Clayton-le-Woods (commonly shortened to Clayton) is a large 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 ...

of 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 ...

, in

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. According to the census of

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, it has a population of 14,528. At the 2011 census the population of

Cuerden Cuerden is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated between Bamber Bridge and Leyland, and had a population of 77 in 2001.medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

. The waterfilled

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

survives best at its north and north-east sides and access was by a causeway at the north-west corner. To the north and west are two fishponds connected to the moat. The area is protected by

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

status. The

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

St. Bede's Church opened on Preston Road in 1824. Designed by Thomas Burgess in

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof, its layout is a single cell with three round-headed windows on the sides. A copper bell turret with a spirelet was added in 1964.

Geography

Situated to the north of the town 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 ...

, Clayton-le-Woods is only a few miles from the city of Preston and adjacent to the large villages of Leyland and

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is a large village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". People who live in Bamber Bri ...

. The villages of

Clayton Brook Clayton Brook is a large residential estate in Lancashire, between the city of Preston and the town of Chorley. It forms part of the Clayton-le-Woods civil parish, and is in the Clayton-le-Woods North ward of the borough of Chorley. History ...

Whittle-le-Woods Whittle-le-Woods (commonly shortened to Whittle) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,434. Whittle-le-Woods lies on the A6, about three ...

Brindle Brindle is a coat (animal), coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's co ...

and

Buckshaw Village Buckshaw Village (often shortened to Buckshaw) is a 21st-century village and industrial area between the towns of Chorley and Leyland in Lancashire, England, developed on the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Chorley. It had a ...

are also located next to Clayton-le-Woods. The village is divided in two by Cuerden Valley Park and the

River Lostock The River Lostock is a river in Lancashire, England. The source of the Lostock is at the confluence of Slack Brook and Whave's Brook at the entrance to Miller Wood near Withnell Fold. Slack Brook drains an area around Brindle, having its sour ...

, the western part bordering Leyland and the eastern bordering

. The village is close to different junctions of the motorway network, junctions 28 & 29 of the M6, junction 8 & 9 of the M61, and junction 1A, 1 and 2 of the M65. There is also a smaller area called Wood End, West of the village, close to Leyland. It was built between the 1960s and 1980s.

Community

The village has six primary schools in its vicinity. The primary schools are, Clayton-le-Woods CE, Lancaster Lane, Westwood, Clayton Brook, Manor Road and St Bede's RC. A library was built in the village in 1985, located in Clayton Green next to Cuerden Valley Park. There are a number of pubs, a large supermarket (

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

), a sports centre and two hotels all located within the village. The village is split into five areas; Cloverfield, Wood End / Clayton Green, Leylandside (the area of Clayton beside Leyland), and Cuerden.

Charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

burning is still being carried out by coppicing the woods, in the grounds of nearby

Cuerden Hall Cuerden Hall is a country mansion in the village of Cuerden near Preston, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The Hall was formerly a family home between 1717 and 1906, and used by the Army until the 1960s. In 1985 it became a ...

. There are also linen hand weavers' cottages which are located on Sheep Hill Lane.

Transport

Clayton-le-Woods has four local bus services operated by Stagecoach in Chorley and

Preston Bus Preston Bus is a bus operator running services in the city of Preston and surrounding areas of Lancashire. It is a subsidiary of Rotala, who purchased Preston Bus from the Stagecoach Group on the orders of the Competition Commission in 2011. ...

respectively. The 125

Stagecoach Gold Stagecoach Gold is a luxury bus sub-brand used by various Stagecoach bus subsidiaries in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach Gold (originally Goldline) was launched in 2007 and was designed to attract more middle-class passengers to choose bus trave ...

route, connects Clayton-le-Woods to

, Preston and

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

. The 109 is operated by

Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Liverpool. History Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire can trace i ...

, and connects the village to nearby Leyland, Preston and

. Cycling Route 55 connects Clayton-le-Woods with

and

Euxton Euxton ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 9,993, but is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to housing developments in the village, including at Buckshaw. ...

via Cuerden Valley Park.

, the service 114 is operated by

, and connects the village with

and Leyland.

Road networks

The village lies along the A6 known locally as Preston Road, as well as this, Clayton-le-Woods is connected by the B5256 between

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

and Leyland, the B5254 between Clayton and Leyland, the M6 at Junction 28 and 29, the M61 at Junction 8 and 9 and the M65 at Junction 1A, 1 and 2. Further roads, such as the A49, connect Clayton to

Charnock Richard Charnock Richard is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Chorley, Lancashire, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,748. History The village was named in the early 13th century by the local ...

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 ...

Notable people

* Surrealist painter

Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born, naturalised Mexican Surrealist painter and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movem ...

(1917–2011) was born in Westwood House, Clayton Green. *Footballer Phil Jones grew up in Clayton-le-Woods.

Gallery

File:Moated site of Clayton Hall, adjacent fishponds and channels - remains of building.jpg, The site of Clayton Hall File:Stepping_stones_over_the_River_Lostock_at_Clayton_Bridge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_140686.jpg, Cuerden Valley Park File:Hawksclough_-_geograph.org.uk_-_76371.jpg, Clayton Brook (footpath) File:Asda,_Clayton_Green_-_geograph.org.uk_-_467649.jpg,

store, Clayton Green (2007)

References

External links

Clayton-le-Woods Parish Council website

Clayton-le-Woods on Chorley.gov.uk (Archived)

Clayton-le-Woods on Lancashire.gov.uk (Archived)
{{authority control Geography of Chorley Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire