Garswood is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens

Metropolitan Borough of St Helens

The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It is named after its largest town St Helens, and covers an area which includes the settlements of Newton-le-Willows, Earlestown, Haydock, Rainhill, Eccleston, Clock Face, Billinge and...

, Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, within a civil parish

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...

 called Seneley Green.

History

Historically within 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...

, Garswood is from Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 wudu "wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

" with an uncertain first element. The name was recorded as Gratiswode (undated).

Garswood has seen, along with extensive farming, much coal mining

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 activity in its past, due to strata running up to an adjacent fault causing much outcropping of coal seams. Mining has taken place using shallow (comparatively) shafts and many drifts. The last drift mine in the Garswood area, Quaker House Colliery, closed in 1992. Extensive opencast

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining or opencast mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow....

 mining has taken place in more recent times and continues to date in the area.

The village contains the Railway Hotel, the Stag Hotel and the Simms Road Inn public house

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...

s.
Also, it has a Labour Club

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 and a Conservative Club

Association of Conservative Clubs

The Association of Conservative Clubs is an organisation associated with theConservative Party in the United Kingdom. It represents and provides support to the largest association of political clubs in the country estimated at 1,100....

.

Education

In 1588, Seneley Green (as it was then known) became the site of 'Ashton-in-Makerfield Free Grammar School, the area's first free grammar school

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

, founded by Robert Byrchall on land granted for the purpose by Sir Thomas Gerard. The building is, today, used as Garswood Public Library

Public library

A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...

.
Ashton-in-Makerfield Free Grammar School was attended by Saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

Edmund Arrowsmith

Edmund Arrowsmith

Saint Edmund Arrowsmith SJ is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. The main source of information on St Edmund is a contemporary account written by an eyewitness and published a short time after his death...

, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Garswood County Primary School is located in the centre of Garswood and has roughly 300 pupils.

Sport

Garswood United F.C.

Garswood United F.C.

Garswood United Association Football Club is an English football club based in Garswood, Merseyside. The club are currently members of Division One of the Cheshire League and play at Simms Lane End.-History:...

, formed 1967, joined the Mid-Cheshire League in 1988. They won Division Two in 1990 and Division One in 1996. The club plays at Simms Lane End, Simms Lane.

Garswood is also very near to Haydock Park Racecourse

Haydock Park Racecourse

Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Haydock, Merseyside, England. The track is a mostly flat left-handed oval of around 1 mile 5 furlongs with a very slight rise on the run-in. There are courses for flat racing and National Hunt racing...

.

Transport

Garswood railway station

Garswood railway station

Garswood railway station serves the village of Garswood in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. It is situated on the Liverpool to Wigan Line. The station, and all trains calling there, are operated by Northern Rail.-Services:...

 provides direct rail links to Liverpool Lime Street

Liverpool Lime Street railway station

Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England. The station lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, and on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network...

, St. Helens

St Helens Central railway station

St Helens Central railway station is a railway station serving the town of St Helens, Merseyside, England. It is on the Liverpool to Wigan Line from Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western...

 and Wigan

Wigan North Western railway station

Wigan North Western railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Virgin Trains, and is also served by Northern Rail...

, plus many other stations along the same line.

Road links are provided by the village's proximity to 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 East Lancashire Road (A580)

A580 road

The A580 is a primary A road in England that connects Walton, near Liverpool and Salford, near Manchester and known officially as Liverpool-East Lancashire Road. Locally, the road is shortened to the "East Lancs". The road was designed and built to provide better access to the Port of Liverpool for...

. Garswood is close Haydock

Haydock

Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. It contains all of the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook electoral ward. The village is located roughly mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, close to the junction of the M6 motorway...

 Industrial / Business Estate, where companies such as Asda

Asda

Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...

, Sainsbury's and Booker have warehousing facilities, creating employment for the surrounding area.

Famous residents

Kym Marsh

Kym Marsh

Kimberley Gail Marsh is an English actress and singer.- Early life :Marsh was born in Wigan, Greater Manchester and raised in Garswood, in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside...

, of Hear'Say

Hear'Say

Hear'Say were a British manufactured pop group created in February 2001 from the winners of Popstars, an ITV reality TV show based on a New Zealand show of the same name. They enjoyed huge success with their debut single "Pure and Simple", helped by the publicity surrounding Popstars, the first of...

 and Coronation Street

Coronation Street

Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...

fame, was brought up in Garswood. Her parents still live there.