Croston is very traditional and full of character, cobbled paths, cricket fields and village greens (which are the venues for the annual May Day madness and Bastille Day) It is a colorful, tranquil place to live. There are tea rooms, traditional olde worlde nick nack shops, antiques shops and country post offices. There are also several local friendly pubs in the area.

There are strong links with agriculture still apparent in modern day life in Croston. Church Street was described as "one of the finest examples of a Lancashire Village", and as you can expect, this area is very popular with walkers and cyclists.

Croston is quite compact with terraced houses all huddled together for shelter. When looking around Croston you can't help but notice its resemblance to Cornwall! Due to its beuty Croston is one of the most photographed areas in Lancashire.

You can see from the map below that Croston is a small, cosy village. There are open fields surrounding the village and a beautiful river runs through the settlement. Time does seem to have forgotten this village as it has hardly expanded at all over the years. There are good transport links with regular bus services and a railway station.

The name of this village means 'Town of the Cross'. This name was given to commemorate a 7th Century Wayside cross which was used by the Celtic missionaries who brought Christianity to the North of England. The original cross is no longer there and it has thought to have gone in Cromwell's time. A new cross was placed in the village in 1950

In the centre of this village is the Gothic church of St. Michael's which is reached by a small, narrow cobbled lane flanked by terraced housing, shown here on the right.

On one side of the Church is a small cloister, and on the other is a school (which was founded in 1372 by the Duke of Lancaster). The school was endowed by James Hiet, who was the vicar of Croston at the time in 1660. Two years later the vicar's likelihood was taken away from him because as a Puritan, he refused to conform to the New Act of Uniformity. He died in 1663 without ceremony and is remembered today by a stone plaque on the school wall.

In 1580 Potatoes were brought by Sir Walter Raleigh from America, the ship was wrecked off Hesketh Bank, farmers 'acquired' the strange vegetable and planted them in Croston, initiating potato farming in Lancashire which still remains today - on a similar note Croston has one of the best fish and chips shops in the whole of the North West of England (well they did have a head start)

There are many folklore tales about Croston, and a few stories of ghosts: In the far corner of Croston Cemetery was a stone cross which is said to have recorded that a Mary Ellen Hudson died. Over time the grave became dilapidated and the cross crumbled away. But records from the village have shown that a girl of the name had died in 1890, in 1976 a school teacher came to Croston and lived opposite the cemetery, and said that a little girl in a red shawl was a regular visitor to her garden, the red shawl she was wearing was the uniform for the home of the little girl who died in 1890.

The main road through Croston passes beside the strengthened Town Bridge which has been carrying local traffic since 1682. A short walk from the Village is Croston Hall, which was the home of the De Trafford family since the Middle ages to the early 1960's.

In past times Croston was larger than it is today and it included many other villages such as Bretherton and Mawdesley. Over time, villages broke away and become independent. Croston has remained at its current size since 1835.