Great Altcar 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 authority ...

West Lancashire West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town in the borough is Skelmersdale. At the 2011 Census, the population of the borough was 110,685 ...

, England, close to

Formby Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...

on the

West Lancashire Coastal Plain The West Lancashire Coastal Plain is a large area in the south west of Lancashire, England. The plain stretches from the Rimrose Valley in Seaforth, near Liverpool on the Mersey, to the south, to Preston on the Ribble, to the north. To the ea ...

. The population as taken at the 2011 census was 213. The name Altcar is Norse meaning "marsh by the

Alt Alt or ALT may refer to: Abbreviations for words * Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account * Alternate character, in online gaming * Alternate route, type of highway designation * Alternating group, mathema ...

". The church of St Michael and All Angels is a

timber framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

structure dating from 1879. The area is now intensively farmed. An area called The Moss is situated to the north, and is characterized by drainage dykes. Altcar hosted

hare coursing Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight, not by scent. In some countries, it is a legal, competitive activity in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and tur ...

Waterloo Cup The Waterloo Cup was a coursing event organised by the National Coursing Club. The three-day event was run annually at Great Altcar in Lancashire, England from 1836 to 2005 and it used to attract tens of thousands of spectators to watch and gamble ...

from 1836 to 2005, originally with the patronage of

William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton (18 September 1772 – 20 November 1838), also known as Lord Dashalong, was a sportsman, gambler and a friend of the George IV of the United Kingdom, Prince Regent. Personal life Born in 1772, Lord Seft ...

Altcar Training Camp Altcar Training Camp is located in Hightown, Merseyside, England. The estate is composed of beaches, marshland, fields and small woods. The range is run by the North West Reserve Forces & Cadets Association. History William Molyneux, 4th Earl o ...

, established in 1860, is actually in Hightown.

Geography

Great Altcar is on the

B5195 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Gr ...

. It was served by

Altcar and Hillhouse railway station Altcar and Hillhouse was a railway station located on the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway near Great Altcar, Lancashire, England. The station opened on 1 September 1884, and from 1887 to 1926 also served as the southern terminus ...

on the

Cheshire Lines Committee The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire an ...

Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway The Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway was an early British railway company operating in the then county of Lancashire. It was constructed to link the Cheshire Lines Committee railway at Aintree to Southport. It operated from 1884 to 19 ...

Southport Extension until July 1952.

References

External links

Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 37Aerial photo
*https://web.archive.org/web/20080507134445/http://www.lancashirechurches.co.uk/altcar.htm
Altcar Bob
Villages in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of West Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire {{Lancashire-geo-stub

Geography

See also

References

External links