Leyland ( ) is a town in

South Ribble South Ribble is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The borough includes the towns and villages of Penwortham, Leyland, Farington, Farington Moss, Hutton, Longton, Walmer B ...

, Lancashire, England, 6 miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census. The name of the town is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

, meaning "untilled land".

History

Leyland was an area of fields, with

Roman roads Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

passing through, from ancient

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Walton-le-Dale Walton-le-Dale is a large village in the borough of South Ribble, in Lancashire, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Ribble, opposite the city of Preston, adjacent to Bamber Bridge. The population of the South Ribble Ward at the ...

. It is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1085). In 1066, King Edward the Confessor presided over the whole of Leyland. The manor was divided into three large ploughlands, which were controlled by local noblemen. In the 12th century, it came under the barony of

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road ...

. The area of Worden, which is now Worden Park, was one of nine

oxgang An oxgang or bovate (; ; ; ) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, a ...

s of land granted to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

, by Roger de Lacy, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, but the land was not assigned to any individual and a local man, who was a very close friend of de Lacy, Hugh Bussel, was assigned holder of the land in 1212. Notable features that remain include the St Andrew's Parish Church, built around 1200 AD, and the large stone Leyland Cross, thought to date back to Saxon times.

Industry and commerce

The town is famous primarily for the bus and truck manufacturer

Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was an English vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 a ...

, which between the 1950s and 1970s expanded and grew to own several British motor manufacturers, including

British Motor Corporation The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a United Kingdom, UK-based vehicle manufacturer formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris Motors, Morris and Austin Motor Company, Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merge ...

, Standard-Triumph and

Rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

, culminating in the massive

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

company. The truck business still operates today as Leyland Trucks, and is owned by

Paccar Paccar Inc. (stylized as PACCAR) is an American company primarily focused on the design and manufacturing of large commercial trucks through its subsidiaries DAF, Kenworth and Peterbilt sold across markets worldwide. The company is headquartere ...

. Leyland is also home to one of the leading maintenance and utility companies in the United Kingdom,

Enterprise plc Enterprise plc was a support services company originally based in Farington in Lancashire, England. Its core markets were local authorities and utility sectors. It has recently been integrated into Ferrovial's UK company, Amey plc. History ...

on Centurion Way. The town has been home to the

Dr. Oetker Dr. Oetker () is a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, Pizza#Preparation, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, birthday candles, beer, and various other products. The company is a wholly owned b ...

pizza factory on Marathon Place,

Moss Side Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...

, since 1989. The town centre is dominated by the large

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

Extra supermarket and adjacent car park.

Architecture

The Anglican church of St Ambrose, on Moss Lane, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

dating from 1882-85 by Charles Aldridge and Charles Deacon. It is constructed of stone and has green slate roofs with red ridge tiles. It is in a mixed Early English and early French Gothic style. From 1962 to 1964, St Mary's Catholic Church in Leyland was built. It was founded by the

Benedictines The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

from

Ampleforth Abbey Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine monks a mile to the east of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England, part of the English Benedictine Congregation. It descends from the pre-Reformation community at Westminster Abbey through the las ...

and replaced a smaller church built in 1854. It was designed by Jerzy Faczynski and according to

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

it is a "building of outstanding importance for its architectural design, advanced liturgical planning and artistic quality of the fixtures and fittings". In 1998, it was designated a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building. Since July 2007, the former

Primitive Methodist Church The Primitive Methodist Church is a Christian denomination within the holiness movement. Originating in early 19th-century England as a Christian revival, revivalist movement within Methodism, it was heavily influenced by American evangelist Loren ...

on Leyland Lane has been home to the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

of the Holy Apostles. Most of the residential dwellings in Leyland falls are

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...

detached A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...

and

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s. There are a few modern

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

s, but about 65% of the accommodation in the town was built in the 1970s. On 17 April 2025 the Grade II listed St James' Church on Slater Lane was the target of an extensive graffiti attack, on both the church and surrounding gravestones. Lancashire Police said they were treating the incident as a

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

. On 29 April a 30-year-old Leyland man was charged with 10 offences and was due to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court.

Governance

South Ribble Borough Council offices - geograph

There are two tiers of local government covering Leyland, at district and county level: South Ribble Borough Council and

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

. The borough council is based in Leyland, at the Civic Centre on West Paddock. Leyland was an

ancient 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

. In 1863 the parish was made a

local government district Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

, governed by a local board. Such local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894. Leyland Urban District was abolished in 1974 to become part of the new borough of South Ribble. No

successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...

was created for the former urban district and so Leyland is directly administered by South Ribble Borough Council. Shortly before its abolition, the urban district council had built itself a new headquarters on West Paddock, which subsequently became the South Ribble Civic Centre.

Transport

Leyland railway station is on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

and is operated by Northern. There is one train an hour between

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

and Preston. There is also one train an hour from

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was c ...

