Clayton-le-Woods (Commonly shortened to Clayton) is a large village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

of the Borough of Chorley, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, England. According to the census of

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, it has a population of 14,528. At the 2011 census the population of Cuerden civil parish was included within Clayton-le-Woods, giving a total of 14,532.

History

South-west of the village at Bluebell Woods, on the northern side of Bryning Brook is the site of Clayton Hall. The now-demolished 17th-century building was on a moated site thought to date from the medieval period. The waterfilled

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

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 and d ...

status. The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

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

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

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, Clayton-le-Woods is only a few miles from the city of

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

and adjacent to the large villages of Leyland and Bamber Bridge. 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. Lying next ...

, Whittle-le-Woods, Brindle and Buckshaw Village are also located next to Clayton-le-Woods. The village is divided in two by Cuerden Valley Park and the River Lostock, the western part bordering Leyland and the eastern bordering Whittle-le-Woods. 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 Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

), 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 burning is still being carried out by coppicing the woods, in the grounds of nearby Cuerden Hall. 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 respectively. The 125 Stagecoach Gold route, connects Clayton-le-Woods to Chorley,

and

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

. The 109 is operated by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire, and connects the village to nearby Leyland,

and Chorley. Cycling Route 55 connects Clayton-le-Woods with Buckshaw Village and Euxton via Cuerden Valley Park. Preston Bus, the service 114 is operated by Preston Bus, and connects the village with Chorley, Whittle-le-Woods 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 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 Buckshaw Village, Euxton, Charnock Richard and Wigan.

Notable people

* Surrealist painter

Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, 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 movement o ...

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(19172011) was born in Westwood House, Clayton Green.

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
chorley.gov.uk.
Parish council, etc
{{authority control Geography of Chorley Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire