Garstang
Garstang is a small market town, which grew up where Lancashire's great north-south main road crosses the Wyre. The name Garstang may have sprung from the Saxon word "Gaerstung" meaning common land or meadowland. The Doomsday Book describes it as Cherestanc. Edward II first granted the Market to the town in the fourteenth century (1310). In the centre of the Market Place stands the Market Cross, which is probably the most famous landmark in Garstang. It was first erected in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. Nearby where the stocks where wrong-doers were placed to sit out the allotted hours thought necessary to expiate their crime. The fish stones also stood here and were used to lie out fish and other foods for sale.
Thomas Stanley, the 1st Earl of Derby built the Greenhalgh Castle in late 1400's, under licence from King Henry VII. It was constructed in the form of a square with one tower. It's presence contributed to the peace and stability of the surrounding country during those difficult times and remained until the Civil War. After the war ended the Parliamentarians ordered the castle to be dismantled and local farmers were not slow to make use of it as an unofficial quarry. Only the ruins of one of the four corner towers survive to this day.
The Lancaster Canal was originally designed by an engineer named John Rennie. Construction began in 1792 and it was officially opened in 1797. Then it was 41 miles between Preston and Tewitfield. In 1819 the canal finally reached Kendal. The canal was used to transport coal, slate, timber, food and limestone and later offered a passenger service between Preston and Kendal. The Lancaster Canal has one of the longest lock free canals in Britain running for 51 miles (82km) with 199 bridges.
The plan to construct a railway from Knott End through the Over-Wyre area to Garstang and connect it to the London and North-west Railway Company's line at Garstang and Catterall station was mooted in the early 1860s by local landowners. Principally Wilson France the Squire of Rawcliffe saw the proposed line as a means of improving access to the area.
