Pilkiton, Pilkinton, Pulkinton, 1200; Pilketon, 1221: Pilkinton, Pynkelton, Pynkilnton, 1277: Pilkington, 1282. The forms with and without the g are common from this time.

This township is bounded on two sides, the southwest and north, by the River Irwell, which makes an acute bend at the western corner, and its tributary the Roch; on the northeast the Whittle Brook, running into the latter stream, cuts it off from Pilsworth and Heap. The southern boundary is formed by the high land towards Heaton, and the clough towards Prestwich. The highest ground is near the centre, a ridge about a mile from east to west reaching the 400-ft level. The township measures about 4 miles by 2, and has an area of 5,469 acres (including Outwood 1,939; Whitefield, 2,058 ˝; and Unsworth, 1,471 ˝. The census report of 1901 gives:- Outwood, 1,938 acres, including 80 of inland water; Whitefield, 1,406, including 9; the part taken into Radcliffe, 625, including 23; Unsworth (enlarged), 3,067, including 27). The population in 1901 was 15,578, including 324 in the area added to Unsworth.

For a long time there were three recognised divisions, or hamlets, in the township – Unsworth (Hundesworth in 1292) in the east, Whitefield in the centre, and Outwood in the west. Unsworth village lay in the centre of its division on the higher ground between two brooks running north to Whittle Brook and to the Roch. The hamlets of Hollins and Blackford Bridge are near the Roch. Whitefield, also centrally placed, has grown into a town, stretching along the high road from Besses o' th' Barn (the name is said to have originated from the innkeeper about 1750) on the south to the Irwell. To the northwest is a suburb of Radcliffe, at the bridge over the Irwell. To the south of these, on the highest ground, is the hamlet of Stand, with Pilkington and Stand Halls. Outwood still has the park on the border of Prestwich and a number of wooded cloughs. At the west-end are Cinder Hill, part of Ringley - the other part being across the river, in Kearsley - and Prestolee (perhaps Prestall Lee, from Prestall on the other side of the Irwell in Farnworth and Kearsley).

The principal road is that from Manchester to Bury. Two branches of it unite at the southern border, and go north through Thatchleach, Besses o’Th' Barn, Four Lane Ends, and Whitefield. Here the road divides again; one branch goes north to Bury, crossing the Irk at Wackford Bridge, and another goes northwest to Radcliffe Bridge. From Whitefield also roads branch off north- east to Unsworth, southwest to the Irwell. and west to Stand and Ringley, where there are bridges over the Irwell. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Company’s Manchester, Radcliffe, and Bury Railway passes north and north west through the centre, with a station at Whitefield, opened in 1879 (electric tramways connect Whitefield with Manchester and Bury). The same company's branch from Clifton to Radcliffe and Bury winds west and north through Outwood with stations called Molyneux Brow and Ringley Road. The Manchester and Bolton Canal also passes through Outwood, crossing the Irwell from Clifton, keeping close to the river most of the way, and crossing it again near Prestolee.

A dragon story is told of Unsworth (Harland and Wilkinson, Traditions of Lancashire).

Pilkington has since 1894 ceased to exist as a township. Whitefield, the central portion, which obtained a local board in 1866, has been in part added to Radcliffe; a new township has been made on the south-west called Outwood, while Unsworth has given its name to a township on the other side, made up of the old Unsworth and Pilsworth, with the detached part of Heap which adjoined it. The new townships are governed by parish councils.

In 1666 there were as many as 245 hearths liable to be taxed. The three hamlets showed the following:- Outwood, 70 hearths, no house having six hearths; Whitefield 135, Margaret Sergeant's house having eight; and Unsworth 40, no house having six hearths.

The view from Stand Hall was thus described in 1806:- 'The large town of Manchester spreads along the valley in front of the house at some miles distance, and the less one of Bury is seen distinctly to the left, surrounded by villages, with simple cottages dispersed along the plain. The hills of Lancashire, Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire rising in succession, spread in a vast amphitheatre, till lost in the immensity of space; while the rugged tops of the Welsh mountains, which I gazed upon as old friends, hide their heads in the clouds, of which they seem to form a part. . . The neighbourhood abounds with families of immense wealth, and reminds me of what Clapham Common is to London. The villas of the gentry are handsome, and their pleasure grounds are tastefully laid out. The rich woods and green park of Heaton House, the seat of the Earl of Wilton, appear from the terrace of Stand Hall too much advantage; but the most prominent feature in this landscape is the pretty church of Prestwich. (E.I Spencer’s Summer Excursions)

Stand Hall, a large timber and plaster house, was taken down in 1835, and a new house built (a description of the remaining part of Stand Old Hall by E.W.Cox, with several views, is given in Col. J. Pilkington’s Pilkington Family). A large wooden barn belonging to the old house has been the subject of much attention because of an absurd theory that it was built of the timbers of a wooden predecessor of the present Cathedral church of Manchester.

see also
Pilkington family
picture of Stand Hall 1890
article about Stand Hall