Editing Haydock (section)

==History==
The placename means "barley, wheat" with the suffix ''-aco'' meaning "place". An undated source refers to the name as ''Heidiog''. The village is often referred to by the [[colloquial]] name of 'Yick', and its inhabitants may be referred to as 'Yickers' .<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/coffey_time/9290813.So_Yickers_trace_nickname_roots_back_to_canal_barges_/|title=So Yickers trace nickname roots back to canal barges!|work=St Helens Star|access-date=28 September 2017}}</ref>
[[File:Old Boston Colliery baths.jpg|thumb|Old Boston Colliery baths]]
Haydock was one of the United Kingdom's richest areas in coal and coal mining, [[Haydock Collieries]] had up to 13 collieries working at one time. The last colliery in Haydock – Wood Pit – closed in 1971, bringing to an end coal mining in the area. This site had been the scene of the [[Wood Pit disaster]] on 7 June 1878 which a subsequent report of the Inspector of Mines concluded claimed the lives of 189 men and boys.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/uknames/u1878-02.htm | website = Durham Mining Museum| title=Disasters - 7th June 1878, Haydock, Wood Pit | access-date = 10 March 2025 }}</ref> Among them were forty-five-year-old Nathan Boon and his five sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Haydock/WoodPitExplosion.html|title=List of the Victims of The Wood Pit Explosion Haydock, 1878|work=GENUKI UK & Ireland Genealogy|access-date=26 November 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/poem9.htm|title=Poem from a Remembrance Card for Nathan Boon, Wood Pit Explosion|access-date=9 November 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070809100049/http://www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/poem9.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 9 August 2007}}</ref> According to [[GenUKI]], 15 victims were not included in the Inspector's report but their names "appeared in the Coroner's Inquest and in some cases in the burial registers". If included, the final death toll would have been 204.

The Old Boston Trading Estate was built atop the colliery of the same name in the north of Haydock. After the colliery was closed, due to an underground fire, the site was used for many years as a training centre for National Coal Board employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aditnow.co.uk/Photo/Ncb-Old-Boston-Training-Centre-Haydock_57046/|title=Old Boston Training Centre Haydock}}</ref>

Surrounded by agricultural [[arable land|farmland]], much of the village's expansion was due to mining and [[canal]] transport.<ref name=HaydockFarrer/> In the early 1900s, Haydock had no fewer than three railway stations–[[Haydock railway station|Haydock]], [[Ashton-in-Makerfield railway station|Ashton-in-Makerfield]], and [[Haydock Park railway station|Haydock Park]]–along the line which passed through from [[St Helens Central (GCR) railway station|St. Helens]] to [[Lowton St Mary's railway station|Lowton]].<ref name=HaydockFarrer/>