Kirkby

Another one that strains the definition of "around Preston", Kirkby is a town 6 miles northeast of Liverpool, and 20 southsoutheast of Preston. Until the 1930s, it was a small village, with a railway station and hotel, and a couple of dozen houses. Then World War 2 happened, and a plot of land was selected for a munitions factory - Kirkby Royal Ordinance Factory.

The site opened in 1940, and employed over 20,000 people, served by the railway, with its own station to get workers to and from the place. I have read it proved 10% of the ammunition used in the war.

After the war, the site was repurposed as an industrial estate, and at the same time the city of Liverpool was looking to build new houses, and the result is a town that now has a population over 40,000.

To be honest, the only feature of any great significance is the church of St Chad, the foundations of which date to before the Norman conquest, though the building itself was built 1869-71. It is grade II* listed.


The spire is unusual for a church, a style known as "saddleback", and gives it a rather rustic charm. The graveyard is a little over-grown - though the church is still active; there was a service on while I was there.


Across the road is a small park, St Chad's Gardens.


I headed west from the church, towards the old village. The station has lost any charm it had.


This used to be a main line between Liverpool and Manchester, but lost its significance to other routes with nationalisation.

At one time this was the extent of Merseyrail, with electric trains using this platform, while diesel trains to Wigan used another platform the other side of the bridge I was stood on - like at Ormskirk. However, in 2023 a new station opened, Headbolt Lane, just a mile or so to the east, and the electric trains now go on to there - under battery power. The diesel trains likewise now terminate at Headbolt Lane.

Beyond the station, is the Railway Hotel.


And on the other side of the road, these shops look like they were built in the sixties, and not so attractive...


Nevertheless, this is where the older houses are.

And the other pub.


I turned right into Mill Lane.


This leads to where there used to be a mill. All that remains is the mill pond, but it has been turned into an attractive feature in a park. Note the goslings!


Beyond the pond is Simonswood Brook, and I followed the brook underneath the railway. This is the view looking back.


This brought me into Millbrook Millenium Park. You can see St Chad's on the skyline.


The seats have attractive circular mosaics in front of them. I spotted three.


I am not sure I would recommend going to Kirkby just for it, but this was a very pleasant 45 minute walk.


And so the industrial park... Probably a less appealing walk, but I had to do it.

It has a tenuous personal link. In the mid-eighties I worked for Kodak, in Harrow, London. Kodak was a huge company manufacturing film for cameras, but even then, before digital cameras destroyed that industry, they were not doing well, and while I was there, the site at Kirkby was drastically reduced. I remember a guy got transferred to Harrow from Kirkby, and was going back to Liverpool at weekends to visit his family. I was surprised to find the site lingered on until 2006. The plant in Harrow closed 2016.


Looking round the rest of the industrial estate, on Charlie wood Road, i found some kind of administrative building, probably from the fifties. There were rails still in the ground just beyond from when the site was connected to the railway system.


Knowsley House was built in 1973 for Hygena, who did not last many years. It was used for council office for a while, but seems to have stood derelict for many years.


North West Vehicle Restoration Trust are based here too. They have about 60 buses, though not all on the same site, and hold open days, etc. This was the reason I was in Kirkby.



They took us on a 1956 Leyland Cub around the estate.


We went past the huge Amazon warehouse, where the Royal Ordinance Factory station used to be, and then by the Suez recycling plant, which seems to still be connected to the railway network. No photos - the bus was not that smooth!

I am not a huge fan of buses, but it was a fun afternoon.

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