ECCLES  , a municipal

borough in the Eccles parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 4 M . W. of Manchester, of which it forms practically a suburb . Pop . (19o1) 34,369 . It is served by the London & North-Western railway and by the Birkenhead railway (North-Western and Great Western joint) . The Manchester Ship Canal passes through . The church of St Mary is believed to date from the 12th century, but. has been enlarged and wholly restored in modern times . There are several hand-some modern churches and chapels, a town hall, and numerous cotton mills, while silk-throwing and the manufacture of fustians and ginghams are also among the industries, and there are also large engine works . A peculiar form of cake is made here, taking name from the town, and has a wide reputation . Eccles was incorporated in 1892, and the corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors . The borough maintains the tramway service, &c., but water and gas are supplied from Manchester and Salford respectively . Area, 2057 acres .

Before the

Reformation the monks of Whalley Abbey had a grange here at what is still called Monks' Hall; and in 1864 many thousands of silver pennies of Henry III. and John of England and William I. of Scotland were discovered near the spot . Robert Ainsworth, the author of the Latin and English dictionary so long familiar to English students, was born at Eccles in 166o; and it was at the vicarage that William Huskisson expired on the 15th of September 183o from injuries received at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester railway . From early times " wakes " were held at Eccles, and bull-baiting, bear-baiting and cock-fighting were carried on . Under Elizabeth these festivals, which had become notoriously disorderly, were abolished, but were revived under James I., and maintained until late in the 19th century on public ground . The cockpit remained on the site of the present town hall . A celebration on private property still recalls these wakes .