| Skelmersdale | |
The Concourse Shopping Centre, Skelmersdale |
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Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale shown within Lancashire |
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| Population | 38,813 |
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| OS grid reference | SD4806 |
| - London | 180 mi (290 km) SE |
| District | West Lancashire |
| Shire county | Lancashire |
| Region | North West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SKELMERSDALE |
| Postcode district | WN8 |
| Dialling code | 01695 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | West Lancashire |
| List of places: UK • England • Lancashire | |
Skelmersdale is a town in West Lancashire, England. It lies on high-ground on the River Tawd, 6 miles (10 km) to the west of Wigan, 13 miles (21 km) to the northeast of Liverpool, 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Preston. As of 2006, Skelmersdale had a population of 38,813,[1] down from 41,000 in 2004. The town is known locally as Skem. The first recorded use of the name Skelmersdale appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was under the rule of Uctred as part of the hundred of West Derby.
The urbanisation and development of Skelmersdale largely coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Industrial scale coal mining began in the early 19th century and continued to expand during that century to give rise to Skelmersdale as an important colliery village.
Skelmersdale was designated as a new town in 1961.
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The River Tawd flows through Skelmersdale into a country park. The main country park is at Ashurst Beacon, a hillside location that is also home to a golf club.
Skelmersdale means "Skjaldmarr's valley", from the Old Norse personal name Skjaldmarr + probably Old Norse dalr (or Old English dæl) "dale, valley". The name was recorded as Skalmeresedel in 1136. One placename book suggests that it may be of Celtic origin, with the placenames being in Celtic placename order: "Element/personal name/word", rather than "Personal name/word/element", as with Old English placenames.
It is known locally as "Skem",[2] with a further distinction being made between "Old Skem" (the area which was a small mining town prior to 1961) and the broader swathe of development which has now developed.
Until the creation of Skelmersdale Urban District Council at the end of the 19th century, the town was part of the Parish of Ormskirk in the West Derby hundred, an ancient subdivision of Lancashire, covering the southwest of the county.
In the mid-14th century, the manor of Skelmersdale was held by William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre.[3]
Skelmersdale's population in 1851 was only 760, but 50 years later it had increased to 5,699. It was a busy coal mining town.[4] Sadly, there were over 100 fatalities in Skelmersdale collieries from 1851 to 1900, according to the Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines, and an unknown number of serious injuries. In 1880 there were 14 Skelmersdale colleries – most of them closed in the 1920s and '30s.
The miners, many of whom were Welsh immigrants, brought with them their own brand of Nonconformist Christianity. By the start of the 20th century there were at least six dissenting chapels in the town: two Wesleyan (Berry Street, closed in the 1920s, and Liverpool Road, closed 1969), an independent Methodist, a Primitive Methodist, a Congregational, and a Welsh Chapel (closed in 1963).
Today, there is little to remind people that the town was ever associated with the once great Lancashire Coalfield.
There were also numerous brickworks in the area, and in the early-20th century Victoria County History, Skelmersdale was described as "a particularly bare, unpleasing district" owing to its coal mines and brickworks.[5]
Skelmersdale was designated a New Town in 1961, designed to house overspill population from the north Merseyside conurbation. The town was the first in the second wave of designations.
Due to the arrival of a large number of former Liverpool residents, the town retains a strong cultural association with Liverpool.
Skelmersdale endured mixed economic fortunes during the last three decades of the 20th century. With the economic downturn in the late 1970s large industrial employers left the town en masse, resulting in an increase in crime, drug abuse and poverty. Today, West Lancashire has a crime rate well below the national average.[6]
2006 was to see a regeneration drive for the town coordinated through English Partnerships and the Northwest Regional Development Agency and publicly headed by the designer Wayne Hemingway.[7] Among the proposals was a new central focus for the entertainment and commerce for the town in the evening.[2]
Skelmersdale has units of the Air Training Corps, Army Cadet Force and Sea Cadet Corps. These units take part in the local community life and are routinely seen attending the Remembrance Sunday parade in the old town.
1439 (Skelmersdale) Squadron, Air Cadets, formed at Upholland Grammar School in 1941 as 'The Beacon Squadron' and provided airmanship training for young men and those about to join the RAF in time for the Battle of Britain. The Squadron continues to provide airmanship training to young men and women in addition to other activities.
The Army Cadets are part of 'S' Company of the Lancashire Force. They are based at Daniels Lane.
The Sea Cadets are also well established in Skelmersdale as "Skelmersdale and West Lancs District" and are based at Tawd Road.
