Royton, United Kingdom

Unmentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, Royton does not appear in records until 1212, when it was documented to have been a thegnage estate, or manor, comprising twelve oxgangs of land, with an annual rate of 24 shillings payable by the tenant, William Fitz William, to King John. From William, who died in 1223, Royton passed to his son Thomas, who was still alive in 1254. Thomas's daughter Margery, who married Alexander Luttrell of Somerset, sold the majority of Royton and its outlying land to John de Byron in around 1260. It is from this exchange that the Byron family came to use Royton as their chief place of residence until the early part of the 17th century.

The early history of Royton is linked closely with what was then its manor house, Royton Hall, which was inhabited by the Byron family for over 350 years. During that period the Byrons' involvement in regional and national affairs added prestige to what was otherwise an obscure and rural township. John de Byron was a witness to the charter of incorporation of 1301, which elevated the township of Manchester to the status of a borough.

A descendant of John—John Byron—served as High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1572, and was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1579. John served as Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire at the time of the Spanish Armada, and sourced infantry from Royton towards the English military. His son, also called John, fought during the English Civil War on the side of the Cavaliers. His actions led to making him John Byron, 1st Baron Byron of Rochdale by way of a peerage granted by King Charles I. Following the regicide of Charles I, and the rise of Cromwellian England, Baron Byron's possessions, including his lands in Royton, were confiscated. Royton Hall was then purchased by Thomas Percival, a wealthy linen manufacturer whose descendants continued to occupy the hall until around 1814. The hall was then inherited by the Radcliffe Baronets.

Apart from the dignitaries who lived in Royton Hall, the population of Royton during the Middle Ages comprised a small community of retainers and farmers, most of whom were involved with pasture, but supplemented their incomes by weaving woollens in the domestic system. The area was thinly populated and consisted of several hamlets, including Thorp, Heyside and Royton village itself as the nucleus. During the Early Modern period, the weavers of Royton had been using spinning wheels in makeshift weavers' cottages, but as both the demand for cotton goods increased and the technology of cotton-spinning machinery improved during the early-18th century, the need for larger structures to house bigger, better and more efficient equipment became apparent. The construction of a water powered cotton mill by Ralph Taylor at Thorp Clough in 1764, is said to be the first structure of its kind.

The construction of more mills followed, which initiated a process of urbanisation and socioeconomic transformation in the region; the population moved away from farming, adopting employment in the factory system. The introduction of the factory system led to a tenfold increase of Royton's population in less than a century; from 260 in 1714 to 2,719 in 1810. Despite its growth as a centre for cotton-cloth production, and the construction of a chapel of ease in 1754, in 1780 Royton was said to have "contained only a few straggling and mean-built cottages". The people of Royton continued to produce cotton goods (mainly cloth) and sell them at the market in Manchester.

During this period of growth, Royton's parliamentary representation was limited to two members of parliament for Lancashire, and nationally, the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had resulted in periods of famine and chronic unemployment for textile weavers. By the beginning of 1819 the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the lack of suffrage in northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political Radicalism in the region. The Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, began to organise a mass public demonstration in Manchester to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. Organised preparations took place, and a spy reported that "seven hundred men drilled at Tandle Hill as well as any army regiment would"; a few days later, on 3 August, a royal proclamation forbidding the practice of drilling was posted in Manchester.

On 16 August 1819, Royton (like its neighbours) sent a contingent of its townsfolk to Manchester to join the mass political demonstration now known as the Peterloo massacre (owing to the 15 deaths and 400–700 injuries that followed). Royton's contingent was of particular note, in that it sent a sizable female section to the demonstration.