Cuerden 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 ...

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. It is situated between

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 ...

and Leyland, and had a population of 77 in 2001.Office for National Statistics : ''Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Chorley''
Retrieved 6 February 2010 At the 2011 census the population was included within

Clayton-le-Woods Clayton-le-Woods (commonly shortened to Clayton) is a large village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. According to the census of 2001, it has a population of 14,528. At the 2011 census the population of Cuerde ...

civil parish.

History

The name speculatively derives from the Welsh ''cerdin'', the plural of ''cerdinen'', "

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

", although the nearby Cuerdale derives from an Anglo-Saxon personal name. It could also be a derivation of 'coeur de lion' or Lionheart. The manor was given to Vivian Molyneux by

Roger de Poitou Roger the Poitevin or Roger de Poitou (mid-1060s – before 1140) was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat possessing large holdings both in England and through his marriage in France during the early 12th century. He was the third son of Roger of Montg ...

and devolved to the Banastres, Charnocks, Langtons, and Fleetwoods. The manor house,

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 ...

, is a

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

begun in the 1717 on the site of a 17th-century house, and extended between 1816 and 1819 by

Lewis Wyatt Lewis William Wyatt (1777–1853) was a British architect, a nephew of both Samuel and James Wyatt of the Wyatt family of architects, who articled with each of his uncles and began practice on his own about 1805. Lewis Wyatt is known primarily f ...

. During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, two

cotton mills Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a wikt:boll, boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almo ...

were built by the river by William Clayton and William Eccles, and employed more than seven hundred people in 1848. St Saviour's Church was built in 1836–37, to a design by the architect

Edmund Sharpe Edmund Sharpe (31 October 1809 – 8 May 1877) was an English architect, architectural historian, railway engineer and sanitary reformer. Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, he was educated first by his parents and then at schools locally and in ...

Governance

Cuerden was a township in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Leyland and the

Leyland hundred The Leyland Hundred (also known as Leylandshire) is a historic subdivision of the English county of Lancashire. It covered the parishes of Brindle, Chorley, Croston, Eccleston, Hoole, Leyland, Penwortham, Rufford, Standish and Tarleton. I ...

. It became part of the Chorley

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 ...

, formed in 1837, which took responsibility for the administration and funding of the

Poor Law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

and built a

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

in that area.

Geography

Cuerden covered 800 acres about 4½ miles south east of Preston on 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 ...

on the road between Preston 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 ...

. Cuerden Valley Park, south of the M6 and M65 junction, covers 650 acres, half of which is used for agriculture. The park has a lake and was once the estate of

References

External links

Cuerden
chorley.gov.uk. Geography of Chorley Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire {{Lancashire-geo-stub

History

Governance

Geography

See also

References

External links