LEVER (GREAT), a township-chapelry, with a village, in Middleton parish, Lancashire; on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, near the Bolton and Bury canal, 1½ mile SSE of Bolton r. station. Post town, Bolton. Acres, 770. Real property, £10,174; of which £3,750 are in mines. Pop., 722. Houses, 138. Most of the land belongs to the Earl of Bradford and the Earl of Ellesmere. There are some good residences; and there are chemical-works, bleaching-works, and collieries. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £130. Patron, the Earl of Bradford. The church is in the early and decorated English styles; and consists of nave and chancel, with a bell-turret.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))