Elswick, Lancashire
Encyclopedia
Elswick is a rural village and civil parish
in the English county of Lancashire
, situated on the coastal plain
called the Fylde
. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, the parish had a population of 1,057. At the time of the Norman conquest of England
in 1066, Elswick was a small agricultural community in the hundred of Amounderness
. The village was originally part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Michael's on Wyre
. A Nonconformist
chapel was built in Elswick before 1650.
Elswick is part of the local government district of Fylde and is in the parliamentary constituency of Fylde
. It lies approximately 8.5 miles (14 km) east of Blackpool
, and about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of Preston.
of 1086 as Edeleswic. In later documents it was recorded variously as Etleswhic, Etheliswyck and Elleswyk. At the time of the Norman conquest of England
in 1066, the township
of Elswick—as part of the ancient hundred of Amounderness
—was in the possession of Earl Tostig, the brother of King Harold II
. Tostig died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
and his lands were subsequently taken over by the Normans. Between 1069 and 1086 William the Conqueror gave Amounderness to Anglo-Norman
baron Roger the Poitevin
. In the Domesday Book, the area of Elswick was estimated at three carucate
s of land.
In the 13th century, part of the township of Elswick was owned by the lord of Freckleton
, and smaller parts by Warine de Whittingham and Alan de Singleton. In the early 16th century, Henry VII
's administrator Edmund Dudley
held the township and it was later in the possession of Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby
.
Elswick was part of the Ecclesiastical parish of St Michael's on Wyre
and Elswick's villagers would have worshipped at St Michael's Church, approximately 5 miles (8 km) away. By 1650 a chapel had been built in the village which at that point was recorded as containing 50 families. It was intended to be a chapel of ease
to St Michael's but was neither endowed nor consecrated
, possibly because of the turmoil of the English Civil War
. The chapel was licensed in 1671 for use as a Nonconformist
s' meeting place and used initially by Presbyterian
worshippers. When this license was made illegal, the chapel closed and later reopened as a Congregational
chapel. In 1753, it was replaced by a new building, which was enlarged in 1838. This in turn was replaced by a chapel built 1873–74 by H. J. Powell, on land given by a Miss Harrison.
In 1902, a sanatorium for smallpox
sufferers was built in the village. It was later a treatment centre for tuberculosis
patients and then a probation hostel.
of Elswick and Little Eccleston, which elects one councillor
. , the ward is represented by Paul Hayhurst, a non-aligned councillor.
The village is represented in the House of Commons
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
as part of the constituency of Fylde
. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Since the 2010 general election, Fylde has been represented at Parliament by Conservative
MP Mark Menzies
. The village is also part of the North West England constituency
of the European Parliament
.
called the Fylde
. It is approximately 8.5 miles (14 km) east of the seaside resort of Blackpool
, approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Poulton-le-Fylde
and about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of its post town
, Preston. Nearby villages include Great Eccleston
, St Michael's on Wyre and Thistleton
.
Elswick has a generally temperate
maritime climate
like much of the British Isles
, with cool summers and mild winters. In nearby Blackpool, there is an annual average rainfall of 871.3 millimetres (34.3 in).
, the civil parish of Elswick had a population of 1,057. The 2001 population density for the ward of Elswick and Little Eccleston was 1.61 per hectare, with a 100 to 96.8 female-to-male ratio. The proportion of residents who classified themselves as White was 99.5%, a figure higher than those for Fylde (98.6%), the North West (94.4%) and England (90.9%).
Elswick and Little Eccleston's 573 households included 21.5% one-person, 52.7% married couples living together (with or without children), 6.5% co-habiting couples, and 4.9% single parents with their children.
Historically, Elswick has largely been a rural agricultural community. In the 11th century it had the largest amount of cultivated land in the parish of St Michael. There was also a cottage weaving
industry in the village up to the 19th century with villagers weaving flax
and then cotton
on hand looms. In the 21st century, Elswick is a dormitory village and many residents commute to Preston, Blackpool and Poulton-le-Fylde. The average distance travelled to work for the ward of Elswick and Little Eccleston is approximately 12.4 miles (20 km).
