Great Altcar is a village and civil parish in West Lancashire

West Lancashire

West Lancashire is a non-metropolitan district with the status of a borough in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Ormskirk. The other town in the borough is Skelmersdale....

, close to Formby

Formby

Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It has a population of approximately 25,000....

 on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain

West Lancashire Coastal Plain

The West Lancashire Coastal Plain is a large area in the south west of Lancashire, England.The plain stretches from the Rimrose Valley in Seaforth, near Liverpool on the Mersey, to the south, to Preston on the Ribble, to the north. To the east, the plain is bounded by the foothills of the Pennines,...

. The name Altcar is Norse meaning "marsh by the Alt

River Alt

The River Alt is in Merseyside, England.The Alt runs from Hag Plantation in Huyton at , through Croxteth Park, roughly follows the M57 motorway south of Kirkby, then flows north of Aintree and south of Maghull...

". The church of St Michael and All Angels

St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar

St Michael and All Angels Church, Altcar, is to the west of the village of Great Altcar, West Lancashire, England. The church is timber-framed and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the...

 is a timber framed

Timber framing

Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

 structure dating from 1879.

The area is now intensively farmed. An area called The Moss is situated to the north, and is characterized by drainage dykes.

Altcar hosted hare coursing

Hare coursing

Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight and not by scent. It is a competitive sport, in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game. It has a...

's Waterloo Cup

Waterloo Cup

The Waterloo Cup was a coursing event. The three day event was run annually at Great Altcar in Lancashire, England from 1836 to 2005 and it used to attract tens of thousands of spectators to watch and gamble on the coursing matches...

 from 1836 to 2005, originally with the patronage of William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton. Altcar Rifle Range, established in 1860, is actually in Hightown.

Geography

Great Altcar is on the B5195 road. It was served by Altcar and Hillhouse railway station

Altcar and Hillhouse railway station

Altcar and Hillhouse was a railway station located on the Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway near Great Altcar, Lancashire. The station opened on September 1, 1884, and from 1887 to 1926 also served as the southern terminus of the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway, which...

 on the Cheshire Lines Committee

Cheshire Lines Committee

The Cheshire Lines Committee was the second largest joint railway in Great Britain, with 143 route miles. Despite its name, approximately 55% of its system was in Lancashire. In its publicity material it was often styled as the Cheshire Lines Railway...

 Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway

Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway

The Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway is a now-disused railway line in Merseyside, England. It was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee, extending the North Liverpool Extension Line to Southport in 1884. Passenger services ended 7 January 1952 and goods six months later...

 Southport Extension until July 1952.

External links

• Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 37
• Aerial photo
• http://www.lancashirechurches.co.uk/altcar.htm
• Altcar and Hillhouse railway station photographs
• Altcar Bob