Newchurch or Newchurch in Rossendale is a village within the borough of

Rossendale Rossendale may refer to several places and organizations in Lancashire, England: Places *Rossendale Valley, a river valley *Borough of Rossendale, a local government district *Rossendale (UK Parliament constituency) Rossendale was a United King ...

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 ...

, England. It is around one mile east of

Rawtenstall Rawtenstall () is a town in the borough of Borough of Rossendale, Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The town lies 15 miles (24 km) north of Manchester, 22 miles (35 km) east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston and 45 miles (70 km) south east of Lanca ...

and half a mile north of Waterfoot. The village has a mixture of large detached houses and

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...

s, and smaller semi-detached housing on Staghills Council Estate where the majority of the village's population lives. There are two large manor houses, Heightside, a nursing home for those with

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

s and Ashlands, a care home for the elderly. It is part of the Rossendale and Darwen constituency.

History

Newchurch is one of the earliest settlements in the Forest of Rossendale, the village developed around St Nicholas church, first built in 1511. The

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Newchurch stretched from

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 ...

to Rawtenstall, and in 1511 it was recorded as having a population of 1,000 people. Newchurch-in-Rossendale was formerly a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of Whalley, in 1866 Newchurch became a separate

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

, in 1894 the parish was abolished to form

and Rawtenstall. In 1891 the parish had a population of 1190. It is now in the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Rawtenstall. The village is built on a hill, Seat Naze. On this hill there is a stone circle with many rumours circulating about its original use. A mobile phone mast was erected on top of Seat Naze in the 1990s. The hill also has a network of caves running underneath it, used for

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing in the early 1900s. They stretch from Newchurch to

Crawshawbooth Crawshawbooth is a small village located on the edge of the Pennines in England, just north of the market town of Rawtenstall, Lancashire, and south of Loveclough. It is situated in the Rossendale Valley, which was once an ancient royal huntin ...

around 4 miles away. The original building for

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) is a selective school, selective co-educational Academy (English school), academy grammar school in Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The school is named after the two main towns either side ...

was in Newchurch, on Turnpike. This site was used between 1701 until 1913 until they moved to their current site in Waterfoot. The site was then used as St Peter's RC Primary School until they moved to a new site in the 1970s. It remained derelict until 2000, when it was demolished and the land was used to build a house. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the village was expanded with the construction of new homes, including a council estate at Staghills, and during the 1960s many of the historic buildings were demolished to make way for newer

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 ...

Transport

The 483 bus service ran by

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza Region, Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakc ...

passes through the village on a regular basis giving easy access to Bury and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. The 273 bus provides transport through to Burnley and

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Sport

It was the home of semi-professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club Rossendale United until they dissolved in 2011. Their home ground Dark Lane was set on fire in January 2012. The site is currently being redeveloped with 95 new family homes.

Services

Newchurch has three churches, St Nicholas Church, St. Peter's RC and a Methodist church. Most of the local village shops and the post office have closed in the last couple of decades due to increased transport making it easier to reach local supermarkets in nearby

. A takeaway, general store and hairdressers are the only remaining ones, as well as the last remaining local pub, the Boar's Head, which has been open since 1674. The other pub in the village, the Blue Bell, closed in 2013 and the empty building is currently for sale Newchurch has two primary schools; St Nicholas and St Peter's as well as Staghills Children's Centre and Nursery, rated as "outstanding" by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

Notable people

* John Rushton (1798–1868) Archdeacon of Manchester from 1843 until 1854. * Major Hugh Hay MC (1889–1965) a British WWI flying ace credited with five aerial victories.

References

External links

Newchurch Village Community Association
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Former civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Rossendale