Ulnes Walton
| Ulnes Walton | |
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.jpg) The Rose and Crown public house, Ulnes Walton |
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 Ulnes Walton
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| Ulnes Walton shown within Lancashire | |
| Population | 2,672 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SD516187 |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LEYLAND |
| Postcode district | PR26 |
| Dialling code | 01772 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Ulnes Walton is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001 it has a population of 2,048, increasing to 2,672 at the 2011 Census.
The village is also the location of two prisons. Garth Prison, holds Category B adult males, while Wymott Prison holds Category C adult males.
Due to variations in spelling over time, the pronunciation of the name of this village has varied. It is known to have been Oves Walton and Oos Walton.
There is much of interest in this small township, a part of Chorley Rural District, situated about eight miles southwest of Preston between Croston and Leyland, with the ecclesiastical parishes of Croston and St James, Leyland, within its boundaries.
In the 13th century the manor of Walton was in the possession of Ulf of Walton, and was part of the barony of Penwortham. Legend has it that the original UIf was a Danish pirate who sailed up the river Douglas, into the river Lostock and settled at Littlewood. Ulf’s manor house was on the site of Littlewood Hall, about two miles from Ulnes Walton school.
A short distance north of Lostock Bridge, on the eastern side of the road to Leyland, there was until recently a small three-cornered piece of ground enclosed by hedges. This was the pinfold where straying animals were kept in charge of a pinner or pinder, who released them to the owners on payment of one shilling to the overseers of the township. The pinfold is now levelled, the trees bounding it cut down and no trace of it remains.
The bases of two crosses, one behind Lostock Bridge and the Roecroft cross at the junction of Ulnes Walton Lane and Southport Road, are all that remain of praying crosses where coffins were rested on their way to Croston or Eccleston church. There was no church at Moss Side, the west end of Leyland, until 1855.
The story goes that when the Roecroft cross base was moved during road widening it was brought back overnight to its original place. Several times the stone crossed and re-crossed the road until some local lads dressed as ghosts moved it to its present site, and it was not moved again.
There is also Roecroft Farm and Roe Cottage along Ulnes Walton lane, possibly named after the fact there were deer in the area. Over 50 years ago a house which had been roofed by corrugated iron was stripped to reveal the original thatch. Hidden in the thatch was a pair of deer's antlers. Deer poaching brought severe penalties, and this was evidence which could not be destroyed easily; hence the secure hiding place.
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Wikipedia