Croft 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Borough of Warrington (God giveth the increase) , image_skyline =Warrington from the Air - geograph.org.uk - 3153500.jpg , imagesize = 280px , image_caption = Aerial view of Warrington , image_flag = ...

, Cheshire, England, about four miles north of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

town centre. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,920. It is a semi-rural, residential district.

Geography

The village is on the northern edge of the borough of Warrington, north of the interchange of the M6 and M62 motorways, known as the Croft Interchange. It is close to the border with

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

and

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, and historically was in

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

. It borders

Culcheth Culcheth is a village in the Borough of Warrington, ceremonial county of Cheshire and historic county of Lancashire, England, six miles (10 km) north-east of Warrington town centre; it is the principal settlement in Culcheth and Glazebury ci ...

to the east,

Lowton Lowton is a suburban village within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is around from Leigh, south of Wigan and west of Manchester city centre. The settlement lies across the A580 East Lancashire Road. ...

to the north, Winwick to the west and Risley to the south. Croft was struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado later moved over Warrington town centre.

Community

There are two churches, two primary schools, and a large playing field with children's play equipment area on the village green. Other facilities include a youth centre, horse riding, a golf range, and a bowling green, however there is no village shop. Croft Village Football team produced three players that went on to remarkable professional careers.

Roger Hunt Roger Hunt (20 July 1938 – 27 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Eleven years with Liverpool, he was the club's record goalscorer with 286 goals until being overtaken by Ian Rush. Nonetheless, ...

played for Croft and later went on to play for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, and was part of England's World Cup winning team in 1966.

Tommy Lawrence Thomas Johnstone Lawrence (14 May 1940 – 10 January 2018) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers from the 1950s to the 1970s. Lawrence was with Liverpool for 14 years, making more ...

played for Liverpool and Scotland. Johnny Green played alongside

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

at Blackpool.

Transport

The 19 bus serves Croft, on a route between

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

via Culcheth and Warrington via Winwick. There is also a service to Birchwood. Recently, due to government plans to build a high speed rail line near Croft, a road to their most prominent neighbour, Culcheth, may be compromised, slowing transport between the two.

Demography

At the 2001 census, Croft had the following demographics: *871 households *2,920 residents **61.7% are male **38.3% are female **Average age of residents: 40.26 years (mean) **2,014 residents describe their health as good

Events

Croft Carnival is held annually, usually on the first Saturday of July, and features local talent, business and exhibitions. The event ends with an athletics competition, followed by an egg-throwing competition. In 2020 and 2021 this event was cancelled due to the risk of COVID-19.

References