Halsall

Halsall is a village and civil parish in West Lancashire, England, located close to Ormskirk on the A5147 and Leeds and Liverpool Canal. As of 2011, the parish has a population of 2,057 and covers an area of 2801ha. The church and much of the village stand on a rocky ridge, in marked contrast to the low-lying flat peat mossland between the ridge and the sand of Ainsdale and Birkdale.In Halsall there is one church dedicated to St. Cuthbert, which dates from the 14th century, the Rector is the Rev. Paul Robinson. There is a junior school, St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School with around 140 pupils from age 4 to 11. The Saracen's Head is a large public house on the banks of the canal. There is also a post office, a garage, a financial adviser office (in what used to be the Halsall Arms public house) and a phone box. Halsall now has a pharmacy, situated by the playing fields. The central feature in the village is the war memorial located in front of the church on what is now a traffic island.Halsall is where the first sod was ceremonially dug (on 5 November 1770, by the Hon. Charles Mordaunt of Halsall Hall) for the commencement of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and a sculpture ("Halsall Navvy" by Thompson Dagnall) just across the bridge from the Saracen's Head pub now commemorates this. Halsall Hall still stands, but it is now divided into several houses.