Yew Tree Colliery on 11 December 1858 when an explosion of firedamp caused by a safety lamp cost 25 lives. The youngest victim was 11 and the oldest 35 years of age. Some of the victims are buried in the churchyard at St George's Church. Another explosion on 6 March 1877 at Great Boys Colliery cost eight lives and on 2 October 1883, six men died when the cage rope broke at Nelson Colliery in Shakerley. On 1 October 1895 five men including the colliery manager and undermanager died at Shakerley Colliery after an explosion of firedamp. Grundy's Foundry was another important employer. Its founder, John Grundy invented a warm air heating system that was used in churches and halls. He built a foundry close to the railway in Lower Elliot Street. Industry declined after the Second World War and subsequent land reclamation and new housing developments have changed the face of the town, but its centre retains the atmosphere of a bustling market town, with a refurbished market square. The steep terraces branching off the main streets give the town a distinctive character. Governance Historically, Tyldesley formed part of the Hundred of West Derby, a judicial division of southwest Lancashire. Tyldesley cum Shakerley was one of the six townships or vills that made up and predated the ancient parish of Leigh. It was the largest of the townships at : Tyldesley having an area of and Shakerley . Under the terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 the townships formed part of the Leigh Poor Law Union comprising an area covering the whole of the ancient parish of Leigh and part of Winwick, established on 26 January 1837. A workhouse in Tyldesley was replaced by Leigh Union workhouse at Atherleigh in the 1850s. Tyldesley was constituted a civil parish in 1866. In 1863 the Local Government Act 1858 was adopted and the township was governed by a local board of health. The first Tyldesley Local Board was formed after elections on 24 October 1863. Among those elected were mill owners, Caleb Wright and Oliver Burton, and colliery owners, William Ramsden and George Green, a mixture of Tories and Liberals. The Local Board took over the gas works in 1865, built the first swimming baths and opened Tyldesley Cemetery in 1876 and built sewage works at Morleys Hall in Astley in 1884. The local board offices were in Lower