Catterall 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Wyre,

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. Historically in the

Amounderness The Amounderness Hundred ( ) is one of the six subdivisions of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England, but the name is older than the system of hundreds first recorded in the 13th century and might best be described as the na ...

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

, it is situated on the A6 between Lancaster and Preston, a short distance from the town of

Garstang Garstang is an ancient market town and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north of the city of Preston and the same distance south of Lancaster. In 2011, the parish had a total resident population of 4,26 ...

, and

Myerscough College Myerscough College (pronounced as ''Myers-coe'') is a Higher and Further Education college near Bilsborrow on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. Origins Myerscough College was founded on 15 March 1894 as the ''Lancashire County Institute of ...

. The rivers Wyre, Calder and Brock run through the parish and in places form the parish boundary.

Etymology

Catterall is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Catrehala''. Later references include Catrehal, 1272; Katerhalle, 1277; and Caterhale, Caterale, 1292. The etymology of the name suggests that the 'hala'or 'halh' part may refer to a topographical feature, indicating that the land mass forming the parish was, in times of antiquity, a 'promontory into the marsh'. This has a certain appeal, as the western edge of the parish does indeed border the flatlands of The Fylde. The same source also suggests that the first section of the name may be associated with a cat. However, this is an educated guess, as no other evidence has been uncovered to support the theory, other than the observation that the old parish boundary had the appearance of a (cat’s?) tongue.

History

On 14 February 1716, three local men (Joseph Wadsworth and Thomas Goose of Catterall and Thomas Cartmell of Claughton) were executed for joining the

Jacobite rebellion of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts. At Braemar, Aberdeenshire, local landowner the Ear ...

. They were reputedly executed at Stocks Lane End. In modern times, this is where Cock Robin Lane and Catterall Lane join the A6. The parish is traversed by several important routes, including the A6, the

M6 Motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

, the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

, the B6430 and the

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (Historic counties of England, historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River ...

, all of which run, more-or-less north to south. The parish was served by Garstang and Catterall railway station, which used to stand on the West Coast Main Line, but was closed in the 1960s and later demolished. In May 2007, Gennaro Panzuto, a member of the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

, was arrested in Catterall in connection with gang-related murders.

Geography

The 2011 census showed that 2,280 people lived in the parish of Catterall, of whom 1,124 were male and 1,126 were female. The main employer in Catterall is Franklaw Water Treatment Works on Catterall Lane. The site has developed since the 1960s from a couple of '

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

' style boreholes, to a large water treatment works, operated by

United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West En ...

. The other main employer is Collinson Plc, who manufacture agricultural and industrial buildings. There is a Post Office within the Village Hall open Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:15-14:15. All main Post Office services are offered. The adjoining parishes are Claughton, Kirkland, Barnacre-with-Bonds, Upper Rawcliffe-with-Tarnacre and

Myerscough and Bilsborrow Myerscough and Bilsborrow () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England. It was formed on 1 April 2003 as a merger of the former parishes of Bilsborrow and Myerscough, Lancashire, Myerscough, and ...

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches slightly beyond the confines of the parish and has a total population at the 2011 Census of 2,594.

References

Bibliography

* Gelling, M., (2000), ''Place-Names in the Landscape'',Phoenix Press,

External links

Catterall Cop in Parking Row

The Catterall Cosa Nostra connection

'Catterall' A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7 (1912), pp. 320–24.

A Topographical description of England - Catteral

'Maps' Ordnance Survey Maps of Catterall from 1847 to 1933
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Wyre