Burtonwood is a village in the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook, in the
Borough of Warrington
The Borough of Warrington is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The borough is centred around the town of Warrington, ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, England. Within the boundaries of the
historic county of
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 ...
, the name Burtonwood is known worldwide as the location of the former
RAF Station Burtonwood military camp. Burtonwood village itself is a few miles away from the site of the former station. The civil parish also includes
Westbrook, which is a council ward and suburb of Warrington. At the
2001 census, the population of the civil parish was 11,265.
[ Retrieval Date: 8 September 2007.]
History
Burtonwood was a
chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century.
Status
A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...
in the ancient parish of Warrington, in the
West Derby Hundred of
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 ...
. It was later created a civil parish and was part of the
Warrington
Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
Poor Law Union
A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland.
Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...
and then the
Warrington Rural District. By 1974 the village of Burtonwood became part of Warrington District and is now part of the Warrington
Unitary Authority
A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
. It is still a civil parish (now named Burtonwood and Westbrook) and thus has its own
parish council. Burtonwood's population rose from 990 in 1861 to 2,408 in 1911 as the mining and brewing industries grew. The village of Burtonwood saw its greatest increase in housing and population post 1945 when the locally named 'miners estate' was built and vast numbers of people took employment in the collieries of Bold and Clockface both in the neighbouring Parish of Bold in St Helens. The population of the parish of Burtonwood continued to grow in 1951 partly due to the arrival of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
(USAF) personnel and the but dropped from 8,238 to 4,899 in 1971, before rising to 11,265 today
as a result of housing development on the old RAF station site. Nowadays, there is work being done on the station and two of the camps have been knocked down. This is because of the Omega Project.
RAF Burtonwood was mainly used by the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
between 1942 and closure of the main airfield in 1958 and was the biggest US airbase in Europe.
Brewery
The village is known for its brewery, which brewed the Burtonwood ales. The brewery was founded in 1867, and built up a large estate of pubs. In 1964 Burtonwood Breweries became a public company, but retained its head office in the village. In 1998 the company formed a joint venture with Thomas Hardy Holdings, known as Thomas Hardy Burtonwood. Soon after the company stopped producing Burtonwood-brand beers and was recently contracted to produce Brakspear ales.
Facilities
Burtonwood had four
public houses. Three that have since been demolished are The Bridge House Inn, The Elm Tree Inn, and The Limerick Hotel. The Bridge House Inn and the Elm Tree Inn were both owned by the Marstons Group, and were demolished in 2014. The first was located in Phipps lane built in the early 1900s, the second was located on the corner of Phipps Lane and Chapel Lane, built around 1885. The Limerick Hotel was located on what was Cow Lane, now Burtonwood Rd, built in 1911 and demolished in the early 1940s because the pub was too close, to the (fully operational) Burtonwood Air Base and runway. The Village currently has only one public house, the Chapel House since the Fiddle i'th Bag Inn closed in the 2020s. It has three social clubs and three churches, St. Michael's, St. Paul of the Cross and the Methodist church.
The two primary schools are Burtonwood Community Primary School and St Paul of the Cross Primary School. The village does not have a secondary school or college and the nearest high school is
Great Sankey High School, which has a
sixth form
In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...
attached to it. Also Hope Academy in nearby
Newton-le-Willows and Priestley Sixth Form College in Warrington town centre is the nearest specialised sixth form college.
[Burtonwood Information.]
''UpMyStreet website''. Retrieval Date: 8 September 2007.
Burtonwood village also has two doctors' surgeries, known as Burtonwood Surgery on Clay Lane, and Kinnock Park Surgery. There is also a large Co-operative store brand new since 2018 (Chapel Lane), as you walk into the village there is a fish and chip shop, a Village Barbers, a beauty salon and a Lloyd's chemist and a post office, located on Chapel Lane.
There are two recreational parks. Burtonwood also has three
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
s. Wheatacre Woods (access via Clay Lane / Gorsey Lane), the Old Colliery Moss (access via Bold Lane / Back Lane) and an area known as the Burtonwood Nature Park which is accessed primarily from the footpath adjacent to the bowling greens behind Burtonwood Community Centre.
More information can be found on the Burtonwood Village history on the Burtonwood Village Facebook site.
Transport
The village is small, with only four bus routes through it, (
Arriva North West 329 to
St Helens,
Warrington's Own Buses 24E to Newton Le-Willows which only runs through the village twice a day (subject to rural bus grant) and Ogden 141 (St Helens to Newton) run on behalf of
Merseytravel). The nearest major bus interchanges are in Warrington (6 miles) and
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
(8.19 miles). The nearest railway station was
Collins Green, but is now
St. Helens Junction, two miles to the north-west of the village.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the nearest airport (10 miles to the west).
[ Another bus company that operate services within the Burtonwood and surrounding areas is MD Buses who operate the 329 services along side Arriva North West and the B29 service that runs from Collins Green to Europa Boulevard ( IKEA ) who are known for punctuality and reliability
]
Statistics
Civil parish
The following statistics are for the civil parish of Burtonwood and Westbrook.[
]
Population and gender
*Population: 11,265
*Population, Males: 5,554
*Population, Females: 5,711
Housing
*Total households: 4,264
Council ward
The following statistics are for the council ward of Burtonwood and Winwick.Office for National Statistics
for Burtonwood and Winwick ward, Warrington.
Population and ethnicity
*Population: 5,595
*Population ratio (Male:Female): 49.2%:50.8%
*White origin: 98.48%
*Mixed origin: 0.00%
*Asian origin: 0.57%
*Black origin: 0.01%
*Other origin: 0.23%
Housing
*Total households: 2,400
*Owner occupied: 84.68%
*Shared ownership: 0.26%
*Council accommodation: 10.64%
*Housing association accommodation: 0.18%
*Other rented accommodation: 4.24%
See also
* Listed buildings in Burtonwood and Westbrook
Notes and references
External links
http://www.burtonwood.net/
{{Authority control
Villages in Cheshire
Warrington