Garstang
Encyclopedia
Garstang is a town and civil parish
within the Wyre
borough of Lancashire
, England. It is ten miles north-northwest of the city of Preston and eleven miles south of Lancaster
, and had a total resident population of 4,074 in 2001.. It is famous for being the world's first ever Fairtrade Town
.
in Churchtown
and Greenhalgh Castle
can be found in "The Parish of Garstang", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7.
King Charles II
is alleged to have spent the night in a town centre pub
, the Royal Oak, during the Civil War
.
St. John Plessington
was born at Dimples Hall, which is just outside the town.
Garstang was once served by Garstang and Catterall railway station
which closed in 1969, and Garstang Town railway station
which closed to passengers in 1930.
The town is overlooked by the ruined remains of Greenhalgh Castle
, built in 1490 by Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby
.
as Cherestanc. Later recordings of the name include Geresteng, Grestein, 1204; Gayrestan, 1236; Gayerstang, 1246; Gayrstang, 1274; Gayrestang, 1292.
and an agricultural show
every year in August.
In April 2000 Garstang declared itself "the world's first Fairtrade Town
", influencing many other towns, cities and counties around the United Kingdom to work towards the same goal. The Fairtrade Town status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on 13 August 2003.
Planning approval has been given to build a 518 ft wind turbine in the town, the UK's largest, to provide power for a local factory producing the award winning Garstang Blue cheese.
The local newspaper, the Garstang Courier, is available on tape free of charge to blind and partially-sighted people from Galloway's Society for the Blind.
Garstang won the Small Town category in the 2005 Britain in Bloom
Awards.
Local primary schools are Garstang Community Primary School, with approximately two hundred and forty-five pupils. St Thomas' CE School and SS Mary and Michael Catholic School. The local secondary school
is Garstang High School
which does not currently (as of 2008) offer sixth form courses, pupils travel to Lancaster
, Preston, Blackpool
and further for A level courses.
The town has seven pubs: the Crown, the Eagle and Child, the King's Arms, the Royal Oak, the Wheatsheaf, Th'Owd Tithe Barn and the Church Inn. It has four restaurants: La Passione (formerly the Farmer's Arms), Pipers, Ken Ma and The Great Season, the latter two being Chinese restaurants. There is also a Golf Club and Country Hotel and the Crofter's Hotel, on the main A6 road.
Garstang is referenced in episode 5 of the first series of the comedy Phoenix Nights. Brian Potter (played by Peter Kay
) said "What have you called us? What have you called the best cabaret lounge this side of Garstang?" in reference to an alternative comedy
night being run at his fictional club.
Hundred
of Lancashire. From 1894 until 1974 Garstang formed its own local government district in the administrative county
of Lancashire; "Garstang Rural District
", which extended beyond the current civil parish boundaries, including villages such as Pilling
.
Since 1974, Garstang has formed part of the Wyre
borough of Lancashire.
and the Lancaster Canal
, Garstang is situated close to the A6 road, the M6 motorway
, and the West Coast Main Line
, between Lancaster
and Preston. It lies on the eastern edge of the Fylde
, and the Forest of Bowland
is not far to the east.
Garstang and the nearby villages of Bonds
, Bowgreave
and Catterall
form an almost continuous built-up area, bypassed by the A6 road in 1926.
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...
within the Wyre
Wyre
Wyre is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Poulton-le-Fylde.The district is named after the River Wyre, which runs through the district...
borough 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...
, England. It is ten miles north-northwest of the city of Preston and eleven miles south of Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
, and had a total resident population of 4,074 in 2001.. It is famous for being the world's first ever Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town is a status awarded by a recognized Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods...
.
History
A brief but comprehensive history of the parish, including the parish church of St HelenSt Helen's Church, Churchtown
St Helen's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Churchtown in Lancashire, England. Historically, it was the parish church of Garstang; today, as Garstang is split into more than one ecclesiastical parish, St Helen's parish is Garstang St Helen . It is in the Diocese of Blackburn. It has...
in Churchtown
Kirkland, Lancashire
Kirkland is a civil parish located on the banks of the River Wyre midway between Preston and Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. It is also the historic name of the village of Churchtown within the parish. There are two pubs: the Punchbowl and the Horns Inn.Kirkland forms part of the...
and Greenhalgh Castle
Greenhalgh Castle
Greenhalgh Castle is a castle, now ruined, near the town of Garstang in Lancashire, England, .Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby had the castle built in 1490 to provide defence for his estates around Garstang...
can be found in "The Parish of Garstang", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7.
