Longridge Settlement - Inspecting Sheep
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Longridge is a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
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 of
Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...
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 north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long
ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...
above the
River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...
. The nearest villages are Grimsargh, to the southeast, and
Ribchester Ribchester () is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The village has a long history w ...
to the southeast. The parish of Longridge had a population of 7,546 recorded in the 2001 census, increasing to 7,724 at the 2011 Census.


History

Longridge initially developed outwards from an area around St. Lawrence's Church, at the boundary of the townships of Dilworth and Alston and to the south of the modern-day town centre. Though there was a
thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way of transport, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. Originally, the word referred to a main road or open street which was frequented thoroughly. Different terms *Roa ...
called 'Market Place', there was no development around that area. Most of the development of the town occurred after 1800. After this time, development occurred at a much faster pace, with expansion northwards including a mill to the north of Kestor Lane. The demand for
stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
from Longridge's
quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...
led to the opening of the Preston and Longridge Railway in 1840 to carry the stone away, for use in such places as
Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks betwee ...
. The arrival of the railway led to the opening of several
cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...
s and the town grew considerably larger from the mid-19th century. The mills and quarries have now all closed, although stone quarried in the town was used to construct the
M55 motorway The M55 is a motorway in Lancashire, England, which can also be referred to as the Preston Northern Bypass. It connects the seaside resort of Blackpool to the M6 motorway, M6 at Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is 12.2 miles (19.6 km) in ...
in the 1970s. One of the quarries was used as Longridge motor-racing circuit between 1973 and 1978. Longridge railway station closed to passengers in 1930, and the railway was dismantled in 1967. The station buildings were then used as offices for the parish council until 2010 when the Longridge Town Council began a project to renovate and reopen the buildings to the public with help from the Lottery Heritage Fund. Longridge railway station is now managed by Longridge Social Enterprise Company and is home to a heritage centre, the Old Station Cafe and has various business facilities available.


Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering Longridge, at parish (town), district and county level: Longridge Town Council, Ribble Valley Borough Council (based in
Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...
) and
Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...
(based in Preston). The town council has its headquarters in the former Longridge railway station buildings on Berry Lane. Longridge was historically part of the
ancient 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
Ribchester Ribchester () is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The village has a long history w ...
, which contained a number of townships. Longridge straddled the two townships of Alston and Dilworth. An
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Longridge was created in 1861 covering the whole of the two townships, with the existing
chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
of St Lawrence becoming the parish church. The same area was made a
local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...
called Longridge in 1883, governed by a local board. Such local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. Longridge Urban District Council bought a large Victorian house called The Limes on Berry Lane in 1947 to serve as its headquarters. The urban district was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the new
Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...
district. A
successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...
was created covering the former urban district, with its parish council taking the name Longridge Town Council.


Community

The town is home to eleven pubs, several restaurants, a public library, and a number of primary and high schools. It is also home to an
Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...
squadron and an
Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...
detachment. Longridge parish is also the location of Alston Hall, a residential
adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...
college operated by Lancashire Adult Learning. The local football club, Longridge Town F.C., has two senior teams and plays in the NWCFL, at Step 5 of the FA Football Pyramid. Its ground and clubhouse are situated off Inglewhite Road, behind the Alston Arms. As of 2011, Longridge had its own monthly farmers' market but has now stopped. The
Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
of St. Lawrence is located on Lower Lane and the Anglican church of St. Paul is located on Church Street.


Sport

Longridge Golf Club is located on Forty Acre Lane on Longridge Fell.


Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by
BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...
and
ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. Local radio stations are
BBC Radio Lancashire BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lancashire. Originally launched as BBC Radio Blackburn, in 1981 it expanded to cover the whole county and was renamed BBC Radio Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB ...
,
Heart North West Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England. Overview Century Radio (1998–2009) The station opened as Century Radio on 8 September 1998 as the se ...
,
Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...
, Capital Manchester and Lancashire, Greatest Hits Radio Lancashire and Central Radio North West, a community-based station. The
Lancashire Telegraph The ''Lancashire Telegraph'', formerly the ''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'', is a local tabloid newspaper distributed in East Lancashire, England. It is edited by Richard Duggan. The ''Lancashire Telegraph'' prints Monday to Saturday. There a ...
is the local newspaper that covers the town.


People

John Farnworth, a freestyle footballer; Alan Kelly, footballer who played for the Irish national team along with Preston North End; cricketer Andrew Miller. Actress Christina Chong lived in Longridge and trained at the Sutcliffe School of Dance. Composer Ernest Tomlinson lived close to Longridge until his death in 2015. His library of light orchestral music was housed in his barn.


See also

*
Listed buildings in Longridge Longridge is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It contains 15 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is at Gr ...


References


External links


Longridge Town Council Website

Longridge Conservation Area Appraisal

''History of Longridge and District''
Thomas Charles Smith (1888),
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
(free) {{authority control Towns in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of Ribble Valley