Galgate
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Galgate is a small village in northern England, just south of Lancaster University, and about half a mile south of Lancaster itself in the county of Lancashire. The name Galgate is from Old English Gal-gata, meaning the road to Scotland. Another, similar view is that the name is a shortening of Galloway Gate, ie the road to Galloway. A popular opinion within Galgate is that it stands for Gallows Gate, the last village which condemned people passed through before reaching Lancaster and their place of execution.
Due to its proximity to the university campus, many students choose to rent houses in the village, in spite of relatively few bus services. The A6 Preston to Lancaster road runs north-south through the centre of the village, and junction 33 of the M6 is nearby. A major railway from Preston to Lancaster passes nearby but the nearest station is Lancaster.
The Lancaster Canal also runs through the village and has a marina for narrowboats that is served by The Plough Inn for all those people in need of refreshment. Indeed, the area in which Galgate is situated is the only geographical location in the world where all four modes of transport (road, rail, sea, and air) travel in the same direction (map).[citation needed] Further to the three listed above, it is also part of the flight path of planes flying into Manchester Airport from Scotland and beyond.
Galgate once had a thriving silk industry and many of the installations still stand. One story told, is that because the rhubarb grown locally was used for dyeing the silk, Galgate's community newletter is named 'Rhubarb City News'. Rhubarb is a prolific plant in Galgate, but this idea that it was used to dye silk seems to have no evidence to support it.
In July 2002 ten-year-old Jade Slack, who was visiting a friend in the village, died of a drug overdose. She became the UK's youngest ecstasy victim after having accidentally taken five of the tablets believing them to be sweets.[1]
Residents in Galgate are presently working to raise money to build a new village hall, between the football pitch and the cricket ground, on the recreation field behind the Plough Inn.
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