[7] The area was held by free tenants until 1330 when Robert Langton, Baron Makerfield, gave the lordship of the manor to his younger son.

From the Middle Ages until the 18th century the land was a mixture of pastoral, farming and woodland and the farmers were tenants of a variety of lords.

Parish registers from the end of the 17th century reveal that residents were Yeomen, independent farmers who supplemented their income by spinning and weaving.

Ladies Lane Colliery belonging to the Wigan Coal and Iron Company employed 282 underground and 40 surface workers in 1896.

[8] At the start of the 20th century, profitable coal seams were nearly exhausted and concerns were raised regarding the need to diversify industry and further develop the cotton mills.

During the post-war period, the Hindley workings became part of the large colliery complexes developed at Bickershaw, Parsonage and Golborne.

The economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s hit Hindley hard, and by the time of the Second World War the population had declined to 19,000.

The coal mining and cotton spinning have all disappeared and most residents of Hindley now work in Wigan, Bolton, St Helens and Warrington or commute to Manchester or Liverpool.

Hindley was a chapelry, in the parish of Wigan in the Hundred of West Derby, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire.

[12] Hindley covers an area of 2,527 acres (3.9 sq mi; 10.2 km2), mostly pasture and the underlying rocks are the coal measures.

Hindley town centre is approximately three miles east of Wigan and adjoins Leigh on its south-east side.

The economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s hit Hindley hard and by the time of the Second World War the population had declined to 19,000.

There are public transport links by rail from Hindley railway station to all stops between Wigan Wallgate and Manchester via Bolton and Atherton, operated by Northern.

The original school was situated in "Lowe Hall" and the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1848) shows it was at the end of a short track off Stony Lane, now Liverpool Road.

The school relocated to Park Road in 1856 Originally pupils attended without payment but by 1829 the master was at liberty to make charges for instruction in Latin, writing and arithmetic.

Nothing is known of the permanence of Catholicism during the 17th century, but mass was probably said at Lowe Hall as Dom John Placid Acton, a Benedictine, was stationed at this place in 1699 and died there in 1727.

From 1758 there has been a resident Benedictine priest in charge of worship and the present church of St. Benedict in Market Street was built in 1869.

The cemetery on Castle Hill Road was opened in 1879 and is divided into denominational sections and of note is the amount of masonic gravestones to be found throughout.

It is designed in a Free-Elizabethan style and given to the people of Hindley by Nathaniel Eckersley, on the instruction of John Leyland upon his death.

The Bird I'th Hand public house at the main crossroads in the town and the Lord Nelson Hotel on Bridge Street both have eighteenth-century origins.

No.5 Deansgate is a rare surviving example of a modest vernacular cottage dating from the eighteenth century or earlier and illustrates a type once common in Hindley.

[19] Colonel Nathaniel Eckersley (1779–1837) of Laurel House on Atherton Road had a distinguished military career and served with Duke of Wellington in Portugal in the Peninsular Wars where he constructed defences for Peniche and led numerous attacks.

Among his trophies of war was a pair of duelling pistols, taken by troopers after the battle of Vittoria, from the carriage of Joseph Bonaparte, the King of Spain.

In 1927 he gave the Leyland Free Library & Museum a memorial case, collected by his brother James Carlton.

A new purpose-built sports pavilion has been built on Wigan Road, and Ashton Gymnastic Club are based in the town's main street.

Hindley also has thriving youth-based groups including two Scout troops, Boys' Brigade, Guides and Brownies and Army Training Corps.

The club currently has teams playing from ages seven to open age and has a long tradition of developing players that have gone on to professional careers in the sport including; John Clarke – Warrington Wolves Paul Deacon – Wigan Warriors Paul Johnson – Warrington Wolves Tony Stewart – Leigh Centurions Rob Draper – Blackpool Panthers Matthew Schleiner – Widnes Vikings Alex Gerrard – Widnes Vikings Liam Thompson – Wigan Warriors Kieron Harrison – Wigan Warriors Grant Gore – Widnes Vikings Thomas Makinson – St Helens Grant Murphy – Leigh Centurions Bob Higham – Leigh Centurions Craig Briscoe – Leigh Centurions As well as several academy and U16-19 players who are signed for various superleague clubs.