Elswick, ENG - Postcode - PR4 3ZP

Elswick, Lancashire

Located in rural Lancashire, England, on the Fylde coast, the village and civil parish of Elswick is a popular tourist destination. There were 1,079 people living there as of the 2011 Census.

Elswick was a farming village in the hundred of Amounderness when the Normans invaded England in 1066. St. Michael's on Wyre was the original parish that included the village. Prior to 1650, Elswick was home to a Nonconformist chapel.

Elswick is included in both the Fylde borough council and the Fylde parliamentary constituency. Distances from Blackpool and Preston are respectively 12 and 19 kilometers.

History of Elswick

The name "Elswick" appears in the Domesday Book in the spelling "Edeleswic" from the year 1086. Etleswhic, Etheliswyck, and Elleswyk were all variations that appeared in subsequent records. Elswick was owned by Earl Tostig, King Harold II's brother, at the time of the Norman invasion of 1066, when it was a part of the ancient hundred of Amounderness. When Tostig was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge,  the Normans conquered his territory. Between 1069 and 1086, Anglo-Norman baron Roger the Poitevin received Amounderness as a gift from William the Conqueror. According to the Domesday Book, Elswick occupies a space equal to three carucates. Elswick was divided among several owners in the 13th century, including the lord of Freckleton, Warine de Whittingham, and Alan de Singleton, to name a few. Early in the 16th century, Edmund Dudley, administrator to Henry VII, owned the township, and Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby, afterwards acquired it. Villagers of Elswick would have traveled the 5 mi. (8 km.) to St. Michael's on Wyre to worship due to the fact that Elswick was part of the parish of St. Michael's on Wyre.  By 1650, the population of the village was documented as being 50 people, and a chapel had been constructed. It was supposed to be a chapel of ease to St. Michael's, but the chaos of the English Civil War prevented it from being endowed or consecrated. Presbyterians were the first to utilize the chapel after it was granted a license in 1671 for use by Nonconformists. When this license was deemed illegal, the chapel shuttered, but it reopened as a Congregational church. A new edifice was constructed in its stead in 1753, and this one was later expanded in 1838. On property donated by Miss Harrison, H. J. Powell constructed a new chapel in 1873–1874.  As a result of an outbreak of smallpox in 1902, the locals banded together to construct a sanatorium for the sick. As time went on, it served as a dormitory for those on probation and a center for tuberculosis patients. It has been renovated into a private home, so  this building is no longer public.

A VHF fixer station, part of the RAF Western Sector and one of many fixed sites maintained by neighboring RAF Longley Lane, operated right off the Roseacre Road between Elswick and Roseacre from 1951 until 1956.

A hand-steerable radio mast, two R1392D radio receivers, a transmitter, and a phone line were all found at the location, which also had an octagonal wooden cabin. This shack had an octagonal brick wall built tight around it to shield it from bomb blasts. The station helped pilots in low-visibility conditions find their way to airfield runways and allowed each sector to track down RAF or friendly aircraft. There were three RAF radio personnel at the facility, with two always on duty and the third living in Elswick village. In or around 1956, when more advanced technologies had rendered the site obsolete, it was shut down.

Geography of Elswick

Located on the coastal plain of the Fylde (53°50′20′′N 2°52′50′′W; 53.839°, 2.880°), about 240 miles (390 km) north-west of London, is the town of Elswick. It is around 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Poulton-le-Fylde, about 12 miles (19 km) north-west of its post town, Preston, and about 8.5 miles (14 km) east of the popular coastal resort of Blackpool. It is close to the settlements of Great Eccleston, St. Michael's on Wyre, and Thistleton.

Elswick, like the rest of the British Isles, experiences chilly summers and moderate winters due to its location on a body of water. The average annual rainfall in neighboring Blackpool is 871.3 millimeters (34.30 in).