Appley Bridge


Appley Bridge is a small, affluent village in West Lancashire, England. It is located off Junction 27 of the M6 motorway and is nestled in the Douglas Valley alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

History

"Apple lea", from Appelae, Appeleie, Appeleye, found in 13th century Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey; - also "Appley Moor"; within the township of Wrightington in the ancient parish of Eccleston.

Community

Once a busy industrial village with a paint and linoleum works, several quarries, and clay pits for the Wigan brick company, today the village still has several factories including a weighbridge manufacturer and a caravan factory. Today it is not as busy, its main purpose being providing housing for the many commuters who work along the M6 corridor.
Appley Bridge has two churches,, and is in the Deanery of Chorley, Diocese of Blackburn.
Appley Bridge railway station, opened in 1855 by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, is situated on the Southport to Manchester line. The village contains a few convenience shops, a football ground, several country pubs and a post office. Appley converges into the village of Shevington Vale which is within the Greater Manchester border. In Shevington Vale, there is a range of amenities including a SPAR convenience store, a Chinese takeaway, a hairdressing salon and a pharmacy. There is also a small children's play area and football pitch opposite Shevington Vale Primary School. The Golden Days garden centre is just outside the main village on Back Lane, near the M6 Motorway junction. A waste paper recycling yard is also present on Appley Lane North offering free disposal of cardboard and paper as well as other services.

Recreation

There are many open spaces in Appley Bridge where the local population play football, cricket and rugby etc. The organised football team is called Appley Bridge F.C. and plays matches on the football pitch on Appley Lane South facing the old local pub called the Bridge Inn, near the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Appley Bridge F.C. which is a Football Association Charter club has many junior teams from the under age 8 up to the under age 16. This is complemented by senior teams and a successful over-35s team. The Senior team enjoys good support and the junior teams have at various age groups been very successful over the past seasons.
19th Wigan Boys' Brigade and 1st Appley Bridge Girls' Brigade meet regularly at Vale Methodist Church Hall.
Appley Bridge Golf Club was founded in 1907. The club had disappeared by the early 1950s.

Skull House

In between Appley Lane North and Miles Lane is a road called Skull House Lane. The lane takes its name from a cottage known as Skull House, which is located about halfway down Appley Lane North, and the cottage in turn takes its name from a discoloured human skull on the living room mantelpiece of the house.
Some inhabitants of Appley Bridge claim that throughout the history of the house, many residents have tried to get rid of the skull, and all have experienced disastrous results after doing so. Recent tests indicate that the skull is female.

Appley Bridge meteorite

At around 8.45pm on Tuesday evening of 13 October 1914, the inhabitants of Appley Bridge were treated to a sudden and spectacular illumination of the night sky, caused by a meteorite that was found in a farmer's field in the village the following day. Found just 18 inches below the surface of the field, with the appearance of burnt iron, the small rock weighed almost 33 lb. An article in the "Scientific News" stated, "a small fragment which had been detached from the larger mass was put on view in a shop-window at Appley Bridge."
In September 2014 a book about the meteorite, by local author Russell Parry, was published.

Millbank flood 1987

On 22 August 1987, parts of Appley Bridge were affected by severe flooding - worst affected was the Millbank estate, off Mill Lane.
During heavy rain, the entrance to the culvert that carries Calico Brook beneath the estate became blocked by debris and overtopped into the estate, causing extensive flooding to most of the properties. Most residents spent the next few months - up to December '87 - in caravans parked on their front gardens, whilst repairs were carried out. The properties required extensive repair: re-plastering, new woodwork, with only the higher houses at the entrance to the estate being unaffected.
Here are quotes from a West Lancs District Council information item and a press release, dated 11 September 1987:

"When severe flooding occurred in several parts of the district on Saturday 22nd August 1987 - Parbold and parts of Skelmersdale were badly affected, whilst the Millbank estate in Appley Bridge was flooded out, with several houses being filled by water to first floor level and almost all of the remainder having water in their ground floor, varying from about two feet to five or six feet in depth.
An amateur meteorologist with a weather station at Hilldale recorded the fall of of rain during the 48 hours beginning at 8.00am on Saturday, 22nd August: over two thirds of that rainfall - about 2.6 inches - being in a four hour period on Saturday afternoon..."
"...From preliminary information, it would appear that the storm frequency was in the order of 1 in 75 year occurrence and this led to widespread flooding throughout the region..."

From information item presented to a meeting of the WLDC Technical Services Committee:

"...The most severe flooding incident was at Millbank Estate, Appley Bridge, where a 60" diameter piped culvert running through the estate could not cope with the sudden flow of surface water in the Calico brook. The brook overflowed the culvert and flooded the estate, which lies in a hollow, to a depth of about 8 feet. at the lower end, approximately 40 houses being involved. The Fire Brigade were called to give assistance and they and the Police helped to evacuate the residents. The North West Water Authority Rivers Division also provided assistance with workmen and pumping equipment to pump the water away. The estate was not cleared of water until about Saturday midnight..."

Soon after the flood the council undertook simple remedial works to reduce the risk of further flooding. They were considered to be temporary works, with a permanent capital solution to follow. The works that were carried out consisted of the building of a restriction to flow, as part of a bridge across the stream in the local woods, they also cut a "notch" into the quarry side wall. In the event of heavy rain, the stream will back-up against the restriction in the bridge and overflow through the notch into the nearby quarry. A wider spaced grill was also placed at the entrance to the culvert allowing small items, such as leaves, to pass through the culvert without blocking it.
In March 2012, twenty-four years after the flooding, work was finally started to replace the 1988 "temporary" works with a permanent project called the "Calico Brook Flood Risk Management Scheme". This scheme of work has been completed, and consists of a concrete structure linked into an emergency overflow pipe. Normally, water passes through the structure and continues on to the brooks normal course, but in times of high discharge, the brook spills over into the emergency pipeline, which channels the water through a low-friction pipe directly to the River Douglas lower down the valley.

Notable people