HURST, a hamlet and a parochial chapelry in Ashton-under-Lyne parish, Lancashire. The hamlet lies in the Hartshead division of the parish; is now under the local government act; and contains the villages of Higher Hurst, Hurst-Nook, and Hurst-Brook. Higher Hurst village stands near the N r. station of Ashton-under-Lyne, about 1½ mile N of the centre of Ashton-under-Lyne town; is a populous place; and has a post office under Ashton-under-Lyne. The infantry and cavalry barracks, erected in 1843, at a cost of £42, 500, are a short distance to the E.—The chapelry was constituted in 1846. Rated property, £10,200. Pop. in 1861, 6,214. Houses, 1,269. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchcster. Value, £300.* Patron, alternately the Crown and the Bishop. The church was built in 1847, and enlarged in 1862. A chapelry of Hurst-Brook was constituted, and a church for it built, in 1865 ''The living is a p. curacy. Value, £300. Patrons, Trustees. There are a N.Methodist chapel and national and British schools

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