Whittle-le-Woods (commonly shortened to Whittle) 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 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 Lancas ...

, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,434. Whittle-le-Woods lies on the A6, about three miles north of the town of

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 came ...

, and to the south of the city of

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. It is divided into two areas, the older part on the old coach road running through Waterhouse Green to

Brindle Brindle is a coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's coat. Brindle ty ...

and the more modern part on the A6 road where the church of St John is situated. In the north east is St Chad's RC Church and off the A6 is Shaw Hill Hotel, Golf and Country Club centred on the

Shaw Hill Shaw Hill is an 18th-century country house in Whittle-le-Woods, Lancashire, England, standing in 192 acres of parkland some 3 miles north of Chorley. The estate is now the Shaw Hill Hotel, Golf Club and Country Club. The house is a three-store ...

Georgian mansion. It has experienced much residential development during the last twenty years. This has established the village as a popular commuter area, as it lies close to Preston and between the M6 and M61 motorways. Just over a mile to the east of the M61 is 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 Whittle Springs. 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 a junction in the hamlet, where the south end of the

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria ( historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never compl ...

formerly continued north to Walton Summit. This is also the start of a flight of locks called Johnson's Hillock Locks, which continue via

Heapey Heapey is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The village is two miles from Chorley and on the western fringe of the West Pennine Moors. In 2001 the population was 955, increasing to 1,001 at the 2011 ce ...

and Wheelton in the direction of

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

. Whittle is also known for fishing places, such as Lower Mill off Town Lane and Top Lock. Whittle has many public houses, and it is close to the Shaw Hill golf course on the A6.

Etymology

The village's name is attested from as Witul, deriving from the

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 settlers in the mid-5th ...

''hwit'' + ''hyll'', meaning "white hill". The affix "-le-Woods" is a later addition, meaning "in the woodland".

Population and demographics

At the 2011 census, the civil parish has a population of 5,434, more than double its 1901 population of 2,333. In terms of ethnic composition, the current population is 97.0%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 1.1%

mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

, 1.4% Asian, 0.3%

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

, and 0.1% other ethnic groups.

History

Whittle was on the map due to its sandstone quarries, mainly two large quarries on Hill Top Lane. Whittle Hill Quarry is one of the deepest quarries in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. These were fed by the canal which took stone that had been excavated to Walton Summit and Wigan.

Lancaster Canal Southern End

Whittle-le-Woods was home to the Walton Summit Branch, a small stretch of canal, which was supposed to be part of the complete Lancaster Canal between

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of t ...

and

Westhoughton Westhoughton ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southwest of Bolton, east of Wigan and northwest of Manchester.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 ...

. Although it was never completed the two parts (i.e. North Section and South Section) were linked with a 'temporary' tram road. The tram road survived, and the canal did not. Originally, the canal passed through the Whittle Hills, east of the village itself, via a long tunnel, engineered by John Rennie. The tunnel collapsed in the 1830s and was later split into two tunnels, East and West. Between though as a deep cutting which famously in the 1960s, an engineer from the British Rail and Waterways museum commented "have no problems matching the Shropshire Union canal". The canal was last used in the 1930s, although teenagers navigated the canal days before it was to be destroyed by the M61. Most of the canals bridges and tunnels remain, although they are in a poor condition.

References

External links