|
|
| |
ON-LINE GUIDE TO LANCASHIRE
|
|
This brief guide provides
summary information on towns, villages and places to visit
in Lancashire as well as some interesting
facts and anecdotes on the local area. To find a specific
place either scroll down the page or use the find
facility on your browser. Much more information can be
found in our
TRAVEL GUIDES -
Click here
for details.
Our
DATABASE OF PLACES
covers over 5,000 entries in Great Britain and Ireland.
If you are looking for
Places to Stay, Places to
Eat and Drink, Specialist
Retail Outlets, Places of Interest or
Garden Centres and Nurseries
in Lancashire please click the relevant link above:
|
| |
|
  
|
For some, Lancashire is the brash seaside resort of Blackpool, for others a county dominated
by cotton mills. However, there is much more to Lancashire than candyfloss and cotton. It is
an ancient county, with many of its towns and villages dating back to Saxon times and
beyond, and during the Civil War it remained fiercely
loyal to the King and saw some of the bloodiest incidents of the whole bitter conflict. Away
from the brash resorts, which developed to provide attractions and amenities for the mill
workers who made use of the new railway network to escape for a day or even a week's holiday,
there are the more genteel towns of Lytham St
Anne's and Southport with its elegant mile-long
main boulevard. Inland lies beautiful countryside
that includes the ancient hunting ground of the Forest of Bowland and, to the south, Pendle
Hill, the scene of the notorious 17th century
witch hunts. Morecambe Bay, beautiful but
occasionally
treacherous, offers glorious views and sunsets and is an important habitat for a variety
of birdlife and other wildlife.
Preston
Preston is strategically positioned on the highest navigable point of
the River Ribble, and although the port activity has declined, the
docklands, now called Riversway, have become an area of regeneration with
a marina. The complex is in the Millennium Ribble
Link, itself part of a three-mile water park.
The Ribble Steam Railway boasts the largest single collection of
standard-gauge industrial locomotives in the country.
Dominating the Market Square is a magnificent
neoclassical building, reminiscent of the British Museum, which houses the
Harris Museum and Art Gallery. Fulwood Barracks is home to
the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum.
On the northern outskirts of Preston is one of its most
popular visitor attractions, the National Football
Museum.
Around Preston
Garstang
10½ miles N of Preston on the A6
This ancient market town dates back to the 6th century when
a Saxon named Garri made his base here. At the excellent
Discovery Centre displays deal with various aspects of the region, including
the history of the nearby Forest of Bowland.
Just to the east of the town, on the top of a grassy knoll, are
the remains of Greenhalgh Castle, built in 1490 by Thomas
Stanley,
the 1st Earl of Derby. Severely damaged in a siege
against Cromwell in 1645-6, the Castle was one of the last strongholds
in Lancashire to hold out against Parliament. To the north, on
the A6, are the remains of a 17th century tollhouse built when
parts of the turnpike from Garstang to Lancaster were realigned.
Chorley
8 miles SE of Preston on the A6
A bustling and friendly market town, Chorley was the
birthplace, in 1819, of Henry Tate, who founded the world famous
sugar business of Tate and Lyle. A great benefactor, Henry gave vast
sums of money to worthy causes, and endowed the art gallery that
now bears his name.
The jewel in Chorley's crown is undoubtedly Astley
Hall, built in the late 16th century and set
within some beautiful parkland.
To the southeast is the charming village of
Rivington, surrounded by moorland that forms the
western border of the Forest of Rossendale. Overlooking the village, and
with splendid views over west Lancashire, Rivington Pike, at 1,191 feet, is
one of the area's high peaks. Just to the south of the village lies
Lever Park, situated on the lower slopes of Rivington Moor, which was
the home of William Hesketh Lever, who later became Lord Leverhulme.
Leyland
5 miles S of Preston on the B5253
The name is the clue: the town is best known for its
associations with the manufacture of cars and lorries and the
British Commercial Vehicle Museum is housed on the site of the
former Leyland South Works, where commercial vehicles
were produced for many years.
