Leyland, Lancashire

The name Leyland derives from the Old English lǣgeland meaning 'unploughed land'. Leyland was an area of fields, with Roman roads passing through, from ancient Wigan to Walton-le-Dale. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1085). In 1066, King Edward the Confessor presided over the whole of Leyland. The manor was divided into three large ploughlands, which were controlled by local noblemen. In the 12th century, it came under the barony of Penwortham. The area of Worden, which is now Worden Park, was one of nine oxgangs of land granted to the Knights Hospitaller, by Roger de Lacy, in Lancashire, but the land was not assigned to any individual and a local man, who was a very close friend of…

The Anglican church of St Ambrose, on Moss Lane, is a Grade II listed building dating from 1882 to 1885 by Charles Aldridge and Charles Deacon. It is constructed of stone and has green slate roofs with red ridge tiles. It is in a mixed Early English and early French Gothic style. From 1962 to 1964, St Mary's Catholic Church in Leyland was built. It was founded by the Benedictines from Ampleforth Abbey and replaced a smaller church built in 1854. It was designed by Jerzy Faczynski and according to Historic England it is a "building of outstanding importance for its architectural design, advanced liturgical planning and artistic quality of the fixtures and fittings". In 1998, it was…