The layout of the town is unique for the oversized roundabouts (the largest of which is "Half Mile Island") and a complete absence of traffic lights. Skelmersdale's road system has improved with better signage, although visitors still frequently get lost.
The M58 motorway (Liverpool – Wigan Motorway) runs along the south of Skelmersdale from the nearby M6 motorway to the Switch Island interchange at Liverpool. The A570 and the A577 both provide connections.
The New Town areas of Skelmersdale have a road-naming system where "Road" and "Street" are rarely used and single-name roads are common, e.g. Abbeywood, Fairburn, Brierfield, Thornwood. "Road", "Street", "Lane" and "Drive" do appear in road names, but only in the parts of the town (bordering on Ormskirk, St. Helens and Wigan) that pre-date the New Town development. The road names in New Town areas are also arranged in a loosely alphabetical format with large areas being defined by a single letter, for example Larkhill, Leeswood, Ledburn and Lindens all connect to Ashley Road in the Ashurst area.
Roads in the industrial estates and the main roads in the town such as Gillibrands Road follow the usual naming conventions, although the industrial estates do feature street names beginning with the same letter (such as Pikelaw Place, Penketh Place, Pinfold Place, Priorswood Place) all forpart of the Pimbo Industrial Estate.++
From September 2011, the company providing most of Skelmersdale's bus services, Arriva, closed their depot in Skelmersdale, which employed 129 people. The depot was first constructed for Ribble Motors in the 1970s, and the premises will now be sold. Skelmersdale is now served by buses from Arriva depots in St. Helens, Bootle and Southport.
Since the closure of Skelmersdale railway station in 1956, the town has become the second most populous town in the North West Region without a railway station.[8] The nearest railway station is Upholland railway station on the Wigan Wallgate to Kirkby branch line (historically part of the Liverpool and Bury Railway line.[9]) The Skelmersdale Branch previously connected Skelmersdale to Ormskirk and Rainford Junction.
In March 2009, Network Rail proposed to extend the existing quarter-hourly Liverpool Central to Kirkby service, to terminate at a new station in the centre of Skelmersdale. Rainford will then become an interchange station for services to and from Wigan Wallgate.[10] In June 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies published a report, Connecting Communities, which also recommended the opening of a new rail link to Skelmersdale.[11] This time the recommendation was via the Skelmersdale Branch from Ormskirk.
Skelmersdale has a number of primary schools, and has three high schools. These are Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic High School an Engineering College, Lathom High School a Technology College and Glenburn Sports College.
West Lancashire College has a campus in the centre of the town. The college merged with Newcastle College in 2007[12] and was recently graded as 'outstanding' in a recent OFSTED inspection.[13]
There is a Transcendental Meditation movement community within Skelmersdale, called "European Sidhaland".[14] It has a Maharishi School that has performed well in OFSTED and school league tables. In 2011, it was one of 24 schools that applied for and received government funding as a flagship free school.[15]
Skelmersdale also is home to a large public library whose facilities include free internet access and an extensive local history section.[16]
Although consisting predominantly of housing estates, Skelmersdale's industry includes the Co-operative Bank[17] (Skelmersdale's single largest employer), distribution centres for Asda[18] and P&G,[19] a Walkers snack food factory,[20] the international headquarters and UK manufacturing centre of Turtle Wax[21] and many others. Skelmersdale houses the corporate base and a distribution centre for Matalan, the discount clothing and homewares store.[22] Frederick's Dairies is located in Skelmersdale who make ice cream for Cadbury[23]
Skelmersdale's town centre is made up of The Concourse Shopping Centre,[24] colloquially known as "The Conny", and an Asda supermarket.
There are an abundance of smaller shopping parades in Skelmersdale which include Sandy Lane, Digmoor Parade and Ashurst Shopping Center. One of the biggest shops in skelmersdale is Retail Bargains[25]
The town's football team, Skelmersdale United, plays in the Unibond Northern Premier League Division One North and was a FA Vase winner in 1971. One of its former players was Steve Heighway, who went on to play for Liverpool F.C. for many years. Everton's, Leon Osman, lives in Skelmersdale and sent his son to St James Catholic primary School in Ashurt.
The town is also host to an archery club, The Bowmen of Skelmersdale[26] whose collective members hold 19 county records[27] and 14 World Records held by three individuals from the same family (Melissa-Jane Daniel, Harriet Daniel and Gary Daniel), 6 of which were claimed at the National Flight Championships on 19 August 2006 held at RAF Church Fenton.[28]
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