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89-557: Euxton ( / ˈ ɛ k s t ən / EKS -tən ) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley , in Lancashire , England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 9,993, however, the population is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to the increase in housing developments in the village, including the Buckshaw development. The village is situated just to

178-438: A BAE Systems Land Systems site and then a BAE Systems Land and Armaments site. The headquarters function was moved from Chorley to BAE Systems' Filton site. In the early 1990s a Long Term strategy was drawn up for the whole site; which involved the decommissioning and decontamination of a significant proportion of the explosives area of the site and its disposal for other uses: mostly housing. About 400 acres (1.6 km )

267-513: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with

356-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of

445-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed

534-472: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of

623-456: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have

712-548: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in

801-440: A civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if the parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under

890-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as

979-568: A common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in the way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by

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1068-517: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving

1157-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until

1246-677: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. ROF Chorley ROF Chorley

1335-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself

1424-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by

1513-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have

1602-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it

1691-515: A sandstone base, with both brick and wattle and daub infilling and a slate roof. It is considered to be one of the best preserved Tudor halls in Lancashire. Euxton Hall Chapel was designed by architect E. W. Pugin (1834–1875), and built in 1866 as a private chapel for the Anderton family who lived in Euxton Hall. There has been a building at Runshaw Hall since medieval times and the current house

1780-589: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below

1869-938: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at

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1958-514: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there

2047-534: A storage depot built deep into the Pennine hills, over Chorley , in the village of Heapey ; the facility is still in use by BAE although its exact usage has still not been revealed. In the late 1930s leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939, the British government developed a strategy to enhance the capacity of the existing three Royal factories and to disperse armaments and munitions production away from major cities and

2136-439: Is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through

2225-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been

2314-461: Is derived from "Efe's Tun", with "tun" referring to a farmstead and Efe being a personal name and the later addition of burgh suggesting the settlement had grown and been fortified. The manorial seat was Euxton Hall owned first by the Molyneux family and later by the Anderton family. A new manor house is said to have been built in the early 16th century by Hugh Anderton (1466-1516/17). It is likely that

2403-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have

2492-448: Is home to three listed railway bridges: Pincock Bridge, Old Station Bridge (Wigan Road) and Bay Horse Brow (Euxton Lane). There are also bridges on School Lane and Balshaw Lane. Bus services are operated primarily by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire , including the following routes: The former ROF Chorley sports ground was used by English football team Bolton Wanderers as its training headquarters. On 19 February 2016,

2581-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In

2670-402: Is said to have drunk water from the stream at the edge of Euxton describing it as "Cul Beck" or cool brook giving it its name, from whence the area takes its name. The hall had three lodge houses, one at the bottom of Chapel Brow, one at main gates of Euxton Park on Wigan Road and one on Dawber's Lane which is now much extended and known as Dower House. The centre of the village later moved from

2759-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt

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2848-593: The British Commonwealth 's needs for ammunition. In all some 20 Government-owned World War II Filling Factories were built, but none was so large or employed as many people as these two. Safety considerations were paramount. The design, style, and spacing of individual production buildings meant that they were separated by wide-open spaces, or, depending on the application, approximately 20 feet (6 m) high grassed embankments and extremely thick reinforced concrete walls and overbridges, called traverses. The purpose of

2937-742: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were

3026-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with

3115-411: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with a population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as

3204-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or

3293-687: The communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of the English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007

3382-463: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of

3471-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until

3560-584: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from

3649-505: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In

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3738-862: The Talbot, the Euxton Mills, the Railway at Euxton, the Bay Horse, the Traveller's Rest, the Plough and the War Horse (in the Buckshaw part of Euxton). Euxton has several large housing estates, particularly in the eastern half of the village built in the late 1960s by Trevor Hemmings . The Talbot Estate lies to the east of Euxton and the Greenside Estate to the north on Runshaw Lane. Newer housing estates include Wentworth Drive to

3827-724: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from

3916-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such

4005-529: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to

4094-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had

4183-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced

4272-453: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London

4361-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been

4450-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In

4539-503: The entrance of Euxton Hall Gardens. Earlier gatehouses were previously located on Dawbers Lane and Runshaw Lane. Balshaw Lodge, which has recently been redeveloped, was originally built as guest lodgings for the hall. There was a large Royal Ordnance Factory ( ROF Chorley ) built here in the buildup to the Second World War (Nevell et al. , 1999). At its peak the factory employed over 40,000 people, and had its own railway station. It

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4628-521: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and

4717-529: The former ROF site was systematically flattened for conversion into housing. The new Buckshaw Parkway railway station , which opened on 3 October 2011, is built close to the site of the old station. The image shown right was taken in January 2001. It clearly shows 2 through platform faces with bays on either side of the main platforms. The main internal road, the Central Road, linking the two sites, crossed over