King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
is alleged to have spent the night in a town centre pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, the Royal Oak, during the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
St. John Plessington
John Plessington
St John Plessington , also known as John Plesington, William Scarisbrick and William Pleasington, is one of the Roman Catholic Forty Martyrs of England and Wales....
was born at Dimples Hall, which is just outside the town.
Garstang was once served by Garstang and Catterall railway station
Garstang and Catterall railway station
Garstang and Catterall railway station served as the interchange between the Garstang and Knot-End Railway and the London and North Western Railway, in Lancashire, England...
which closed in 1969, and Garstang Town railway station
Garstang Town railway station
Garstang Town railway station served the market town of Garstang in Lancashire, England....
which closed to passengers in 1930.
The town is overlooked by the ruined remains of Greenhalgh Castle
Greenhalgh Castle
Greenhalgh Castle is a castle, now ruined, near the town of Garstang in Lancashire, England, .Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby had the castle built in 1490 to provide defence for his estates around Garstang...
, built in 1490 by Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby
Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby
Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, KG was titular King of Mann, an English nobleman and stepfather to King Henry VII of England...
.
Etymology
Garstang is mentioned 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...
as Cherestanc. Later recordings of the name include Geresteng, Grestein, 1204; Gayrestan, 1236; Gayerstang, 1246; Gayrstang, 1274; Gayrestang, 1292.
In the 21st century
The town celebrates an arts festivalArts festival
An arts festival is a festival that focuses on the visual arts in all its forms, but which may also focus on or include other arts.Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions and are not to be confused with the commercial art fair. Artists participate in the most important of such festival...
and an agricultural show
Agricultural show
An agricultural show is a public event showcasing the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show , a trade fair, competitions, and entertainment...
every year in August.
In April 2000 Garstang declared itself "the world's first Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town
Fairtrade Town is a status awarded by a recognized Fairtrade certification body describing an area which is committed to the promotion of Fairtrade certified goods...
", influencing many other towns, cities and counties around the United Kingdom to work towards the same goal. The Fairtrade Town status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on 13 August 2003.
Planning approval has been given to build a 518 ft wind turbine in the town, the UK's largest, to provide power for a local factory producing the award winning Garstang Blue cheese.
The local newspaper, the Garstang Courier, is available on tape free of charge to blind and partially-sighted people from Galloway's Society for the Blind.
Garstang won the Small Town category in the 2005 Britain in Bloom
Britain in Bloom
RHS Britain in Bloom, supported by Anglian Home Improvements, is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society ...
Awards.
Local primary schools are Garstang Community Primary School, with approximately two hundred and forty-five pupils. St Thomas' CE School and SS Mary and Michael Catholic School. The local secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
is Garstang High School
Garstang High School
Garstang High School is a secondary education school in the parish of Barnacre-with-Bonds near Garstang in Lancashire, England. It is a coed institution serving children aged 11–16. It is non-denominational and non-boarding. It opened on 21 October 1958....
which does not currently (as of 2008) offer sixth form courses, pupils travel to Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
, Preston, 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 further for A level courses.
The town has seven pubs: the Crown, the Eagle and Child, the King's Arms, the Royal Oak, the Wheatsheaf, Th'Owd Tithe Barn and the Church Inn. It has four restaurants: La Passione (formerly the Farmer's Arms), Pipers, Ken Ma and The Great Season, the latter two being Chinese restaurants. There is also a Golf Club and Country Hotel and the Crofter's Hotel, on the main A6 road.
Garstang is referenced in episode 5 of the first series of the comedy Phoenix Nights. Brian Potter (played by Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
) said "What have you called us? What have you called the best cabaret lounge this side of Garstang?" in reference to an alternative comedy
Alternative comedy
Alternative comedy is a term that originated in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era, and typically avoids relying on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt defines it as "comedy where the...
night being run at his fictional club.
Governance
From a very early time, Garstang lay within the AmoundernessAmounderness
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:...
Hundred
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
of Lancashire. From 1894 until 1974 Garstang formed its own local government district in the administrative county
Administrative counties of England
Administrative counties were a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government from 1889 to 1974. They were created by the Local Government Act 1888 as the areas for which county councils were elected. Some large counties were divided into several administrative...
of Lancashire; "Garstang Rural District
Rural district
Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the administrative counties.-England and Wales:In England...
