Worsley

Worsley is a historically significant town located close to the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. It is pleasantly situated on the Worsley Brook and Bridgewater Canal route, being a former mining community. Two Roman roads are present in the town, which shows evidence of having been a settlement in both the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. Worsley is currently under consideration to become a World Heritage Site, as the town boasts a number of historical sites of interest, including Worsley Delph, which is a Scheduled Monument and a large area of the town centre is now a conservation area.

Two of the more significant discoveries in the area are the hoard of Roman coins by a Boothstown quarry in 1947, and the head of a man on Worsley Moss. Now known as the Worsley man, which was found in 1958 and dates to around the 2nd century AD.

Coal mining has been an important industry in the area around Worsley from as early as 1376 and the Scheduled Monument, the Worsley Delph, is one of the country's best examples of English coal mining heritage and of how the landscape was utilised during the Industrial Revolution. The two entrances to the delph provided the Starvationer boats, with access to the 46 miles of underground canal, which were divided over four levels and connected by inclined planes. The area was visited by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1909, when they stayed at Worsley New Hall, the remains of which can still be viewed at Worsley Hall Garden Centre. Worsley Old Hall is a Grade II listed Post Medieval building, now used as a public house. The hall is said to have once been moated, although no evidence survives to verify this.

There is much to see and do in the local area around Worsley, with ease off access to the major towns, cities and attractions as well as to the more subdued and traditional activities of fishing and long country walks in this picturesque part of northern England.