In 2001, compared to the rest of the Fylde borough, Elswick had a low proportion of unemployed people, and a low proportion of people in NRS social grade
"E" (those at the lowest levels of subsistence). The percentage of unemployed people in the Elswick and Little Eccleston ward was lower than the averages for North West England
and England as a whole, although slightly higher than the average for Fylde. There is a higher percentage of self-employed workers in Elswick and Little Eccleston than in Fylde, North West England and England as a whole.
chapel of 1753 is now used as a church hall. It is a roughcast building on a rectangular plan with a two-storey house attached. The old chapel has been designated a Grade II listed building by English Heritage
. The newer chapel, completed in 1874, is in the style of a traditional parish church with a tower. It is now a United Reformed church.
Elswick Manor is an early 19th-century house. It is rendered
and has slate
roofs. It has also received a Grade II designation. Hartwell and Pevsner
(2009) describe the building as "nothing special". Other listed buildings in Elswick include the lodge to the manor house and farm buildings.
The village has two pubs—the Ship Inn and the Boot and Shoe. The village is known locally for its ice cream parlour, Bonds of Elswick.
and Kirkham and Wesham
, both on the line between Blackpool
and Preston
. Elswick lies east of the M6 motorway
and is linked to it by the M55 motorway
approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) away at Greenhalgh and by the B5269 road via Broughton
.
Elswick's nearest international airport—approximately 6.5 miles away—is Blackpool International Airport which has an annual capacity of 350,000 passengers. The North West
region is also served by the larger Liverpool John Lennon Airport
and Manchester Airport.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the English county of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, situated on the coastal plain
Coastal plain
A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...
called the Fylde
The Fylde
The Fylde ; Scandinavian: "field") is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, the parish had a population of 1,057. At the time of the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, Elswick was a small agricultural community in the hundred of Amounderness
Amounderness
Amounderness was a hundred of Lancashire in North West England. Formerly, the name had been used for territories now in Lancashire and north of the River Ribble that had been included in Domesday Yorkshire.-Etymology and history:...
. The village was originally part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Michael's on Wyre
St Michael's On Wyre
St Michael's on Wyre is a village on the Fylde, in the Borough of Wyre, in Lancashire, England; it lies on the River Wyre. The village is centred on the church of St Michael's which was founded before AD 640...
. A Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
chapel was built in Elswick before 1650.
Elswick is part of the local government district of Fylde and is in the parliamentary constituency of Fylde
Fylde (UK Parliament constituency)
Fylde is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...
. It lies approximately 8.5 miles (14 km) east of Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, and about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of Preston.
History
Elswick was listed in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086 as Edeleswic. In later documents it was recorded variously as Etleswhic, Etheliswyck and Elleswyk. At the time of the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066, the township
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
of Elswick—as part of the ancient hundred of Amounderness
Amounderness
Amounderness was a hundred of Lancashire in North West England. Formerly, the name had been used for territories now in Lancashire and north of the River Ribble that had been included in Domesday Yorkshire.-Etymology and history:...
—was in the possession of Earl Tostig, the brother of King Harold II
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...
. Tostig died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...
and his lands were subsequently taken over by the Normans. Between 1069 and 1086 William the Conqueror gave Amounderness to Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
baron Roger the Poitevin
Roger the Poitevin
Roger the Poitevin was born in Normandy in the mid-1060s and died before 1140 . He was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, who possessed large holdings in both England and through his marriage in France....
. In the Domesday Book, the area of Elswick was estimated at three carucate
Carucate
The carucate or ploughland was a unit of assessment for tax used in most Danelaw counties of England, and is found for example in Domesday Book. The carucate was based on the area a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season...
s of land.
In the 13th century, part of the township of Elswick was owned by the lord of Freckleton
Freckleton
Freckleton is a village and civil parish on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England, to the south of Kirkham and east of the seaside resort of Lytham St. Annes. It has a population of 6,045.Freckleton is near to Warton, with its links to BAE Systems...
, and smaller parts by Warine de Whittingham and Alan de Singleton. In the early 16th century, Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
's administrator Edmund Dudley
Edmund Dudley
Edmund Dudley was an English administrator and a financial agent of King Henry VII. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons and President of the King's Council. After the accession of Henry VIII, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed the next year on a treason charge...
held the township and it was later in the possession of Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby
Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby
Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby was an English peer.-Parents:Derby was the eldest son of George Stanley and Joan Strange, 9th Baroness Strange and 5th Baroness Mohun. Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby was his grandfather...
.
