Bickerstaffe 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 West Lancashire district of

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 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 1,196, reducing to 1,180 at the 2011 census, although the population of the

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 ...

, which includes Lathom South, was slightly greater at 2,013, reducing to 1,988 at the 2011 census. The village is near junction 3 of the

M58 motorway The M58 is a motorway passing through Merseyside and Lancashire, terminating in Greater Manchester. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) long and provides a link between the M6 motorway and the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton and hence on, via the A5 ...

, and is about four miles west of Skelmersdale.

History

Its name may come from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

''bïcera stæþ'' = "the

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ...

s' landing-place". The moated site of the original Bickerstaffe Hall is situated about south-west of the present building. A trapezoidal island with maximum dimensions of around is surrounded by a partially infilled

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 ...

between about wide and up to deep. The current hall may date to 1667 and was built for a member of the Stanley family, however it was re-built or heavily modified in 1772. Bickerstaffe Stocks are one of the listed structures of historical importance in the village. In the seventeenth century, Bickerstaffe was an important local centre of the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

in West Lancashire. The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Being built in 1843, and then extended in 1860, with a bell tower and spire to the west. It was designed by architect Sydney Smirke, with multiple examples of fine masonry. Such as the carved angles above the doorway, as well as royal heads carved into the accent stones either side of each of the northern and western windows. Until October 1936 Bickerstaffe Colliery was located just south of M6 junction 3. 2012 saw the start of United Utilities £63m scheme at Bickerstaffe Water Treatment works to reduce the reliance of the local water supply on the River Dee. That initiative comes in two parts: drilling new boreholes to find new water sources, and extending Bickerstaffe Water Treatment Works to cope with the rising demand for water.

Sport

The grounds of Bickerstaffe AFC are at Hall Lane next to Bickerstaffe C.E school.

Culture

Public houses and restaurants in the area include The Stanley Gate, The Sandpipers and Quattros. An annual

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

Bickerstock
takes place in the summer season, featuring local and international artists, and drawing in increasingly large crowds.

Notable people

* Nicholas Atherton

References

External links