The Eccles Wakes
As many illustrious players of this historic club will confirm, Eccles can be a lively, boisterous town at weekends. But what may come as a surprise is that the town’s reputation for rowdy entertainment actually stretches back several hundred years to when Eccles would host an annual 3-day street party every August!
The ‘Eccles Wakes’ traditionally commenced on the eve of the feast day of St Mary, to whom the Parish Church is dedicated, and had their origins in the ancient custom of rush bearing, when villagers would bring decorated cartloads of rushes to spread over the church floor for a vigil mass which began at sunset on a Saturday, often called a ‘wake’ due to the late hour. As these occasions developed the community celebrations grew to include sports, music, dance and drinking.
Village wakes flourished throughout Lancashire and became regonised as holidays for tradesmen and notorious for public disorder. When James Brindley's wonderous Barton Aqueduct crossed the Irwell in 1761, coal was floated from Worsley to Manchester to fuel the industrial revoloution and the rural existence of Eccles was changed forever. Any excuse to break free from the hard graft of the colleries, canals and mills was grabbed with both hands, which were usually wrapped around a tankard of ale. By the 19th Century the famous Eccles Wakes were attracting large crowds from the surrounding district and had become a somewhat less than pious affair. The recreation area between Barton Lane, Oxford Road and Pleasant Road was transformed into a racecourse where Jack Ass riders and ladies would compete in races to win a smock; competitions held along Church Street included blood sports such as bull and bear-baiting or cock fighting and the roistering would often result in drunkenness and fighting. Other typical spectacles would include chasing a greased pig, thick porridge eating, and a race for Wooden Legged Men! By 1877 local residents had enough of the riotous behaviour and at the request of the Local Board the Home Secretary banned the Eccles Wakes.
Thankfully, the paintings of Joseph Parry have preserved the atmosphere and revelry of the 1820s Eccles Wakes Fairs for us, and we can all look forward to next year's Eccles Beer & Gin Festival embracing its heritage and bringing back an eating contest "of 3lb of treacle and bread” and “a smoking match for ten old women”!
When it were all fields! 1850 Map of Peel Green, Patricorft, Eccles, 40 years before the Manchester Ship Canal passed through Barton-upon-Irwell.
Eccles Wakes Fair, 1822 Joseph Parry, oil on canvas, displayed in Salford Museum and Art Gallery. The tower of St Mary the Virgin parish Church visible in the background.
Eccles Wakes, Racing for The Smock. 1822 Joseph Parry, oil on canvas, displayed in Salford Museum and Art Gallery. Shows the temporary race course for donkeys with cheering crowds and a public house and the parish church in the background.
Eccles Wakes, Ale House, Joseph Parry. Oil on Canvas. Displayed in Manchester Art Gallery. Smoking, drinking, cavorting, kids, dogs, half time oranges - welcome the the Eccles clubhouse circa 1820!
Eccles Wakes by Joseph Parry. Oil on panel. Manchester Art Gallery. Depicts bustling merriment, colourful characters, spaniels and an unfolding drama in the background! Standard Eccles Beer Festival.
The ancient church of St Mary the Virgin, Eccles, was in medieval times the centre of a large ecclesiastical parish and was the only church in the area for several hundred years. It has has occupied its site since before the Norman conquest.