", which extended beyond the current civil parish boundaries, including villages such as Pilling
Pilling
Pilling is a village and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north-northeast of Poulton-le-Fylde, south-southwest of Lancaster and northwest of Preston, in a part of the Fylde known as Over Wyre....
.
Since 1974, Garstang has formed part of the Wyre
Wyre
Wyre is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Poulton-le-Fylde.The district is named after the River Wyre, which runs through the district...
borough of Lancashire.
Geography
Lying on the River WyreRiver Wyre
The River Wyre is a river in Lancashire, United Kingdom, which flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is approximately 28 miles in length...
and the Lancaster Canal
Lancaster Canal
The Lancaster Canal is a canal in the north of England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria...
, Garstang is situated close to the A6 road, 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 the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
, between Lancaster
Lancaster, Lancashire
Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...
and Preston. It lies on the eastern edge of 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...
, and the Forest of Bowland
Forest of Bowland
The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire...
is not far to the east.
Garstang and the nearby villages of Bonds
Bonds, Lancashire
Bonds is a village in Lancashire, England. It lies immediately south of Garstang town centre, on the opposite bank of the River Wyre. It is bounded by the Lancaster Canal to the south and west. It would appear, from its location, to be a suburb of Garstang, but, in fact, it lies in the separate...
, Bowgreave
Bowgreave
Bowgreave is a village in Lancashire, England. Its nearest town is Garstang, a mile to the north....
and Catterall
Catterall
Catterall is a civil parish in the county of Lancashire in the north of England, located within the Borough of Wyre. Historically in the Amounderness Hundred, it is situated on the A6 between Lancaster and Preston, a short distance from the town of Garstang, and Myerscough College. The Wyre, Calder...
form an almost continuous built-up area, bypassed by the A6 road in 1926.
People
The following people have lived at, or were born in Garstang:- Sir Robert Atkins (politician)Robert Atkins (politician)Sir Robert James Atkins is a British Conservative politician. Educated at Highgate School, he served as a councillor for the London Borough of Haringey from 1968 to 1977. He was the Member of Parliament for Preston North and South Ribble from 1979 to 1997 and became a Member of the European...
, Member of the European ParliamentMember of the European ParliamentA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
for the North West EnglandNorth 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:...
region and Vice-President of Lancashire County Cricket ClubLancashire County Cricket ClubLancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then... - Isaac AmbroseIsaac AmbroseIsaac Ambrose was an English Puritan divine, the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar of Ormskirk, and was probably descended from the Ambroses of Lowick in Furness, a well-known Roman Catholic family....
, a puritanPuritanThe Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
vicar - Mary Anne HobbsMary Anne HobbsMary Anne Hobbs is an English DJ and music journalist from Garstang, Lancashire. She launched a new Primetime show on Xfm on 9 July 2011-Early career:...
, a Radio OneRadio OneRadio One, Inc is a U.S. company which owns and operates 69 radio stations in 22 American cities. The company is headed by Cathy Hughes, Chairman and her son Alfred Liggins, CEO. The company's target listeners are African Americans in urban areas...
DJ - George BensonGeorge Benson (footballer)George Herdman Benson was an English footballer.-Playing career:Benson played for Accrington Stanley, Blackburn Rovers, Stalybridge Celtic and Queen's Park Rangers before joining Port Vale on a month's trial in February 1924...
, a footballer noted for his time at Accrington Stanley - Dicky BondDicky BondRichard "Dicky" Bond was an English footballer who played outside right. He was capped eight times by England and spend the vast majority of his playing career at Bradford City where he played more than 300 games....
, footballer noted for his time at PNE and BradfordBradford City A.F.C.Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two.... - Harry Dean, a left-armed bowling cricketerCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
- Robert Terrill Rundle, a methodist missionaryMissionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
noted for his work in Western CanadaWestern CanadaWestern Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :... - Rebekah Pennington, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Saxophone for The Arcadian KicksThe Arcadian KicksThe Arcadian Kicks are an indie rock band from Kinver in South Staffordshire , who formed in 2006. They have described their sound as "Spectoresque, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin... a bit of light shoegaze and Yeah Yeah Yeahs mixed up"...
External links
- Official Garstang website from the Garstang and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce
- Garstang.com Garstang.com
- Garstang Rugby Club
- Garstang, GENUKI article.
- Garstang Fair Trade Town
- Galloway's Society for the Blind
- Garstang Country Hotel and Golf Club
- Community website Garstang entertainment site.