Manchester
& the Northwest Region of England
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The
County of Lancashire - 7
The Townships
of Lancashire
Including Lancashire cities, boroughs, towns and major villages
Note that some
of the towns listed below are now in the Greater Manchester Metropolitan
County and others in Merseyside and therefore (technically) no longer
in Lancashire.
Alphabetical
order - continued:
Leigh
Leigh is
Anglo-Saxon in origin, and it's name means a "pasture"
or "meadow". Leigh did not exist as a named entity before
early mediaeval times, but the district contained a few scattered
cottages among a rather poor quality landscape. Leigh was formed
as a parish in the 12th century and comprised six townships -
Bedford, Pennington, Westleigh,
Astley, Atherton and Tyldesley-with-Shakerley.
A church existed, oddly, standing across the boundaries of Westleigh
and of Pennington. The market place, near the church, was on the
Pennington side of the boundary.
In 1875 the three old townships were joined together and in 1894
part of Atherton was added and the Urban District of Leigh came
into being as a result. In August 1899 by Charter it became the
Borough of Leigh, and remained so until Local Government reorganisation
of 1974, when it became part of the Wigan
Metropolitan Borough.
Newton-le-Willows
Newton is
located near the intersection of an old road between Haydock and
Lowton, and a Roman road from Warrington to Wigan,
and probably got it's name during Saxon times when it emerged,
simply as a "new town". However, excavations at Castle
Hill in Newton have revealed ancient British artefacts dating
back to 55 BC and suggest that it was constructed by the Celts
as a burial mound.
During Norman times
Newton became the chief town in the Hundred of Newton. The Domesday
Book of 1086 shows that much of the lands in Newton had been taken
over by Robert de Banastre. The Banastres probably built a castle
or baronial mansion in Newton, but the site of it is uncertain.
In 1258 Robert de Banastre was granted a Charter to hold markets
and fairs in the town, to be held near the site of the present
St. Peter*s Church. These markets were held on Saturdays and Mondays,
and the fairs in May and July.
In 1286 Alice, sole heir to the Banastre family , married John
Langton, and the land passed into ownership of the Langton family.
Newton elected its first MPs to Parliament in 1559, during the
reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Later the area fell under the ownership
of the Fleetwoods and then in 1660 Richard Legh of Lyme in Cheshire
bought Newton from the Fleetwood family and became lord of the
manor.
Ormskirk's
first permanent inhabitants were probably Scandinavian settlers
(Danes, Vikings or Norsemen) from Ireland and the Isle of Man
who invaded and settled in the north-west of England in the 9th
century. Among their number was one Orme, a leader who settled
on the coast just south of the River Ribble in 840 AD. Orme was
a Christian, or at least was an early convert as it was he who
built a 'kirk' (church) on the hill where the settlement
was situated. Hence, the settlement in time came to be known as
'Orme's Kirk'.
In 1286 the monks of Burscough Priory were granted a Royal Charter
by King Edward I to hold a market in the town every week on Thursdays.
Soon the town became a major commercial and trading centre for
the surrounding farmlands. Later, in 1461, King Edward IV granted
a charter for the holding of annual fairs. In 1876 the Saturday
market day was added to the original Thursday market day and regular
horse and cattle fairs were held in the town until they died out
in the early part of the twentieth century. The market still exists
today.
Pendle
The Borough
of Pendle consists of the townships of Colne, Nelson, Barnoldswick
and Brierfield, though there are several smaller villages scattered
around the borough including Earby, Foulridge, Trawden, Reedley,
Kelbrook, Winewall, Wycollar and Barrowford.
The earliest settlements in Pendle date back to the Mesolithic
Period (as far back as 12,000 BC) where flint tools and stone
axe heads have been found at Boulsworth Moor, Monkroyd, Wycoller
and Catlow.
Later a major settlement existed at the hill fort at Castercliffe
dated at 6 BC and was populated by the Brigantes - an early
Celtic tribe.
After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century AD,
the land was frequently attacked by continental invaders from
North Germany - the Angles. They colonised much of Marsden (Nelson)
and Trawden.
By the 11th century, Pendle became border territory and suffered
further incursions from Scandinavia - the Vikings. Pendle was
given over to Viking rule by Alfred of Wessex as part of "Danelaw".
It was at this time that the town probably got its name from "pen"
(meaning hill).
1612 saw the infamous trials of the so-called Lancashire Witches,
when twelve people from Pendle were tried and seven hanged for
witchcraft.
Poulton-le-Fylde
Poulton -
(perhaps originally "Poolton") means, simply,
"the town by the pool" Its name is derived from the
River Wyre, situated at the bottom of the Breck at Skippool. In
the 1086 Domesday Survey, Poulton was counted in the in the 60
villages in the Amounderness Hundred.
Poulton never had a Charter to hold a market, but one had existed
there unofficially over many centuries, and was first mentioned
in a document of 1628, by which time it was already well established.
Thus the town became an important market and commercial centre
for local farmsteads with blacksmiths, farriers, nail makers,
carpenters and joiners, shoemakers, dressmakers and tailors in
trade as well as all manner of food and victual suppliers. The
market cross still stands in the square though regular markets
have not been held there for some time. In 1842 "le-Fylde"
was added to the town name to distinguish it from nearby Poulton-le-Sands
near Morecambe.
Prescot
The name Prescot
probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon "prescota-cot"
meaning a 'priest cottage' and it was the centre of large medieval
parish in the West Derby Hundred. Originally it included fourteen
other townships including St Helens.
In 1333 the Lord of the Manor, William D'Acre, was granted the
right to hold a weekly market. In 1391 the manor was sold to John
of Gaunt and on his death passed to his son, who subsequently
became King Henry IV. A Royal Charter exempted the people of Prescot
from paying taxes. A number of potteries in the area provided
an important source of revenue and by 1592 there were seven pottery
kilns known to exist in the town. Thus the town producing fine
pottery, examples of which can be seen in Prescot Museum. Coal
was also mined near the town in the early 16th century. The local
mine prospered until the opening of the Sankey Canal in 1767 which
broke the town's monopoly of supply to the City of Liverpool.
Watchmaking was also introduced into Prescot by Huguenot refugees
from France. Watchmaking skills were further developed by local
blacksmiths, and by 1795 Prescot was said to produce the best
watches and clocks in the world.
Preston
Preston is
the administrative centre of the County of Lancashire and the
seat of Lancashire County Council. It has a long and celebrated
history with Preston Parish Church dating back to the 8th century
AD. It was in 1179 that Preston's first Charter is granted by
King Henry II. It is located at the centre of Lancashire's business
and transport network - within easy access of major motorways
- the M6 for Birmingham and the Lake District, the M61 to Bolton
and Manchester, the M55 to Blackpool and Lytham and the M65 into
east Lancashire.
Preston', as a university town, currently has around 25,000 students,
with the University of Central Lancashire in Preston as the sixth
largest and one of the fastest growing Universities in the UK.
The economy of Preston is largely based on traditional manufacturing
industries such as textiles and engineering. Major employers include:
Alstom train manufactures and BAe Systems who produce military
and commercial aircraft. Preston has a population
of around 129,000, and was awarded city status in April 2002 by
Her Majesty the Queen in celebration of her Golden Jubilee.
