Winwick is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the Borough of Warrington,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, England. Located within the historic boundaries of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, it is situated about three miles north of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

town centre, nearby is junction 22 of the M6 and Junction 9 of the M62. Winwick also borders

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. Th ...

and Burtonwood. According to the 2001 Census, the civil parish had a population of 4,366.

History

King Oswald of Northumbria is believed to have been killed in the Winwick area and the parish church, dedicated to him, was reputedly located with guidance from the "Winwick Pig", a carving of which can still be seen on the church wall. Richard Sherlock was the incumbent at Winwick for some thirty years in the seventeenth century, and Thomas Wilson,

Bishop of Sodor and Man The Bishop of Sodor and Man is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Sodor and Man (Manx Gaelic: ''Sodor as Mannin'') in the Province of York in the Church of England. The diocese only covers the Isle of Man. The Cathedral Church of St German where ...

, spent his early years in the care of Sherlock at Winwick. At the time of the Domesday Survey (1086), the village itself was also known as St. Oswalds. This was little more than four hundred years after the death of St. Oswald. In the church, the remains of a 7th-century stone cross with an engraving of the reputed demise of Oswald can be seen. Winwick was the site of a battle in the second

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of reli ...

on 19 August 1648, where

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

defeated a mainly Scottish royalist army. The Captain of the RMS ''Titanic'', Edward Smith, married Sarah Eleanor Pennington on 13 January 1887 at St. Oswald's Church.

Rail crash

In 1934, Winwick was the site of an accident in which 11 people were killed and 19 people were injured. Another accident occurred in 1967, but there were no fatalities or serious injuries.

Winwick today

Although Winwick is next to two motorways, it remains a relatively compact village set in a rural location. The village also includes a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

and Winwick Park, with houses ranging from £200,000 to £500,000. Winwick previously had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

and currently has a community leisure centre, a pub (The Swan), a beauty salon, a hairdressers, Ashton's estate agency as well as "Thorougoods", a partner store of Bargain Booze. It is also home to a car boot sale site located on

green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ha ...

land that also occasionally hosts a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyc ...

and touring

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

. Winwick Hospital, a large Victorian

mental asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatr ...

, closed down in 1997. A smaller hospital called Hollins Park is currently situated on the site: Hollins Park Hospital is also the headquarters for North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Winwick has a major business park and industrial estate, Winwick Quay Business Park, located on Calver Road just off the main A49.

Sport

Winwick Athletic F.C. is a junior football club that has become a very well known and highly successful, initially as an FA Charter Standard Development Club from 2006 (in fact winning the Lancashire County and North West Regional Awards in 2007, 2009 and 2011 as well as then also winning the prestigious FA Charter Standard National Club of the Year Award in 2009). In January 2013 Winwick Athletic F.C. became an FA Charter Standard Community Club, which is the highest level possible as an FA Grassroots Football Club, and now, as of 1 June 2014, has become a Nike Partner Club.

References

External links