Wigan
15 miles S of Preston on the A49
Wigan's development as an industrial town centred on
coal mining, which began as early as 1450. By the 19th century,
there were over 1,000 pit shafts in operation in the surrounding
area, supplying the fuel for Lancashire's expanding textile industry.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which runs through the town, was a
key means of transporting the coal to the cotton mills of Lancashire
and Wigan Pier, the major loading bay,
remains one of the most interesting features of the waterway.
There is some fine countryside around the town, including the
Douglas Valley Trail; Pennington
Flash, a large lake formed by mining subsidence that is now a
wildlife reserve and a country park; and Haigh Country
Park, one of the first to be designated in England.
Rufford
10 miles SW of Preston on the A59
In this attractive village of pretty houses stands the ancestral
home of the Hesketh family, the splendid 15th century
Rufford Old Hall. In the outbuildings is the
Philip Ashcroft Museum of Rural Life, with its unique collection of
items that illustrate village life in pre-industrial Lancashire.
Southport
15 miles SW of Preston on the A565
The rise of this popular seaside resort lies in the tradition of
sea bathing that began at nearby Churchtown centuries ago. As
the number of people celebrating Bathing Sunday grew, so did
the need for a more accessible beach and a stretch of sand two
miles south of Churchtown was deemed suitable. From the first simple
hotel
Southport has grown into an elegant and sophisticated resort that
is centred on its main boulevard, Lord
Street, a mile-long wide road built between the lands of the
two neighbouring lords of the manor. Southport's
Promenade is bordered by grand hotels on the land side
and a series of formal gardens on the other. From the centre of
the promenade extends Southport's Pier that, at 1,460 yards, was for a
time the longest in the country.
A unique attraction is the British Lawnmower
Museum, a tribute to the garden machine
industry. Along the coast to the southeast is the
Freshfield Nature Reserve, with a pine forest that
has one of the few colonies of red squirrels in England.
Blackpool
15 miles NW of Preston on the A583
This classic British resort, with piers, funfairs, gardens,
amusement arcades and a promenade, was until the middle of the 19th century
little more than a fishing village among the sand dunes of the Fylde coast.
However, the fashion for taking day trips and holidays, assisted by
the very expanding railway network, saw Blackpool develop rapidly. In
1889, the original Opera House was built in the Winter Gardens complex
and two years later a start was made on the world famous Tower.
Completed in 1894, Blackpool Tower, modelled on the
Eiffel Tower in Paris, stands 518 feet high. The
North Pier, designed by the peerless Eugenius Birch,
was opened at the beginning of the 1863
season; it soon became the place to promenade and is now a
listed building. The Pleasure Beach, which boasts its own railway
station, is an attraction that continues to be extended and improved. The
famous Blackpool Trams provide enjoyable trips along the front
and out to these less busy sides of the town. A couple of miles
inland, Martin Mere is a Wildlife Trust bird reserve where more than
160 species have been recorded.
Poulton-le-Fylde
13 miles NW of Preston on the A586
The Romans were in the area and it was probably their handiwork
that constructed the Danes Pad, an ancient trackway. The
town developed as a commercial centre for the surrounding
agricultural communities and its Market Place remains its focal point.
Strolling around Poulton-le-Fylde now, it is hard to imagine
that the town was once a seaport. But until relatively recently ships
sailed up the River Wyre to Skippool Creek, now home to the
Blackpool and Fleetwood Yacht Club.
Along the banks of the river is the Wyre Estuary Country
Park, an excellent place for walking and discovering the area.
Fleetwood
17 miles NW of Preston on the A587
The town's Museum, overlooking the River Wyre,
illustrates Fleetwood's links with the fishing industry that suffered greatly
from the Icelandic cod wars. However, Fleetwood's real claim to fame
is
the Fisherman's Friend - a staggeringly successful
lozenge made from liquorice, capsicum, eucalyptus and methanol that
was used by fishermen to relieve sore throats and bronchial
trouble caused by the freezing conditions found in the northern
Atlantic waters.
