Galgate is a village in the

City of Lancaster The City of Lancaster () is a local government district of Lancashire, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, but covers a far larger area, which includes the tow ...

, just south of

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

, and about south of Lancaster itself in the English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 Lancashi ...

Etymology

The name ''Galgate'' is from ''Galwaithegate'', a road that continues north through

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, meaning ''the road to

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

''.

Geography

The

River Conder The River Conder is a river in the English county of Lancashire. The source of the River Conder is a spring at Conder Head on Black Fell near Littledale, from where the stream briefly runs north, then west through Cragg Wood. The river then sk ...

runs through the village.

Transport

The A6 Preston to Lancaster road runs north–south through the centre of the village, and junction 33 of the M6 is nearby. A major

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from Preston to Lancaster passes on a viaduct over the village. The village once had its own station (

Galgate railway station Galgate railway station served the village of Galgate 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 th ...

) but it closed in 1939 and now the nearest station is . The

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria ( historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never complete ...

also runs through the village and has a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

for

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...

Industry

Galgate once had a thriving silk industry and many of the installations still stand. One story told is that because the

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhizo ...

grown locally was used for dyeing the silk, Galgate's community newsletter is named 'Rhubarb City News'. Rhubarb is a prolific plant in Galgate, but this idea that it was used to dye silk seems to have no evidence to support it. Galgate had a water powered corn mill, which was replaced by the 1792 stone three-storey wooden beamed mill of Thompson, Noble and Armstrong. It had a projecting stair tower and mill pond, with cast iron pillars inserted later. This mill is said to be the first mechanical silk mill constructed in England. The second three-storey mill was built in the early 1800s, made of stone with internal cast-iron pillars and a seven aisled roof. The third mill from 1851 is a five-storey brick built mill with corner

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

and an internal beam engine house. Galgate Silk Mill - geograph

Community

Due to its proximity to the

campus, some students choose to rent houses in the village. There are at least two buses an hour towards Lancaster and

Garstang Garstang is an ancient market town and civil parish within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. It is north of the city of Preston and the same distance south of Lancaster. In 2011, the parish had a total resident population of 4,268 ...

. Residents in Galgate worked to raise money to build a new village hall, between the football pitch and the cricket ground, on the recreation field behind the Plough Inn. This opened in August 2012. Two churches serve the Galgate community.

St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...

serves as the Anglican parish place of worship for Galgate and the wider Ellel parish. The village also has its own Methodist Church located on Chapel Lane. The bi-monthly village newsletter, the ''Rhubarb City News'', is put together by a team of volunteers and delivered to almost 1000 households in Galgate. Research for an investment company in 2011 claimed that Galgate was the third best place in England and Wales to bring up children.

People

In July 2002 ten-year-old

Jade Slack Jade Catherine Slack (3 May 1992 – 14 July 2002) was a ten-year-old British girl who died after swallowing five ecstasy tablets. Ecstasy overdose On 14 July 2002, ten-year-old Jade visited family friends Wayne Wood, 22, and Rebecca Hodgson, 2 ...

, who was visiting a friend in the village, died of a drug overdose. She took five ecstasy tablets, believing them to be sweets. Former Radio 4 Gardener's Question Time panellist

Fred Downham Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...

is a long-term resident of the village.

Alan Milburn Alan Milburn (born 27 January 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 1992 to 2010. He served for five years in the Cabinet, first as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, a ...

, a former Labour minister, lived in the village whilst studying at Lancaster University.

References

External links

YouTube drone Video of the Galgate Silk Mill complex
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Geography of the City of Lancaster