Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917. History Croston was founded in the 7th century when St Aidan arrived at the riverside settlements. In the absence of a church, a cross was erected as a place of worship. The name is derived from the two Old English words 'cross' and 'tūn' (town/homestead/village) and is unique to the village. The parish of Croston was formerly far larger than it is today. It included Chorley, Much Hoole, Rufford, Bretherton, Mawdesley, Tarleton, Hesketh Bank, Bispham, Walmer Bridge and Ulnes Walton. These became independent parishes as a result of a series of separations between 1642 and 1821. A charter granted by Edward I in 1283 permitted an annual medieval fair and market to be held on the village green. Pre-20th Century maps also depict a castle which is believed to have been of a wooden construction because there is no evidence of a stone structure. Croston is twinned with the French town of Azay le Rideau, just south west of Tours, France. Azay boasts a French Renaissance chateau, one of the famous chateaux of the Loire, and is a popular tourist hotspot. Landmarks Croston Hall was built by the De Trafford family and was the manor house to the village of Croston. The hall was demolished in the 1960s, but there is a new country house built on its site. The family were Roman Catholics, and employed Edward Welby Pugin to design a family chapel in the grounds of the house in 1857. It is a small building constructed of rock-faced sandstone and is in eclectic Gothic style. It was left to the people of Croston on the death of the last De Trafford in the 1960s. Croston used to have a large brick police station which has recently been refurbished. It was replaced by a smaller police station in the 1970s, which itself has now closed. Transport Croston railway station serves the village and is on the Ormskirk Branch Line, originally built & opened by the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway (later taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway) in 1849. the rail link was reduced to single line working in 1970. Croston has bus connections to nearby Leyland, Chorley, Southport, and Preston. Education Bishop Rawstorne Church