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Support our campaign here to prevent moorland fires by banning the sale and use of disposable BBQs!

Welcome to Anglezarke.net, where I hope to present the most comprehensive resource, online or off, of this fantastic part of the West Pennine Moors.

A place of ruined farmsteads, babbling brooks, twenty-thousand year-old settlements, abundant wildlife and outstanding scenery…

New map overlaid on old

Outline of Yarrow Reservoir overlaid onto old mapping showing what was replaced in the construction.

Known as Anglezarke now, but previously Anlezark, Anglezark, and others, the name is derived from two Norse-Gaelic elements.  In the first part comes from the name Anlaf, a form of the popular Scandinavian personal name of Olav.  In the second part comes from the Old Norse word erg or the Brythonic word cognate with Gaelic word àiridh (dialectal arke or argh) both meaning a ‘hill pasture or shieling’.  The two elements together mean ‘Anlaf’s hill pasture’ – i.e. ‘the hill pasture belonging to Anlaf’.  The earliest spelling of the name was in 1202 when it was recorded as ‘Andelevesarewe’.  By 1225 this had become ‘Anlavesargh’, in 1351 ‘Anlasargh’, and by 1559 ‘Anlazarghe’.  Our maps, starting in the 1700’s, first reference ‘Anglezark’ and it is only in the 1900’s that we first see the modern spelling, ‘Anglezarke’.  In 1894, there were plans to join Anglezarke to Heapey, but ratepayers protested sufficiently.

Yates Map of 1786 was the first accurate mapping undertaken in Lancashire.

Yates Map of 1786 was the first accurate mapping undertaken in Lancashire.

There is an alternative history to the name.  According to a book I discovered in the British Library, Anglezargh may mean Heathen Temple.  The first portion indeed includes the name of a Norse deity, although people did name themselves after deities.  Anlaf’s Argh = The Temple Of Anlaf The Heathen.

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Copyright

Anglezarke.Net content is (c) Copyright 2015-2019, all rights reserved.  Contributor images are used with permission and copyright is retained by their respective owners.  Enquires via the Contact form.

References

My policy is to undertake original research wherever possible, and to visit locations to take first-hand evidence.  However, in other texts, there are undoubtedly unique and otherwise unobtainable stories and tales.   Where quoted, these have generally been referenced, and evidence has been cross-checked. A Short History Of The Township Of Rivington In The County Of …

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Useful Links

There are some great websites which cover the local area in far more depth than myself – check them out! Paul Lacey’s Rivington and Lever Park http://www.angelfire.com/in/rivington/ Chorley Natural History Society http://www.chorleynats.org.uk/wpsite/ Chorley History Society http://www.chorleyhistorysociety.co.uk/ About Rivington by Andy Munki http://www.about-rivington.co.uk/ White Coppice (and more) by Jed http://www.white-coppice.co.uk/

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Kiona the Gardenian – A book by Anglezarke regular Richard Haslam

Autistic author Richard Haslam is a regular visitor to Anglezarke, and he has recently released the revised edition of his book to the “Now.Here” series, “Kiona the Gardenian”. With the full support of the Autism Initiatives team at Braid Close in Penwortham.  Richard’s quality of life completely transformed as they worked alongside him to realise …

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Can you see the Republic of Ireland from England?

Lockdown had a huge impact on us all. One of the most striking things for me was the increase in visibility, caused no doubt by the dramatic reduction in travel and transport. The Anglezarke Moor area is directly under the flight path of aircraft flying in to Manchester Airport from Ireland, and the sky is …

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Prevent moorland fires – Ban disposable BBQs

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-ban-disposable-bbq-s I believe that people should be free to make their own choices and not bound by unnecessary rules, laws and bureaucracy.  Open access to the moorland, right-to-roam, and the Countryside Rights Of Way Act 2000 give people like myself the opportunity to explore and exercise without fear of trespass.  And freedom of speech …

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Geocaching with Memory Map 6

Paperless Geocaching is quite well documented for Memory Map 5 and PDA devices, but times have moved on, so I wanted to see if I could bring it up to date. Geocaching is a very popular hobby, which combines GPS navigation with treasure hunting. There’s a more thorough explanation on the Geocaching.com website here https://www.geocaching.com/guide/ …

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