Weir is a village to the north of
Bacup
Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east of ...
in the
Rossendale borough of
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, and immediately south of the boundary with the
Borough of Burnley
The Borough of Burnley () is a local government district with the borough status in Lancashire, England. It has an area of and a population of (), and is named after its largest town, Burnley. Other notable settlements include Padiham, Hap ...
. The village had a population of 1,251 at the 2011 Census. Anciently, Weir constituted a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
, but later emerged as an outlying suburb of Bacup town after the Burnley Road turnpike was built through the settlement at the end of the 18th Century.
Village
Weir straddles the
A671 road
The A671 is a road in the North West of England, that runs between Oldham, Greater Manchester and Worston, near Clitheroe, Lancashire. Major towns on the route include Rochdale and Burnley. The road is approximately long. Between Burnley and t ...
and is located by Deerplay Moor, the source of the
River Irwell
The River Irwell ( ) is a tributary of the River Mersey in north west England. It rises at Irwell Springs on Deerplay Moor, approximately north of Bacup and flows southwards for to meet the Mersey near Irlam. The Irwell marks the boundary be ...
, and adjacent to the parish of
Cliviger
Cliviger is a civil parish in the Borough of Burnley, in Lancashire, England. It is situated to the southeast of Burnley, and northwest of Todmorden. According to the 2011 census, the parish has a population of 2,238.
Although the whole parish ...
. Weir is serviced by Northern Primary School in Broadclough, has a church and community centre (th
Doals Centre, an award-winning cafe-bar
Anna's, and a Riding Centre
Weir Riding Centre. Weir was previously serviced by two pubs, the Weir Hotel and the New Deerplay in nearby Cliviger (once the 12th highest pub in England at 1,310 ft). These pubs are set to become business and residential developments.
Weir has an active voluntary group, Weir Pride, which holds monthly meetings and arranges litter picks, floral displays and planting around the village, as well as organising community activities and an annual village fete.
Weir has a football team named A.F.C. Weir, formed in 2010, who compete in the Burnley Miners Burnley and District Sunday league. Their highest finish was second in the 2013/14 season. They also won the Harry Briggs memorial trophy that season, beating Craven 4–0 with two goals each from Luke Dempsey and Ryan Nuttall, Weir goalkeeper Stewart haslam picked up man of the match. They play their home games at Towneley Playing Fields.
There have been several attempts to further develop Weir. The land on the boundary of Weir, adjacent to Broadclough Farm has had several attempts at development including a 61 home plan as well as an 80-bed residential care unit. However to date these have been refused the main concern being loss of the open moorland and countryside surrounding the village.
In June 2014 the police announced they would be monitoring the road between Weir and
Bacup
Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east of ...
(passing through
Broadclough
Broadclough – historically Broad Clough (meaning "broad valley") – is a village located to the north of Bacup (where population details are included), previously having been a part of the old borough of Bacup and now with Borough of Rossenda ...
) as it had become an accident blackspot.
Politics
It is part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency, with
Jake Berry
Sir James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (born 29 December 1978) is a British Conservative Party politician and former solicitor who served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio from 6 September to 25 October 2022. He pr ...
having been the Member of Parliament since 2010.
Notable people
Michael Carr, a
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
politician and former
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for the
Ribble Valley
Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132. Its council is based in Clitheroe. ...
, is a resident of Weir.
Gallery
File:View of Weir Lancashire.jpg, alt=View over Weir, View over Weir
File:Weir Lancashire.jpg, alt=View over Weir, View over Weir
File:Entering Rossendale on the A671 Burnley Road. - geograph.org.uk - 504489.jpg, alt=Approaching Weir from Burnley, Approaching Weir from Burnley
File:Weir Memorial - geograph.org.uk - 378807.jpg, alt=Weir War Memorial, Deerplay Moor, Weir War Memorial, Deerplay Moor
File:Wesley Terrace, Heald Lane, Weir, Lancashire - geograph.org.uk - 1258137.jpg, alt=Traditional housing in Weir, Traditional housing in Weir
File:Lynn Court, Weir - geograph.org.uk - 827482.jpg, alt=Modern housing in Weir, Modern housing in Weir
References
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Lancashire
Geography of the Borough of Rossendale