Elswick was part of the Ecclesiastical parish of St Michael's on Wyre
St Michael's On Wyre
St Michael's on Wyre is a village on the Fylde, in the Borough of Wyre, in Lancashire, England; it lies on the River Wyre. The village is centred on the church of St Michael's which was founded before AD 640...
and Elswick's villagers would have worshipped at St Michael's Church, approximately 5 miles (8 km) away. By 1650 a chapel had been built in the village which at that point was recorded as containing 50 families. It was intended to be a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
to St Michael's but was neither endowed nor consecrated
Consecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...
, possibly because of the turmoil of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. The chapel was licensed in 1671 for use as a Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
s' meeting place and used initially by Presbyterian
English Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism in England is distinct from Continental and Scottish forms of Presbyterianism. Whereas in Scotland, church government is based on a meeting of delegates, in England the individual congregation is the primary body of government...
worshippers. When this license was made illegal, the chapel closed and later reopened as a Congregational
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
chapel. In 1753, it was replaced by a new building, which was enlarged in 1838. This in turn was replaced by a chapel built 1873–74 by H. J. Powell, on land given by a Miss Harrison.
In 1902, a sanatorium for smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
sufferers was built in the village. It was later a treatment centre for tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
patients and then a probation hostel.
Governance
Elswick is governed locally by a parish council, which is made up of seven elected councillors. Elswick, with the parish of Little Eccleston with Larbreck, forms the wardWards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
of Elswick and Little Eccleston, which elects one councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
. , the ward is represented by Paul Hayhurst, a non-aligned councillor.
The village is represented in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
as part of the constituency of Fylde
Fylde (UK Parliament constituency)
Fylde is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...
. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Since the 2010 general election, Fylde has been represented at Parliament by Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Mark Menzies
Mark Menzies
Mark Andrew Menzies is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Fylde in Lancashire since 2010. He is Parliamentary Private Secretary to Charles Hendry MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change and a former member of the Scottish Affairs Select...
. The village is also part of the North West England constituency
North West England (European Parliament constituency)
North West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For the 2009 elections it elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.-Boundaries:...
of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
.
Geography
At 53°50′20"N 2°52′50"W (53.839°, −2.880°), and approximately 240 miles north-west of London, Elswick lies on a coastal plainCoastal plain
A coastal plain is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a seacoast and separated from the interior by other features. One of the world's longest coastal plains is located in eastern South America. The southwestern coastal plain of North America is notable for its species diversity...
called the Fylde
The Fylde
The Fylde ; Scandinavian: "field") is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
. It is approximately 8.5 miles (14 km) east of the seaside resort of Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Poulton-le-Fylde
Poulton-le-Fylde
Poulton-le-Fylde is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,264. There is evidence of human habitation in the area from 12,000 years ago and several archaeological finds from Roman...
and about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of its post town
Post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system. Including the correct post town in the address increases the chances of a letter or parcel being delivered on time. Post towns are usually based upon the location of...
, Preston. Nearby villages include Great Eccleston
Great Eccleston
Great Eccleston is a village and civil parish in the English county of Lancashire, situated on a coastal plain called the Fylde. The village lies to the south of the River Wyre and the A586 road, approximately upstream from the port of Fleetwood...
, St Michael's on Wyre and Thistleton
Thistleton, Lancashire
Greenhalgh-with-Thistleton is a civil parish on The Fylde in Lancashire, England. It has a population of 462.The parish is in the Borough of Fylde, and contains the hamlets of Greenhalgh, Thistleton, Esprick and Corner Row. It is part of the ward of Singleton and Greenhalgh, which elects one...
.
Elswick has a generally temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
maritime climate
Oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
like much of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, with cool summers and mild winters. In nearby Blackpool, there is an annual average rainfall of 871.3 millimetres (34.3 in).
Demography
At the 2001 UK censusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, the civil parish of Elswick had a population of 1,057. The 2001 population density for the ward of Elswick and Little Eccleston was 1.61 per hectare, with a 100 to 96.8 female-to-male ratio. The proportion of residents who classified themselves as White was 99.5%, a figure higher than those for Fylde (98.6%), the North West (94.4%) and England (90.9%).
Elswick and Little Eccleston's 573 households included 21.5% one-person, 52.7% married couples living together (with or without children), 6.5% co-habiting couples, and 4.9% single parents with their children.
