Newchurch | |
---|---|
![]() Parish Church of St Nicholas with St John and St Michael | |
Location within Lancashire | |
OS grid reference | SD832225 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Rossendale |
Postcode district | BB4 |
Dialling code | 01706 |
Police | Lancashire |
Fire | Lancashire |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Newchurch or Newchurch in Rossendale is a village within the borough of Rossendale in Lancashire, England. It is around one mile east of Rawtenstall and half a mile north of Waterfoot.
The village has a mixture of large detached houses and farmhouses, and smaller semi-detached housing on Staghills Council Estate where the majority of the village's population lives. There are two large manor houses, Heightside, a nursing home for those with mental disorders [1] and Ashlands, a care home for the elderly.
It is part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency, with Jake Berry having been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 2010.
Newchurch is one of the earliest settlements in the Forest of Rossendale, the village developed around St Nicholas church, first built in 1511. The township of Newchurch stretched from Bacup to Rawtenstall, [2] and in 1511 it was recorded as having a population of 1,000 people. [3]
Newchurch-in-Rossendale was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Whalley, [4] in 1866 Newchurch became a separate civil parish, [5] in 1894 the parish was abolished to form Bacup and Rawtenstall. [6] In 1891 the parish had a population of 1190. [7] It is now in the unparished area of Rawtenstall.
The village is built on a hill, Seat Naze. On this hill there is a stone circle with many rumours circulating about its original use. A mobile phone mast was erected on top of Seat Naze in the 1990s.
The hill also has a network of caves running underneath it, used for quarrying in the early 1900s. They stretch from Newchurch to Crawshawbooth around 4 miles away.
The original building for Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School was in Newchurch, on Turnpike. This site was used between 1701 until 1913 until they moved to their current site in Waterfoot. The site was then used as St Peter's RC Primary School until they moved to a new site in the 1970s. It remained derelict until 2000, when it was demolished and the land was used to build a house.
After World War II the village was expanded with the construction of new homes, including a council estate at Staghills, and during the 1960s many of the historic buildings were demolished to make way for newer bungalows.
The 483 bus service ran by Rosso passes through the village on a regular basis giving easy access to Bury and Burnley. The 273 bus provides transport through to Burnley and Bolton. [8]
It was the home of semi-professional football club Rossendale United until they dissolved in 2011. [9] Their home ground Dark Lane was set on fire in January 2012. [10] The site is currently being redeveloped with 95 new family homes. [11]
Newchurch has three churches, St Nicholas Church, [12] St. Peter's RC and a Methodist church.
Most of the local village shops and the post office have closed in the last couple of decades due to increased transport making it easier to reach local supermarkets in nearby Rawtenstall. A takeaway, general store and hairdressers are the only remaining ones, as well as the last remaining local pub, the Boar's Head, which has been open since 1674. The other pub in the village, the Blue Bell, closed in 2013 and the empty building is currently for sale
Newchurch has two primary schools; St Nicholas [13] and St Peter's as well as Staghills Children's Centre and Nursery, rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted.
Bacup is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Rawtenstall, 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Rochdale, and 7 miles (11 km) south of Burnley. At the 2011 Census, Bacup had a population of 13,323.
Rossendale is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Bacup and its largest town is Rawtenstall. It also includes the towns of Haslingden and Whitworth. The borough is named after the Rossendale Valley, the upper part of the River Irwell.
Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is 16 miles (26 km) north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town had a population of 15,969. The town is surrounded by high moorland; 370 m (1215 ft) to the north; 396 m (1300 ft) Cribden to the east; 418 m (1372 ft) Bull Hill to the south.
Dunnockshaw or Dunnockshaw and Clowbridge is a civil parish in the borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. The parish is situated between Burnley and Rawtenstall. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the parish has a population of 185.
Gambleside is an abandoned village located in northern Rossendale close to the boundary with Burnley's Dunnockshaw parish.
The Rossendale Valley is in the Rossendale area of Lancashire, England, between the West Pennine Moors and the main range of the Pennines. The area includes the steep-sided valleys of the River Irwell and its tributaries, which flow southwards into Greater Manchester. The rivers cut through the moorland of the Rossendale Hills, generally characterized by open unwooded land, despite the ancient designation of "forest".
Rawtenstall is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles north of Manchester, 22 miles east of Preston and 45 miles south east of Lancaster. The town is at the centre of the Rossendale Valley. It had a population of 23,000.
Altham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Hyndburn, in Lancashire, England. The village is 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Burnley, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Accrington, and 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Clayton-le-Moors, and is on the A678 Blackburn to Burnley road.
Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) is a selective co-educational academy grammar school in Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The school is named after the two main towns either side of Waterfoot, Bacup and Rawtenstall.
Waterfoot is a historic mill town and civil parish in the Borough of Rossendale between Rawtenstall and Bacup in Lancashire, England. The B6238 road from Burnley meets the A681 road, and Whitewell Brook the River Irwell.
Rawtenstall railway station serves the town of Rawtenstall in Lancashire, England, and is the northern terminus of the East Lancashire Railway.
Weir is a village to the north of Bacup in the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England, and immediately south of the boundary with the Borough of Burnley. The village had a population of 1,251 at the 2011 Census. Anciently, Weir constituted a hamlet, but later emerged as an outlying suburb of Bacup town after the Burnley Road turnpike was built through the settlement at the end of the 18th Century.
Cowpe is a hamlet in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It lies in the South Pennines, north of Scout Moor Wind Farm, by the Pennine Bridleway. Rawtenstall is to the west, Bacup to the east and Waterfoot to the north. Directly south over Brandwood and Scout Moors, is Rochdale. 'Cowpe' is thought to derive from 'Cow Pastures'.
Waterfoot railway station served Waterfoot, Rossendale near Rawtenstall, Lancashire, England from 1848 until the line closed in 1966.
The Rawtenstall to Bacup railway line opened in two stages, from Rawtenstall to Waterfoot in 1848, and from Waterfoot to the Bacup terminus in 1852. There were stations at Rawtenstall, Cloughfold, Stacksteads and Bacup. The line was doubled in 1880, at the same time as the line from Bacup to Rochdale was also opened. Passenger and freight services operated until the Beeching cuts in 1966, the last passenger train running on 5 December 1966 and the track being lifted in 1969. As the Irwell valley is quite narrow the line had many engineering features in its 5-mile length, including 14 crossings of the River Irwell alone, plus many over and underbridges, embankments and cuttings, and tunnels at Thrutch Gorge in Waterfoot. Most of the bridges have been demolished or infilled in the years since closure. A foot and cycle path now follows much of the route including the 1/8 mile Newchurch No. 1 Tunnel and 1/4 mile Newchurch No 2 Tunnel.
Stacksteads is a village between the towns of Bacup and Waterfoot within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. The population of this Rossendale ward at the 2011 census was 3,789. Stacksteads includes a mountain bike trail called Lee Quarry which had originally been a working quarry.
Broadclough – historically Broad Clough – is a village located to the north of Bacup, previously having been a part of the old borough of Bacup and now with Rossendale borough of Lancashire and part of the Greenclough Ward. It is part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency, with Jake Berry having been the Member of Parliament since 2010. Like much of Bacup, Broadclough is rapidly becoming a commuter area for cities and towns such as Manchester, Burnley, Accrington, Preston, Blackburn, Rochdale.
Lumb is a small village in the Rossendale district of Lancashire, England. It lies in the valley of the Whitewell Brook, 3 miles (5 km) north east of Rawtenstall. It should not be confused with the hamlet of Lumb near Edenfield, also in the Rossendale district.
Media related to Newchurch at Wikimedia Commons