Brinscall is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in the borough of Chorley

Chorley

Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Located approximately five miles north-east of Chorley, Brinscall borders the similar-sized villages of Withnell

Withnell

Withnell is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,631. Withnell is about five miles north-east of Chorley itself and about away from Blackburn. It constituted an urban district from 1894 to 1974...

 and Abbey Village

Abbey Village

Abbey Village is a village in the English county of Lancashire and the constituency of Chorley. It is located on the A675 road, six miles from Blackburn, eight miles from Chorley, nine miles from Preston and ten miles from Bolton....

. Brinscall is part of the civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of Withnell

Withnell

Withnell is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,631. Withnell is about five miles north-east of Chorley itself and about away from Blackburn. It constituted an urban district from 1894 to 1974...

 but does not have its own boundaries. However, an area used in the 2001 census

United Kingdom Census 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

 that covers approximately the same area as the village has a population of 1,431.

Amenities in Brinscall include:

• A small swimming pool, opened in 1911
• A joint Church of England
  Church of England
  The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
  
   and Methodist
  Methodism
  Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
  
   primary school (Brinscall St John's C.E. Methodist Primary School)
• A Church of England church (St. Luke's)
• A Methodist church (Hillside)
• A Londis
  Londis
  Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...
  
   convenience store
• A small Post Office
  Post office
  A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
  
  
• A fish and chip shop
• Various different pubs
• A Tea Room serving snacks, cakes and drinks
• Croft Lodge, a pond popular with local fishermen
• An athletic club with tennis courts, bowling green, cricket and football pitches

There is a nature trail which goes through Brinscall and many of the bordering villages. There is a large wood named by villagers as 'Brinny Woods'.

Brinscall also has a small village football team called Brinscall Village which competes in a local footballing league with several other clubs from the area.

Toponymy

There are thought to be several origins of the name ‘Brinscall’, one being ‘burnt huts’. Another is ‘Bryn’s call’, referring to the tale of a man called Bryn whose wife was lost on the moors – his call was known as ‘Bryn’s call’. However, the story of Bryn's call was written by a local primary school pupil in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and appears to have rooted itself into local "history". The myth of Brins Call however predates this time and was certainly known and offered as a theory about the origins of the name in the early 1970s. The village was originally a small farming community, but in the 19th century, the thriving cotton industry moved in. There is also a quarry nearby, and Brinscall housed many of its workers.

The village also lends its name to an important geological feature, the 'Brinscall Fault', which is orientated approximately north-south and borders the western edge of Anglezarke moor.