Population change
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Elswick since 1801 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 |
| Population | 232 | 256 | 290 | 327 | 303 | 307 | 290 | 254 | 242 | 223 | 227 | 230 | 374 | 417 | — | 457 | 465 | 1,057 | |||
| Sources: | |||||||||||||||||||||
Economy
| Elswick and Little Eccleston Ward compared | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 UK census | Elswick and Little Eccleston | North West | England |
| Population of working age | 1,070 | 4,839,669 | 35,532,091 |
| Full time employment | 38.5% | 38.8% | 40.8% |
| Part time employment | 12.7% | 11.9% | 11.8% |
| Self employed | 15.4% | 7.1% | 8.3% |
| Unemployed | 2.1% | 3.6% | 3.4% |
| Retired | 14.4% | 14.1% | 13.5% |
Historically, Elswick has largely been a rural agricultural community. In the 11th century it had the largest amount of cultivated land in the parish of St Michael. There was also a cottage weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
industry in the village up to the 19th century with villagers weaving flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
and then cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
on hand looms. In the 21st century, Elswick is a dormitory village and many residents commute to Preston, Blackpool and Poulton-le-Fylde. The average distance travelled to work for the ward of Elswick and Little Eccleston is approximately 12.4 miles (20 km).
In 2001, compared to the rest of the Fylde borough, Elswick had a low proportion of unemployed people, and a low proportion of people in NRS social grade
NRS social grade
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey in order to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market...
"E" (those at the lowest levels of subsistence). The percentage of unemployed people in the Elswick and Little Eccleston ward was lower than the averages for North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
and England as a whole, although slightly higher than the average for Fylde. There is a higher percentage of self-employed workers in Elswick and Little Eccleston than in Fylde, North West England and England as a whole.
Landmarks
The CongregationalCongregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
chapel of 1753 is now used as a church hall. It is a roughcast building on a rectangular plan with a two-storey house attached. The old chapel has been designated a Grade II listed building by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. The newer chapel, completed in 1874, is in the style of a traditional parish church with a tower. It is now a United Reformed church.
Elswick Manor is an early 19th-century house. It is rendered
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
and has slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofs. It has also received a Grade II designation. Hartwell and Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
(2009) describe the building as "nothing special". Other listed buildings in Elswick include the lodge to the manor house and farm buildings.
The village has two pubs—the Ship Inn and the Boot and Shoe. The village is known locally for its ice cream parlour, Bonds of Elswick.
Transport
The railway came to the Fylde in 1840. There is no route through Elswick; the nearest railway stations to the village are Poulton-le-FyldePoulton-le-Fylde railway station
Poulton-le-Fylde railway station serves the town of Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is managed by Northern Rail, but also served by First TransPennine Express.-History:...
and Kirkham and Wesham
Kirkham and Wesham railway station
The Lancashire towns of Kirkham and Wesham, in England, are served by one railway station, Kirkham and Wesham. It is managed by Northern Rail, who operate most of the passenger services that call there .-Description:There are two platforms, and fairly obvious signs of the former size of the station...
, both on the line between Blackpool
Blackpool North railway station
Blackpool North railway station is the main railway station serving the seaside resort of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. It is the terminus of the main Blackpool branch line from Preston....
and Preston
Preston railway station
Preston railway station serves the city of Preston in Lancashire, England and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line.It is served by Northern Rail, Virgin Trains, and TransPennine Express services, plus First ScotRail overnight sleeper services between London and Scotland.-Station layout...
. Elswick lies east of the M6 motorway
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
and is linked to it by the M55 motorway
M55 motorway
The M55 is a motorway in Lancashire, England, which can also be referred to as the Preston Northern Bypass. It connects the seaside resort of Blackpool to the M6 at Preston. It is 11.4 miles in length.-Route:...
approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) away at Greenhalgh and by the B5269 road via Broughton
Broughton, Lancashire
Broughton is a village and civil parish in the City of Preston, Lancashire, England, about north of Preston city centre. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,735...
.
Elswick's nearest international airport—approximately 6.5 miles away—is Blackpool International Airport which has an annual capacity of 350,000 passengers. The North West
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
region is also served by the larger Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport serving the city of Liverpool and the North West of England. Formerly known as Speke Airport, RAF Speke, and Liverpool Airport the airport is located within the City of Liverpool adjacent to the estuary of the River Mersey some southeast...
and Manchester Airport.