Brinscall is a village in the
Borough of Chorley
The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. It is named after the town of Chorley, which is an unparished area. The borough extends to several villages and hamlets including Adlington, B ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, England. Located approximately five miles north-east of
Chorley
Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...
, Brinscall borders the similar-sized villages of
Withnell
Withnell is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. According to the census of 2001, it had a population of 3,631, reducing to 3,498 at the census of 2011. Withnell is about north-east of Chorley itself and a ...
and
Abbey Village
Abbey Village is a village in the English county of Lancashire and the constituency of Chorley. It is located on the A675 road, from Blackburn, from Chorley, from Preston and ten miles from Bolton.
Etymology
The name is believed to have ar ...
. Brinscall is part of the
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of
Withnell
Withnell is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. According to the census of 2001, it had a population of 3,631, reducing to 3,498 at the census of 2011. Withnell is about north-east of Chorley itself and a ...
but does not have its own boundaries. However, an
area
Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...
used in the
2001 census that covers approximately the same area as the village had a population of 1,431. The village population at the
2011 census was 1,388.
Origin of the name
A number of origins of the name ‘Brinscall' have been suggested. Local legend has it a sheepdog named Brin had a habit of 'calling' or howling from this place, supposedly for his recently deceased master, who hanged himself from a tree at nearby Withnell.
The master, a local young farmer, had become deeply morose after his childhood sweetheart, a milkmaid named Nell, died whilst giving birth to the child of the son of a local landowner, named Hollinshead. On hearing the farmer leave the house late at night, his mother asked him where he was going, to which he replied, "To be with Nell".
The oft used "burnt huts" as an origin name seems unlikely as no further info exists for this. It seems a more likely origin for the village or area name could be Windy Ridge — or in Olde English Bryn (ridge) Skaal (windy). The monks of Whalley Abbey used Harbour Lane above the village to go to their "Arbor" at Monks Hill, just off Harbour Lane, and would look across the hills overlooking the land where Brinscall now lies and the farmsteads on the "Windy Ridge" — Bryne Skall.
History
The village was originally a small farming community, but in the 19th century, the thriving cotton industry moved in. There is also a quarry nearby, and Brinscall housed many of its workers.
The village also lends its name to an important geological feature, the Brinscall Fault, which is orientated approximately north-south and borders the western edge of Anglezarke moor.
Amenities
Amenities in Brinscall include:
* A small swimming pool, opened in 1911
* A joint
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
and
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
primary school (Brinscall St John's C. E. Methodist Primary School)
* A Church of England church (St. Luke's) soon to be demolished
* A Methodist church (Hillside)
* A small
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
* Croft Lodge, a pond popular with local
anglers
* An athletic club with tennis courts, bowling green, cricket and football pitches
* Children's play area
A nature trail goes through Brinscall and many of the bordering villages. There is a large wood named by villagers 'Brinsky Woods'.
In April 2012 the BBC programme ''
Countryfile
''Countryfile'' is a British television programme which airs weekly on BBC One and reports on rural, agricultural, and environmental issues.
The programme is currently presented by John Craven, Adam Henson, Matt Baker, Tom Heap, Ellie Har ...
'' featured the story of the lost farms of Brinscall moor, numbering about 50. The tenant farmers were encouraged to move out when the land was acquired under
compulsory purchase order
A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for ...
, in 1902, by the
Liverpool Corporation Waterworks
Liverpool Corporation Waterworks and its successors have provided a public water supply and sewerage and sewage treatment services to the city of Liverpool, England. In 1625 water was obtained from a single well and delivered by cart, but as the ...
, which needed to secure a source of pure drinking water. The corporation proceeded to plant trees across large areas of land on the moor. This deliberate
afforestation
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...
effectively removed the pasture for the farms' sheep grazing and by the 1930s all the farms had been deserted.
With its proximity to the
West Pennine Moors
The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately of moorland and Reservoir (water), reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The West Pennine Moors are separa ...
access land area, residents of Brinscall enjoy hiking, cycling and running routes. The popular cycling event the Chorley Grand Prix passes through Brinscall, and a fell running event, Great Hill Fell Race, is held annually in this area.
Brinscall also has a small village football team called Brinscall Village which competes in a local footballing league with several other clubs from the area.
In 2018, the nearby Brinscall Quarry was discovered to have the specific type of stone needed to complete the
Basilica de la Sagrada Familia in
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...
, after discovering that the usual place for mining the stone, the
Montserrat
Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...
mountain was beginning to become more fragile the deeper they quarried.
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Lancashire
Geography of Chorley
West Pennine Moors