4806-638: The gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of the lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making

4895-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from

4984-471: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by

5073-409: The manor would have been located closer to the parish church. A new hall was built by William Anderton (c.1708-44) in 1769 and rebuilt on the same site but on a grander scale in 1850. Euxton Hall is now a private hospital and is made up of the lower ground floor of hall as the upper floor was demolished following a fire. Charles II lodged at Euxton Hall in 1651 when on his way south to Worcester , he

5162-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of

5251-570: The mid-1990s, in the interests of security, British Ordnance Survey maps omitted the ROF sites and showed the location as it existed before the ROF's construction. There was a persistent tale from the 1970s that the town center of the Central Lancashire new town was penciled in to be built on this "empty" site until it was discovered by the planners that the site was owned by the Ministry of Defence and

5340-603: The new Buckshaw Village . Plans by Tarmac to operate a sand quarry near the village were approved in August 2008 by a planning inspector. The quarry, to be located between Runshaw Lane and Dawber's Lane, had been proposed for ten years and is opposed by the village council, and by local residents, some of whom set up an action group, Euxton Residents Against Sand Extraction (ERASE), due to its impact on health, traffic and environment locally. The quarry has permission to operate for 15 years. The village also has seven public houses;

5429-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays

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5518-731: The north-east of the village and Church Walk and Park Avenue to the west. Euxton's population was significantly increased after the Royal Ordnance Factory in Buckshaw was demolished and redeveloped, creating a huge new residential and commercial area in the north of the village. The north-south M6 motorway lies to the west of the village. Access from the M6 is by Junction 28 for the A49 road at nearby Clayton-le-Woods . Euxton has two railway stations, with stopping services operated by Northern : Euxton

5607-464: The old ford to be closer to Euxton Hall and its chapel (now Euxton Parish Church ). Whilst the oldest extant building is believed to be the parish church and although Euxton Hall is likely to be older in places, dating back to 1662, Armetriding Farm is believed to be the oldest dwelling house. One of the most significant buildings in Euxton is Buckshaw Hall , an H-plan two-storey timber framed property on

5696-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as

5785-604: The outbreak of the Second World War, in September 1939. By June 1940, the numbers employed there had risen to nearly 15,000. At its wartime peak, ROF Chorley had over 28,000 employees – a staggering figure at a time when there were only around a dozen factories in the whole of Britain with a workforce each of more than 19,000 people (four of these being the Royal Arsenal, ROF Bishopton , ROF Chorley and ROF Bridgend). ROF Chorley

5874-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally

5963-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of

6052-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As

6141-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in

6230-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on

6319-568: The railway and Euxton Lane. The factory's main Administration office was located here. It also contained test laboratories, a Medical Centre, the MOD Police, and the main Canteen building. This large canteen was equipped with a stage and was used for Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) concerts and other entertainments during wartime. The larger area of the site lay to the north of

6408-515: The railway line and was the main Explosive, or ammunition filling, site. ROF Chorley had its own private railway station, ROF Halt, which was last used on 27 September 1965. The railway line, particularly the station, was separated from the ROF by brick boundary walls some 20 foot (6 meters ) high along each side. Access to the site from the railway station was also by means of an over bridge. The railway station and platforms were demolished in 2002 as

6497-510: The railway line by means of a steep road bridge, with footpaths on either side. There were also separate entrances to the explosive site; one was known as the Leyland Gate. After privatization the road over the railway line was little used and separate entrances, i.e. the Leyland gate and the Euxton gatehouse, were used for the two sites. The new factory employed over 1,000 production workers by

6586-438: The right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by the monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of

6675-453: The southeast part of England which were felt to be especially vulnerable to bombing from the air. As a result, the Ministry of Supply built a number of Royal Ordnance Factories and satellite factories. ROF Chorley and ROF Bridgend were the two largest filling factories, but even before they were both finished it was realized that they would not have the necessary capacity to meet Britain's and

6764-435: The training facility was sold by Bolton Wanderers to Wigan Athletic whilst on 1 September 2020 Wigan sold it to Preston North End . The village is also home to Euxton Corinthians F.C., Euxton Villa F.C. , Euxton Girls F.C. and Euxton Cricket Club. Euxton Villa F.C. have a training ground on Runshaw Lane. Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It

6853-458: The traverse was to deflect any explosion skyward rather than outward to any adjacent buildings or structures. The site was built with extensive underground magazines, comprehensive lightning protection, and individual buildings linked by paths, roads, and railways. The 928- acre (376  ha ) site, which was built between Euxton and the town of Leyland , had a 9 mile (approximately 14.5 kilometer ) perimeter fence which until privatisation

