WINGATES, an ecclesiastical parish, formed March 31 1860 from the civil parishes of Bolton and Deane comprises the northern part of Westhoughton township also the whole of the township of Lostock, in the Westhoughton division of the county, Salford hundred, Bolton petty sessional division, union and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Bolton and archdeaconry and diocese of Manchester. The church of St John the Evangelist, Wingates, erected in 1858, is a plain stone building, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a turret containing one bell: four memorial windows have been erected by the late James Hartley Charlton esq. to his mother (1870) and four by Joshua Fielden esq. to his brothers (1878): the east window was given by the Pilkington family in memory of a daughter of that house (1867), and there are three other memorial windows: the church has 507 sittings. The register dates from the year 1859. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £300, including 6 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Deane, and held since 1888 by the Rev. Samuel Sheppard, who resides at Westhoughton. The soil is loam; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are oats and hay. The acreage is 1,520; the population in 1901 was 4,209, of which 3,355 were in Westhoughton.

SCHOOLS

Public Elementary, built in 1851, for 370 children; average attendance, 219.

Public Elementary (mixed), built in 1887, for 500 children; average attendance, 350.

Public Elementary, Four Gates (mixed), built in 1875, for 250 children; average attendance, 170.

Public Elementary, Lostock St. John, Chew Moor; average attendance, 120.