough was transferred to the County Borough of Bury, whilst in exchange, parts of Norden Urban District and Birtle-with-Bamford and Unsworth civil parishes were added to Heywood. In 1967, the Borough of Heywood twinned with Peine in Germany.
  Under the Local Government Act 1972, the Municipal Borough of Heywood was abolished, and Heywood has, since 1 April 1974, formed an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, a local government district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. Municipal Buildings, which served as the former town hall, were demolished in the mid-1980s. Since 1992, Heywood has been one of four township committee areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. The Heywood Township Committee meets six times per year, with the vision of making Heywood "a safe, small town set in attractive countryside ... part of a successful borough and city region". Each meeting commences with an open forum session, which gives local residents the opportunity to ask questions of their local members or to raise issues of local concern.
caption: The coat of arms of the former Heywood Municipal Borough Council. This coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms on 14 May 1881.
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