6942-612: The west of Chorley , and to the south of Clayton-le-Woods . Euxton is around 2.5 miles from east to west and 2 miles north to south. The village is made up of several areas including Runshaw Moor, Balshaw, Shaw Green, Daisy Hill, Buckshaw , Pincock, Primrose Hill, Glead Hill, Dawbers, Spout Hillock, Culbeck and Pear Tree. Euxton is served by five primary schools, namely: Balshaw Lane Primary, Primrose Hill Primary, Euxton C of E Primary, Euxton RC Primary and Trinity C of E/Methodist Primary School. Euxton's original village settlement in Pincock

7031-551: Was a UK government-owned munitions filling Royal Ordnance Factory ( Filling Factory No. 1 ). It was planned as a permanent Royal Ordnance Factory with the intention that it, unlike some other similar facilities, would remain open for production after the end of World War II ; and, together with ROF Bridgend (Filling Factory No. 2), would replace the Royal Filling Factory located at the Royal Arsenal , Woolwich . It

7120-643: Was a licensed high explosive site. More recent editions of the maps show the detail of the buildings, road and rail links, labeled simply as "Works". After privatization, the headquarters of Royal Ordnance plc was moved to ROF Chorley and was accommodated in a new office block on the "administration site" created out of a former warehouse. The registered office of Royal Ordnance plc, however, remained in London . The site continued to be known as Royal Ordnance Chorley, or RO Defence, Chorley for some twenty years after privatization; but then lost its name, eventually, becoming

7209-492: Was based near the ford over the River Yarrow , along the route of the old Roman road Watling Street – now the A49 road – that runs through the length of the village, from Pincock to Packsaddle. Demonstrating its significance, Euxton had a market charter granted in 1301 by Edward I and whilst the area was called Euxton, the township was called Euxtonburgh. The name suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin. It has been suggested that it

7298-414: Was built in 1862 and later acquired by William Bretherton. Euxton Hall, which was a significant stately residence, now acts as a private hospital and is half its former glory, with the second storey being removed in the 20th century along with its grand colonnade. Euxton Hall's 19th century gatehouses can be seen at the bottom of Chapel Brow, near the parish church whilst the other gatehouse can be seen at

7387-641: Was built largely in Euxton , but was known as ROF Chorley. After the privatization of the Royal Ordnance Factories in the 1980s it became part of the Ammunition Division of Royal Ordnance plc and later a production unit of BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions . Chorley factory closed in 2005-07 and the majority of the site is now home to the new Buckshaw Village on the outskirts of Chorley , although many remnants remain. The factory had

7476-522: Was declared surplus, and the buildings were cleaned of explosives by burning them. Some explosives work was carried out on part of the retained site, but this too closed in 2007. In 2000 the Royal Ordnance headquarters function was transferred to BAE System's Filton , Bristol site and more recently to Glascoed in Monmouthshire . Much of this residual site was totally cleared of buildings and a major part

7565-413: Was guarded by what was to become the Ministry of Defence Police (MOD Police) Force. After privatisation they were replaced by private security guards. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway , from Manchester Victoria to Preston , via Bolton and Euxton junction, with stations at Chorley and Leyland , cut the ROF site into two areas. The smaller area was the Administration site which lay between

7654-652: Was on few occasions in 1940 and 1944 a target for the Germans, but because of its rural location, the Germans would end up bombing its surroundings instead of their main target, hitting a few farms with one time striking a chicken coop. During the slack period between 1945 and the Korean War ROF Chorley, like ROF Bridgwater and ROF Glascoed, manufactured the concrete components for Airey two-story pre-fabricated concrete houses. ROF Chorley also manufactured concrete railway sleepers and manufactured clothing. Until

7743-472: Was probably the biggest munitions filling factory in the world, and it is said that the bouncing bombs used in the Dambusters raid were made there. ROF Chorley later came under the ownership of British Aerospace , and in subsequent years was closed down with the land being sold. In the early 2000s the former ROF Chorley site was effectively flattened and sanitised, so that the land could be transformed into

7832-599: Was the site where the bouncing bombs, designed by Barnes Wallis and famed for the Dambusters raid , were filled, the main site for the filling of large-capacity aircraft bombs being ROF Glascoed . The overall cost of the plant was £13,140,000. The factory was protected by anti-aircraft artillery that surrounds the facility. One mount that once held the gun with a pillbox was found in Lucas Green near Whittle-le-Woods , refurbished as part of new housing in 2017. The factory

7921-433: Was used to build the new Buckshaw Village. Some of the lands was also developed for light industrial use. The former main administration office building was converted into an adult college and formed part of Runshaw College's, Euxton Lane site. However it was sold in 2022 to Lancashire Constabulary to become the new home for Chorley Police station. Central Road still exists although the bridge deck has been replaced and

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