Wrea Green

Wrea Green is a village in the Fylde borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 2 miles west of Kirkham. Along with the village of Ribby, it forms the civil parish Ribby-with-Wrea.

Wrea Green has approximately 1,600 residents, many of whom work at the nearby Warton Aerodrome 2 miles away, where BAE Systems is a major local employer. Uniquely for the Fylde Coast, Wrea Green, as described by its name, surrounds a large common land space at one side of which is a duck pond, known locally as 'The Dub'.

Wrea Green has won "Lancashire's Best Kept Village" award 15 times - 1959, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

History
A part of the village of Wrea Green existed at the time of the Domesday Book, with the name of Rigbi.

Between 1846 and 1961, the village was served by Wrea Green railway station. In 1897 Wrea Green suffered a plague of sparrows and the Parish Council agreed to pay a halfpenny for every sparrow, sparrow's egg or rat's tail that was collected.

The property at the northern end of Church Row was for many years the office of J. Wareing & Son (Wrea Green) Ltd, a long established farm-building construction company but before this was a sub-branch of the District Bank Ltd.

Religion
The large Grade II listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Nicholas. The original small church on the site was licensed for services in 1722 and was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester in 1755. This was eventually demolished and on 13 May 1848 the new vicar, G. L. Parsons, laid the foundation stone for the present structure.

It was rebuilt in 1848–49 by the Lancaster architects Sharpe and Paley. In 1884 the tower and spire were added by the successors in the same practice, Paley and Austin.

The church is active, has regular weekly services and is a popular wedding venue. An extension was built in the late 2000s.

Local businesses
The village has a few small businesses and eating places. These include an artificial grass supplier and installer, a hair salon, a construction design services consultancy, a pub, a holiday hotel, sports and conference centre, a tearoom, a Thai restaurant, a shop with post office, a hotel with restaurant and a dentist. There is also the Wrea Green Institute, a members club with a community room. Agricultural construction company J. Wareing & Son Ltd has now relocated from the village centre and the site has been re-used for a small development of detached houses.

The village pub, The Grapes, dates from the 19th century and was previously known as The Letters Inn and The Dumplings Inn. In April 2024 it closed for a major internal and external refurbishment. It will reopen and on 27 May following a six-figure investment.

Community events
Wrea Green Field Day, or Club Day, is a large festival held in Wrea Green including a fancy-dress parade, special event, a three-day visit by a large travelling fair and special stalls on the village green. Local children/teenagers are involved in the parade around the Green and the highlight of the day is the de-crowning of the previous Queen, the "Retiring Queen" (from the year before) and the crowning of a new Queen, the "Rose Queen". People with some local prominence usually crown the Queens, for example, the head teacher of the primary school in 2006 etc.

The Wrea Green Horticultural Society is hosting its first show in September 2016 which will include classes, exhibits and a beer festival.

Education
The school (Ribby-with-Wrea Endowed C.E.) was founded by James Thistleton in 1693. A second school was founded by Nicholas Sharples in 1715. The two trusts were united in 1750. It moved to the current site in 1845, when the church of St Nicholas replaced the Sharples school. The oldest part of the present school building dates from 1898.

Twin towns
Since November 2005 the village has been twinned the small picturesque French village of Saint-Bris-le-Vineux in Burgundy. A delegation of Wrea Green residents travelled to St Bris to make the twinning official, but the first large exchange came when, at Easter 2006, 43 French people came to stay in Wrea Green. After the major success of July 2007's trip to France by 40 Wrea Green residents, a return exchange took place in August 2008, when a similar number of French guests came to the UK.
 * 🇫🇷 - Saint-Bris-le-Vineux

Recent development
In 2010 plans for a new housing estate, comprising 55 houses on land on Richmond Avenue in the village, were announced by developer Les Blanc Bois Holdings Ltd. Additionally, Fylde businessman David Haythornthwaite announced plans to create the "Greenland Sports Village", featuring a football stadium for non league AFC Fylde, at Greenlands Farm on Ribby Road. Both plans have met opposition from some villagers and plans to build the AFC Fylde stadium in the village have since been abandoned and the proposed stadium has since been built north of Wesham. However, the houses on Richmond Avenue have since been built. A "Save Wrea Green Action Group" was formed.