Heath Charnock is a small 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 authorit ...

of the

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-me ...

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 Lancash ...

, England. According to the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for Nationa ...

it has a population of 2,065, reducing to 2,026 at the 2011 Census.

Location

Heath Charnock is next to Adlington and Anderton. The civil parish includes the

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 ...

of Limbrick.

History

Heath Charnock has been variously recorded as Charnock in 1271; Cernok, Heath Charnock, Hest Chernnoke, Est Chernoke in 1278, Chernocke Gogard in 1284, Hechernok, Heghchernok, Hethevchernoc, Hethchernok, Gogardeschernok and Hethchernock in 1292. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Heath Charnock was part of the

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

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in cont ...

held by Randle de Marsey and then by the Ferrers. By 1288 there were two subordinate manors, one held by Thomas Banastre and one by William Gogard. The Banastre manor was acquired by John de Harrington and then the first Lord Mounteagle whose family held it until 1574 when it was sold to Thomas Walmsley and Robert Charnock. Walmsley sold his portion to Thomas Standish of Duxbury whose family eventually acquires the Charnock portion. William Gogard was styled 'lord of Heath Charnock' and the township often called Charnock Gogard up to the 17th century. By sales and partitions this manor eventually disappeared except for a portion known as Hall o' th' Hill which was held by the Asshawe family by marriage but which was never a manor. The

hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is ...

return for 1666 shows that there were 68 hearths in the township, 18 were accounted for in the houses of William Radley and Peter Shaw.

The Street The Street may refer to: Geographical *Wall Street in New York City's Financial District * The Street, Lawshall, Suffolk, England * The Street (Heath Charnock), a building and bridleway in Rivington, Lancashire, England Film and television * ''The ...

was another ancient estate held by a family of the same name.

Governance

Heath Charnock was a township in the Standish ecclesiastical parish in the Leyland hundred in Lancashire. It became part of the Chorley Rural

Sanitary District Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

from 1875 to 1894, and part of the

Chorley Rural District Chorley Rural District was a rural district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. The district was created by the Local Government Act 1894 as the successor to the Chorley Rural Sanitary District. It comprised a ...

from 1894 to 1974. Since 1974, it has been a civil parish of the

which is governed by 47 councillors, elected for four year terms to represent wards in the borough. In May 2010 the constitution of the Chorley council was

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

had 27 seats,

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

15 seats, Liberal Democrats 3 seats and Independents 2 seats. Heath Charnock is part of the Heath Charnock and Rivington ward and in 2012 elected a Labour councillor, Kim Snape. Chorley Council is part of the Lancashire County Council created in 1889 under the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

and reconstituted under the Local Government Act 1972. Heath Charnock is part of the Chorley Rural East ward. Heath Charnock is part of the Chorley parliamentary constituency which elected

Lindsay Hoyle Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June 1957)'HOYLE, Hon. Lindsay (Harvey)', Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012 ; online edn, Nov 201 Retrieved 31 December 20 ...

as Member of Parliament for the Labour party at the 2010 General Election.

Geography

The township is crossed by the River Yarrow and its eastern boundary is the

Upper Rivington Reservoir Upper Rivington Reservoir is situated centrally in the Rivington chain of reservoirs, on the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire, England, between Rivington and Anglezarke. The engineer for the Rivington reservoirs was Thomas Hawksley and constr ...

. The land rises to the north east reaching a height of . It covers an area of including of inland water, (the reservoir). The township was mostly agricultural, but there were brick works, stone quarries and a cotton mill operating in the early 20th century.

Transport

The

A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6. * A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile * ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A6 (Sydney), a road connec ...

passes through Heath Charnock, connecting Chorley and Adlington, and the

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

to Chorley road branches off to Horwich.There are roads to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

and

Rivington Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, ...

. The M61 crosses the township north to south and is accessed at junction 6, Horwich, and junction 8, Chorley. The Manchester, Bolton to Preston railway passes through Heath Charnock, with the nearest station is at Adlington. The

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

passes through the township.

References

External links

Heath Charnock
chorley.gov.uk.
Heath Charnock Parish Council Website
heathcharnock.org.uk {{authority control Geography of Chorley Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire