Crooke, as a village community began in 1840 but had been associated with coal from at least 1740 with the completion of the Douglas Navigation. When the canal came through Crooke in 1790, all the traffic from the Navigation was transferred to the Leeds/Liverpool canal and the Douglas Navigation was then abandoned.

Crooke became a very important location as many coal pits moved their coal by rail of one kind or another into Crooke so that it could be loaded into barges and transported to where ever it was needed. Some of the pits were:- John Pit, Taylor Pit, Shevington Hall Drift mine, Clarke collieries, The Tunnel Canal, Giants Hall pits before it became Giants hall and many others.

The coal industry helped to build Crooke and at the turn of the 20th century, there were over 600 people living in and around the village.

In 1961, all the pits closed, the rail lines were taken up and Red Bridge was dismantled so that today, there is very little to see of the industry that was responsible for building of the village.

In the mid 1980's, a Mr. Ball wanted to build a marina in Crooke which would have meant the village would have been swept away for the new enterprise. Needless to say, the village residents fought to protect their village and through Collingwood, a housing association, helped the villagers to take out a mortgage and to form a Co-operative. Half the village bought into this Co-operative by parting with their houses and with the help of the council, were given a grant to help do up their houses. All the other properties were privately owned. The Co-operative were responsible for lettings, collecting the rent and repairing damages. There was a second reason why the marina venture failed, that being that one of the proposed marina entrances would have been driven through Lawns Wood. Lawns Wood is a protected Wild life sanctuary so the council were not going to allow any access that way.

The Co-operative ran until 2008 when Collingwood decided that Crooke was no longer a viable proposition and gave notice to quit. Other agencies were invited to take over the Co-operative houses who came and put their plans forward to the residents and after some deliberation, Adactus Housing Association was selected to be Collingwood's successor.

The then manager of Adactus, Paul Heaton along with a coordinator, Ruth Mycock, helped the village to form its own Resident's Association. They gave us the tools and we formed The Crooke Village Resident's Association. Every post is voluntary and all we are responsible for is the upkeep of the village, to keep it tidy, clean, some plant planting and trimming, cutting back encroaching grass, lopping overhanging branches, a little painting where necessary and generally looking after the village. We also have a licence to work along the canal on a minimal basis and we are 'Friends of Lawns Wood'. That gives us the right to keep the footpaths clear of fallen trees and basic pathway maintenance.

Thanks to one of the village residents, Paul Elsey, in 2009 We have this website which I work on at least one a month. For the last four years. Crooke Village has been one of the competitors that take part in 'North West In Bloom and we have been able to maintain a very high standard reaching level five, outstanding.

If you are interested in the history of the village, I have dedicated one page to that along with all the other pages, I hope there is something there for everyone. If, perchance, you happen to have some old pictures of the village, I would be most interested to see them to help enhance the material I already have.

To help you navigate around the site, please use the navigation links on the left hand side of the page to learn a lot more about the village of Crooke, the community and also the various different events that take place all the year round. We hope you find our website refreshing, enjoy.