Leyland (/ˈllənd/ LAY-lənd) is a town in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, 6 miles (10 km) south of Preston. The population was 35,578 at the 2011 Census.[2]

Leyland
Town
Leyland is located in the Borough of South Ribble
Leyland
Leyland
Shown within South Ribble
Leyland is located in Lancashire
Leyland
Leyland
Location within Lancashire
Population38,578 [1] (2001 census)
OS grid referenceSD549232
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLEYLAND
Postcode districtPR25, PR26
Dialling code01772
PoliceLancashire
FireLancashire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Lancashire
53°41′25″N 02°41′57″W / 53.69028°N 2.69917°W / 53.69028; -2.69917

The name of the town is Anglo-Saxon, meaning "untilled land".

History

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Leyland was an area of fields, with Roman roads passing through, from ancient Wigan to Walton-le-Dale. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1085). In 1066, King Edward the Confessor presided over the whole of Leyland. The manor was divided into three large ploughlands, which were controlled by local noblemen. In the 12th century, it came under the barony of Penwortham.

The area of Worden, which is now Worden Park, was one of nine oxgangs of land granted to the Knights Hospitaller, by Roger de Lacy, in Lancashire, but the land was not assigned to any individual and a local man, who was a very close friend of de Lacy, Hugh Bussel, was assigned holder of the land in 1212.

Notable features that remain include the St Andrew's Parish Church, built around 1200 AD, and the large stone Leyland Cross, thought to date back to Saxon times.

Industry and commerce

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The town is famous primarily for the bus and truck manufacturer Leyland Motors, which between the 1950s and 1970s expanded and grew to own several British motor manufacturers, including British Motor Corporation, Standard-Triumph and Rover, culminating in the massive British Leyland company. The truck business still operates today as Leyland Trucks, and is owned by Paccar.[3]

Leyland is also home to one of the leading maintenance and utility companies in the United Kingdom, Enterprise plc on Centurion Way.

The town has been home to the Dr. Oetker pizza factory on Marathon Place, Moss Side, since 1989.[4]

The town centre is dominated by the large Tesco Extra supermarket and adjacent car park.[5]

Architecture

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Anglican church of St Ambrose on Moss Lane

The Anglican church of St Ambrose, on Moss Lane, is a Grade II listed building dating from 1882-85 by Charles Aldridge and Charles Deacon. It is constructed of stone and has green slate roofs with red ridge tiles. It is in a mixed Early English and early French Gothic style.[6]

Since July 2007, the former Primitive Methodist Church on Leyland Lane has been home to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles.[7]

Most of the residential dwellings in Leyland falls are semi-detached, detached and bungalows. There are a few modern housing estates, but about 65% of the accommodation in the town was built in the 1970s.[citation needed]

Governance

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Civic Centre, West Paddock

There are two tiers of local government covering Leyland, at district and county level: South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council. The borough council is based in Leyland, at the Civic Centre on West Paddock.[8]

Leyland was an ancient parish. In 1863 the parish was made a local government district, governed by a local board.[9] Such local government districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894.[10][11] Leyland Urban District was abolished in 1974 to become part of the new borough of South Ribble. No successor parish was created for the former urban district and so Leyland is directly administered by South Ribble Borough Council.[12] Shortly before its abolition, the urban district council had built itself a new headquarters on West Paddock, which subsequently became the South Ribble Civic Centre.

Transport

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Leyland railway station is on the West Coast Main Line and is operated by Northern. There is one train an hour between Liverpool Lime Street and Preston. There is also one train an hour from Manchester Victoria/Hazel Grove to Blackpool North.

There is a marker adjacent to the old Leyland Motors Spurrier works at the halfway point on the railway journey between Glasgow and London, some 198 miles in either direction. John Fishwick & Sons which served the town's public transport needs, and connected the town to Chorley and Preston, ceased trading in 2015 and Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire took over the route.[13]

Media

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Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill transmitter.[14]

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Lancashire on 103.9 FM, Heart North West on 96.9 FM, Smooth North West on 100.4 FM, Capital Manchester and Lancashire on 106.5 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Lancashire on 96.5 FM, Central Radio North West, an DAB station[15] and Radio Leyland, a community based station which is broadcast on 104.8 FM.[16]

The Lancashire Telegraph and Lancashire Evening Post are main newspapers that cover the town.[17][18]

Education

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High schools

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Balshaw's CE High School

High schools in Leyland include Balshaw's CE High School near Leyland Cross, St Mary's Catholic High School, Worden Academy, a smaller high school situated to the west of the town and Wellfield Academy near the town centre.[19]

Colleges

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To the east of Worden Park is Runshaw College.[20]

Geography

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Leyland is made up by six different areas, the town centre itself counts as the main retail side, with the railway station, library and shops nearby. The other areas include Broadfield, Moss Side, Worden Park, Turpin Green and the Wade Hall estate.

Having been joined by Clayton Brook, draining the village of the same name to the east, after skirting Lostock Hall, the River Lostock flows south west, past Farington and through the western suburbs of the Leyland, collecting Mill Brook (from Worden Park) and Hollin's Brook (draining Runshaw Moor), before moving west towards Croston.

People

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Notable people who have grown up or lived in Leyland include:

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Population of 35,578 is the sum of the following ward populations: Moss Side Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3673; Earnshaw Bridge Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3722; Golden Hill Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3982; Seven Stars Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3701; Lowerhouse Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 4050; Leyland St. Mary's Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3562; Leyland Central Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3626; Leyland St. Ambrose Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 3337; Leyland St. John's Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 5925. All accessed 30 September 2011.
  2. ^ "Leyland Central – UK Census Data 2011". Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Leyland Trucks". www.leylandtrucksltd.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Pizza factory planning to super-size in Leyland to grab a bigger slice of the market". 9 January 2020. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Tesco Extra". Foursquare. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Church of St Ambrose, Leyland, Lancashire".
  7. ^ "Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles". holy-apostles.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Contact us". South Ribble Borough Council. Retrieved 25 August 2022. Civic Centre, West Paddock, Leyland, Lancashire, PR25 1DH
  9. ^ Kelly's Directory of Lancashire. London. 1905. p. 593.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Local Government Act 1894
  11. ^ "Leyland Ancient Parish / Civil Parish". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  12. ^ Local Government Act 1972
  13. ^ "John Fishwick & Sons". Fishwicks. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  14. ^ "Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. May 2004. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Central Radio". Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Radio Leyland". Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Lancashire Telegraph". British Papers. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  18. ^ "Lancashire Evening Post". British Papers. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  19. ^ "GCSE success for Leyland students". Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  20. ^ "Runshaw College". www.runshaw.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  21. ^ "Tom's a class act for pupils". www.lep.co.uk. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  22. ^ Prince, Rosa (16 July 2015). "Tim Farron: the Christian Lefty on course to be elected Liberal Democrat leader". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
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