/ Hazel Grove to Blackpool North. There is a marker adjacent to the old Leyland Motors Spurrier works at the halfway point on the railway journey between

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and London, some 198 miles in either direction. John Fishwick & Sons which served the town's public transport needs, and connected the town to

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

and Preston, ceased trading in 2015 and

Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Liverpool. History Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire can trace i ...

took over the route.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...

and

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill transmitter. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Lancashire BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lancashire. Originally launched as BBC Radio Blackburn, in 1981 it expanded to cover the whole county and was renamed BBC Radio Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB ...

on 103.9 FM, Heart North West on 96.9 FM,

Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...

on 100.4 FM, Capital Manchester and Lancashire on 106.5 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Lancashire on 96.5 FM, Central Radio North West, an DAB station and Radio Leyland, a community based station which is broadcast on 104.8 FM. The ''

Lancashire Telegraph The ''Lancashire Telegraph'', formerly the ''Lancashire Evening Telegraph'', is a local tabloid newspaper distributed in East Lancashire, England. It is edited by Richard Duggan. The ''Lancashire Telegraph'' prints Monday to Saturday. There a ...

'' and '' Lancashire Evening Post'' are main newspapers that cover the town.

Education

High schools

High schools in Leyland include Balshaw's CE High School near Leyland Cross, St Mary's Catholic High School, Worden Academy, a smaller high school situated to the west of the town and Wellfield Academy near the town centre.

Colleges

To the east of Worden Park is

Runshaw College Runshaw College is a Further education, Higher and Further Education college based in Leyland, Lancashire, Leyland, England. History Runshaw College was established in 1974. It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's Church o ...

Geography

Leyland is made up by six different areas, the town centre itself counts as the main retail side, with the railway station, library and shops nearby. The other areas include Broadfield,

, Worden Park, Turpin Green and the Wade Hall estate. Having been joined by Clayton Brook, draining the village of the same name to the east, after skirting Lostock Hall, the River Lostock flows south west, past Farington and through the western suburbs of the Leyland, collecting Mill Brook (from Worden Park) and Hollin's Brook (draining Runshaw Moor), before moving west towards

Croston Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917. History Croston was founded in the 7th century whe ...

People

Notable people who have grown up or lived in Leyland include: * Tom Bidwell (born February 1984), screen writer, Oscar nominated, BAFTA and EMI winner * Fred Beardsworth (1899–1964), footballer *

William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as the third United States secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of d ...

, 1920s footballer *

Clarke Carlisle Clarke James Carlisle (born 14 October 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender and was chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association. Born in Pr ...

, footballer, was educated at Balshaw's CE High School *

Liv Cooke Liv Cooke (born 20 April 1999) is a British freestyle football world champion, seven-time world record holder and entrepreneur. Rising to fame following her freestyle football success, she became a prime-time BBC Sport presenter on 'MOTDx' and a ...

, football freestyler * Allen Hill, played in the first ever cricket Test *

Tim Farron Timothy James Farron (born 27 May 1970) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since ...

(born 27 May 1970),

Leader of the Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of ...

2015–2017, attended

as a teenager. * Phil Jones, footballer * Frank Moss (1909–1970), football manager and former player, known for his six-year contract with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

* Danny Mayor (born 18 October 1990), footballer * Brian Pilkington, footballer * Mike Salmon, retired goalkeeper, who currently works as a football manager *

Kevin Simm Kevin Ian Simm (born 5 September 1980) is an English singer and songwriter. He was a member of Liberty X (2001–2007) and is the vocalist of Wet Wet Wet. Simm also won ''The Voice UK'' in 2016. Career 2001–2007: Liberty X In 2001, Simm a ...

(born 5 September 1980), singer with Liberty X, grew up in the area and attended St Anne's Primary School and St Mary's High School * Chris Tuson (born 25 February 1988), rugby league player * John Woodcock (1603–1646), Franciscan priest executed by the Stuarts in 1646 * Roland Woodhouse (1897–1969), footballer

Gallery

File:Leyland Cross.jpg, Leyland Cross File:Old_Police_Station_Leyland_(1).jpg, Old Police Station File:South_Ribble_Museum_and_Exhibition_Centre_-_geograph.org.uk_-_500126.jpg, South Ribble Museum File:Eagle_and_Child_-_geograph.org.uk_-_118061.jpg, Eagle and Child pub File:St Mary's Church, Leyland.jpg, St Mary's Church

References

*BBC Online (2006a
''Schools in Lancashire''
Education\League Tables, 19 January 2006 ccessed 27 June 2007*BBC Online (2006b
''Institutions in Lancashire''
Education\League Tables, 19 January 2006 ccessed 4 May 2007*Hunt, D., (1990), ''The History of Leyland and District'', Carnegie Press, *Hunt, D. and Waring, W. (1995), ''The Archive Photograph Series: Leyland'', Chalford Publishing Company, *Smith, J., (2003), ''Then and Now: Leyland'', Tempus Publishing, *South Ribble Borough Council �
''Leyland Town Centre Masterplan''
ccessed 23 April 2008

External links

Leyland Historical Society
{{authority control Towns in Lancashire Unparished areas in Lancashire Former civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of South Ribble