Ince-in-Makerfield or Ince is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the Ince ward at the 2011 census was 13,486, but a southern part of Ince was also listed under the Abram ward (north of Warrington Road in this ward). Adding on this area brings the total in 2011 to 15,664. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Ince is contiguous to Wigan and is a residential suburb. Divided by a railway line into two separate areas - Higher Ince and Lower Ince, from 1894 Ince was an urban district of the administrative county of Lancashire and in 1974 became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. Toponymy The name Ince may be of Cumbric origin and derived from ïnïs, meaning 'island' or, as is likely in this case, 'dry land' (Welsh ynys). History The earliest mention of the manor of Ince and the Ince family dates from 1202 at which point it was under the barony of Newton in Makerfield (Newton le Willows). There were three halls in Ince, both the manor of Ince and the original hall on Warrington Road were held by a family of the same name who also owned the manor of Aspull and had close ties to the Hindley family, the lineage was replaced by the Gerard family by marriage in the reign of Henry IV who adopted the name Gerard family of Ince and the manor remained with them for several centuries until William Gerard sold it to the Earl of Balcarres at some point between 1796 and 1825, it was of timber framed construction. A branch of the Gerard family lived at New Hall from about 1600 until the line died out with marriage to the Andertons of Euxton who adopted the name Ince Anderton and temporarily inhabited the hall from 1760 to 1818 before moving to Euxton Hall. The third also known as Ince Hall was originally a timber and plaster building built in the reign of James I off Manchester Road, it originally had a moat, Italian chimneys and an oak panelled interior but in 1854 was heavily damaged by fire and rebuilt in plain brick of no architectural merit and modernised inside. All three halls were still standing in 1911 but none remain today. The council offices in Ince, designed by Heaton Ralph and Heaton, were completed in 1903.