Garstang

Garstang is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cherestanc.^[4][5] Later recordings of the name include Geresteng, Gairstang in 1195; Grestein, 1204; Gayrestan, 1236; Gayerstang, 1246; Gayrstang, 1274; and Gayrestang, 1292.^[6][7][8]

The original spelling of Garstang has several interpretations: "'gore by the boundary pole", "spear post", "triangular piece of land", "common land" or "meadowland". Possibly signifying the site of a meeting-space. The Old Norse derivation being 'geiri', a gore, from 'geirr', with 'stang' or 'stǫng', meaning "pole" or "boundary marker", or the Saxon derivation 'Gaerstung'. It is probable that the historic market cross is this same site.^[5][9][10]

From a very early time, Garstang lay within the Amounderness Hundred of Lancashire. From 1894 until 1974, it formed its own local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire; the Garstang Rural District extended beyond the current civil parish boundaries and included villages such as Pilling.^[18]

Since 1974, Garstang has formed part of the borough of Wyre, although it retains an elected Town Council with limited jurisdiction. The borough ward has three councillors, including Lady Dulcie Atkins, wife of former MEP Sir Robert Atkins.^[19]

The town is situated on the river Wyre, river Calder and the Lancaster Canal, Garstang is situated between Lancaster and Preston, close to the A6 road, the M6 motorway and the West Coast Main Line. It lies on the eastern edge of the Fylde and the Forest of Bowland is not far to the east.

Garstang and the nearby villages of Bonds, Bowgreave, Catterall and Western Claughton-on-Brock form an almost continuous built-up area, bypassed by the A6 road in 1928.^[20][21][a] Other nearby villages not bypassed by the A6 road include Brock, Bilsborrow, Cabus and Churchtown form another, much larger, continuous built-up area which includes Garstang in the centre.

The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 4,852.^[22]

Local primary schools are Garstang Community Primary School, Garstang St Thomas Church of England School and SS Mary & Michael Catholic School. The secondary school is Garstang Community Academy, which does not offer sixth form courses; pupils have to travel to Lancaster, Preston or Blackpool to study A-Level courses.

The town has seven public houses: The Farmers Arms, the Crown, the Eagle and Child, the King's Arms, the Royal Oak Hotel, the Wheatsheaf and Th'Owd Tithe Barn, with the Bellflower (formerly the Flag) in Nateby. It has three restaurants: Pipers, Ken Ma and the Great Season, the latter two serving Chinese food. There is also a golf club and country hotel on the A6 road.

The town is served by the Anglican church of St Thomas and the Catholic church of St Mary and St Michael, just outside the town's boundaries in Bonds. Until 1881, Garstang's official parish church was St Helen's, 2 miles (3.2 km) away in Churchtown.

Bus routes are operated by Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire, which connect the town with Preston, Lancaster and Morecambe.^[23]

The town was formerly served by two railway stations: Garstang and Catterall, which was closed in 1969,^[24] and Garstang Town, which closed to passengers in 1930.^[25] The nearest National Rail stations are now at Lancaster and Preston, which lie on the West Coast Main Line; between them, Avanti West Coast, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express operate services from both locations to London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Carlisle and Glasgow Central.

Garstang lies on the A6 road, which connects Carlisle, Lancaster, Preston, Manchester, Derby and Luton. The M6 motorway passes to the east of the town and can be accessed at Preston or Lancaster.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter.^[26]

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Lancashire, Heart North West, Smooth North West, Capital Manchester and Lancashire, Greatest Hits Radio Lancashire and Central Radio North West.

The town's local newspaper was the Garstang Courier,^[27] which has now been absorbed into the Lancashire Evening Post.

Garstang F.C. is a non-league football club; founded in 1885, it plays in the North West Counties League, having won the West Lancashire League Premier League and Richardson Cup double in 2018.^[28]

Garstang is referenced in episode 5 of the first series of the comedy Phoenix Nights. Brian Potter, played by Peter Kay, said "What have you called us? What have you called the best cabaret lounge this side of Garstang?", in reference to an alternative comedy night being run at his fictional club.^{[citation needed]}

The following people have lived in or were born in Garstang:

• Isaac Ambrose (1604–1664), a Puritan vicar, ejected locally for nonconformity in 1662^[29][30]
• John Plessington (c. 1637–1679), Catholic priest, executed by the English Crown, RC saint and martyr
• Robert Terrill Rundle (1811–1896), a Methodist missionary noted for his work in Western Canada^[31]
• Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861–1933), a British garden designer, landscape architect and town planner.
• Sir Robert Atkins (born 1946), politician, MP from 1979 to 1997, MEP for North West England from 1999 to 2014; vice president of Lancashire County Cricket Club
• John Woolrich (born 1954), composer, lived in Garstang from 1955 to 1972^[32]
• Paul Swarbrick (born 1958), Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster since 2018
• Mary Anne Hobbs (born 1964), a BBC Radio 6 Music disc jockey, grew up locally.^[33]

• Listed buildings in Garstang.