FARNWORTH has been named as one of divorce capitals of Greater Manchester, with nearly one in eight people having gone through a separation.

Figures collated after the 2001 Census show that 11.9 per cent of people over 16 have suffered a failed marriage -- second in Greater Manchester, and nearly 50 per cent more than the national average of 8.2 per cent.

The growing divorce rate means the figure could now be even higher.

In other nearby towns the divorce rates also dwarves the national average.

More divorcees live on the Higher Folds estate, between Leigh and Tyldesley, than anywhere else in the country.

A massive 16 per cent -- one in six -- have suffered a divorce.

Eccles and Atherton also make the top 10 in Greater Manchester, with 9.8 per cent divorced.

The Rev Cherry Vann, team rector of churches in Farnworth, said she believed marriage breakdown was linked to poverty and social pressures.

"Divorce happens for all sorts of reasons," she said. "The pressures on married life are phenomenal.

"People are much busier, for a start, and there are more financial pressures as a result of borrowing and mortgages.

"If you look at government figures, Farnworth is certainly a lot more deprived than other parts of the country and poverty plays a great part in creating stress in a relationship."

Ms Vann said church weddings in Farnworth had gone up over the last 12 months, but she did not believe people were rushing into getting hitched.

"It's not necessarily down to people getting married when they are younger or before they are ready," she said.

"I think we've lost the sense of community and support which help keep marriages together.

"It was a scandal to get divorced 50 years ago, but it's not necessarily a bad thing that people now have a way out of marriage if it is failing for them."

Denise Knowles, a counsellor for marriage guidance group Relate, said: "It's certainly a very high rate.

"Where there are pockets of high divorce levels you often have to look at a range of social and particularly economic factors.

"Economic disadvantage does put extra strain on any relationship."

REV CHERRY VANN: "Poverty plays a great part in creating stress in a relationship"