- Earlestown
Earlestown forms the western part of the former urban district of
Newton-le-Willows , but is now in theMetropolitan Borough of St Helens ,Merseyside ,England .History
The town is named afterkane baker
Hardman Earle (11 July 1792 -25 January 1877 ) who was the Chairman of theLondon and North Western Railway . The railway leased theVulcan Foundry from Messrs.Jones and Potts . The foundry was so named because of its proximity to the viaduct Stephenson built so that theLiverpool and Manchester Railway could cross the Sankey valley. The foundry became ever busier and the houses that were constructed to house its workers became the town. The other major employer wascoal mining. The Loco Works was called Vulcan Foundry and the houses, constructed to house its workers, were called 'Vulcan Village'. This village is separate to Earlestown, about a mile and a half away towardsWinwick .In 1862
locomotive building was concentrated on Crewe, while Earlestown became the major wagon works. By 1900 it was producing 4000 new wagons, with 13000 major repairs, along with 200 new horse-drawn vehicles. At amalgamation into the LMS,mass production methods were introduced. The works provided all of the railway's needs for ironwork, and continued into the first half of the twentieth century. At the 1963 rationalisation ofBritish Railways , Earlestown was closed, and the work transferred to Horwich.Earlestown owes its location - indeed its existence - to early transport links such as the nearby
Sankey Canal and the Liverpool to Manchester railway. Other industries followed and significant employers in the town included the Sankey Sugar works and the Simon Vickers Engineering works. Additionally, the Lyme and Wood pits - located at either end of what is now the "slag heaps" - employed hundreds of men between them. Sadly, the sugar works closed some years ago (parts of the factory remain, including the warehouse) Simon Vickers remains (trading under a different name) but employing a fraction of the workforce of times gone by.Earlestown Market
There has been a market held in Earlestown for centuries and the market square is the town's centre-piece. Today trading takes place on Monday and Friday, with a mixed flea market/car boot sale every Saturday. The Saturday Market features many regular traders selling Tools, Clothing, Antiques, Records, DVDs, Model railways as well as cheap house clearance and bric-a-brac.Earlestown has an impressive town hall, fronted by a war memorial. Other significant buildings include an art-deco cinema and the old railway ticket office, both of which have fallen into disrepair.
Earlestown has a small but busy town centre with many shops including high-street outlets such as
Tesco , Boots and Woolworths, and several high street banks alogside independent retailers. There are traditional pubs, social clubs, a superb live music venue called the L.G.M and a nightclub called Xenon. The Xenon club is localy still known affectionately as Chasers, a previous name it is has failed to shrug off. However, when first opened the club was originally called Astley's after Newton-le-Willows' favourite son, pop-starRick Astley . Earlestown is well served by manyfast food outlets offering a good range ofIndia n and Chinese dishes as well as fish and chips and the ubiquitousMcDonalds . Most of the local restaurants are curry houses; Earlestown's 'curry quarter-of-a-mile' on Queen Street has three Indian restaurants and a Tandoori take-away.Government
Earlestown is represented in parliament by the member for St Helens north. At the 2005 general election, Dave Watts was re-elected to this seat.
Earlestown is a ward of the Borough of St Helens and at the 2008 local elections Keith Deakin was re-elected to sit on St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council for Earlestown.
Transport
Due to its role in the history of rail travel, Earlestown has good rail connections with its railway station having frequent services to
Liverpool ,Manchester ,Warrington and NorthWales . Earlestown is also well located as far as the road network is concerned, being close to junction 9 of theM62 motorway , junctions 21A, 22 and 23 of theM6 motorway , and theA580 East Lancashire Manchester-Liverpool road.External links
* [http://www.earlestown.com www.earlestown.com]
* [http://www.newton-le-willows.com www.newton-le-willows.com]
* [http://www.enuii.com/vulcan_foundry/index.htm]
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