Hoscar is a small village 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 Lancashi ...

, England. It is located 1¼ miles (2 km) east of the larger village of

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin M ...

Etymology

The name Hoscar is derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

and (marshland), again from the Old Norse. An early recorded form is Horsecarr (1347).

Geography

The village is bounded to the north east by the River Douglas, and to the south is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. To the north west is the moss from which the village derives its name. Parts of the moss are only 20 feet above sea level.

Worship

St Cyprian's Mission Church, built in 1767, is located on Hoscar Moss Road and is open for services. It is a mission church for St John the Baptist,

. There is also a former Wesleyan Methodist chapel, founded before 1892 that is now a private house, also located on Hoscar Moss Road.

Farming and agriculture

Many different methods of agriculture have been practiced in Hoscar and its surrounding areas. These include; turf cultivation, arable crops and grazing for both cattle and sheep. ;Farms *Bleak Hall Farm *Tyrer's Farm *Hoscar Hall Farm *Sandyway's Farm *Moss Grove Farm - formerly a poultry farm, now renamed Moss Grove Cottage and since 2012 derelict. *Stock's Farm *Snipe Hall Farm - most notably featured in the English land law case '

Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board ''Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board'' 9492 KB 500 is an English land law and English contract law appeal decision. The case, decided by Denning LJ, confirmed positive covenants can supplant privity of contract in c ...

Transport

The village is served by

Hoscar railway station Hoscar railway station serves the rural village of Hoscar in the civil parish of Lathom, near the town of Burscough, Lancashire, England. The station stands split across Hoscar Moss Road. Only 1,060 passenger journeys started or ended at Hoscar ...

. The station once boasted a goods yard which was used by local farmers to get their crops to the markets of Wigan, Manchester and Southport quickly.

References

{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Lathom