Blackburn
The largest town in east Lancashire, Blackburn is notable for
its shopping malls, celebrated three-day market, modern cathedral,
and Thwaites Brewery, one of the biggest independent brewers
of real ale in the north of England. Hard though it may be to
imagine today, at the height of the textile industry, Blackburn was the
biggest weaving town in the world. In 1931, it received arguably its
most influential visitor when Mahatma Gandhi toured the area on a
study trip of Lancashire's textile manufacture. Examples of
the early machines, including James Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny and
his carding machine, invented in 1760,
can be seen at the Lewis Textile Museum.
In 1926 the Diocese of Blackburn was created and
St Mary's Church, built in 1826, became the
Cathedral of the Bishop of Blackburn.
Just to the northeast of Blackburn lies the charming
village of Whalley, home of the well-preserved 13th century
Whalley Abbey.
Around Blackburn
Clitheroe
10 miles NE of Blackburn on the A671
This old stone town, just south of the Forest of Bowland, has
always been considered the forest's capital and it is also Lancashire's
second oldest borough, receiving its first market charter in 1147.
Clitheroe is dominated by its 800-year-old Castle, standing on a limestone
crag high above the town but now little more than a ruin. The
Castle
Museum includes reconstructions of a clogger's workshop, a
printer's shop, and a lead mine. Nearby Pendle Hill
is a place rich in history and legend, famous for
the tragic story of the Pendle Witches. In the early 17th century,
several women of the area were imprisoned in Lancaster Castle as
a result of their seemingly evil practices and, having been
found guilty, were publicly hanged. To the west of the hill's summit
is Apronfull Hill, a Bronze Age burial site. Also to the northeast
lies Sawley Abbey, founded in the 13th century by the
Cistercian monks of Fountains Abbey.
Colne
14½ miles NE of Blackburn on the A6068
Before the Industrial Revolution turned this area into a
valley devoted to the production of cotton cloth, Colne was a
small market town that specialised in wool. In the centre of the
town, next to the War Memorial, is the statue of Lawrence Hartley,
the bandmaster on the ill-fated Titanic who heroically stayed at his
post with his musicians and played Nearer my God to
Thee as the liner sank beneath the waves of the
icy Atlantic in 1912. Colne is also the unlikely home of the
British in India Museum, where exhibits covering many aspects of
the British rule over the subcontinent are housed.
To the northeast lies the Earby Mines
Museum with a collection of lead mining tools and
equipment used in the Yorkshire Dales.
Accrington
4½ miles E of Blackburn on the A680
This attractive Victorian market town is the home of the
Haworth Art Gallery, which houses the largest collection of Tiffany glass
in Europe. The collection was presented to the town by
Joseph Briggs, an Accrington man, who worked with Louis Tiffany in
New York for nearly 40 years.
Close by is another typical Lancashire textile
town, Oswaldtwistle, which could be considered to be the birthplace
of the industry since it was while staying here that James
Hargreaves invented his famous Spinning Jenny in 1764.
Burnley
10 miles E of Blackburn on the A646
A cotton town rich in history and the largest in this area of
east Lancashire. With the Industrial Revolution and the building of
the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Burnley grew to become the world's
leading producer of cotton cloth. A walk along the towpath of the
canal leads through an area known as the Weavers'
Triangle - an area of spinning mills and weaving
sheds; foundries where steam engines and looms were made;
canal-side warehouses and domestic buildings. On the outskirts of town is
the Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum.
To the west of Burnley is Gawthorpe Hall, a splendid
17th century house that was restored with a flourish of
Victorian
elegance during the 1850s. Beautiful period furnishings
are enhanced by the ornately decorated ceilings and the original
wood-panelled walls, making the perfect setting for the nationally
important Kay-Shuttleworth needlework and lace collection.
Darwen
4 miles S of Blackburn on the A666
The town is dominated by Darwen Tower, built to commemorate
the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and situated high on
the moor. Another striking landmark is the chimney of the
India Mill, constructed out of hand-made bricks and built to resemble
the campanile (belltower) in St Mark's Square, Venice.
Bolton
12 miles S of Blackburn on the A666
During the Civil War, the town saw one of the bloodiest episodes
of the conflict when James Stanley, Earl of Derby, was brought
back here by Cromwell's troops after the Royalists had been defeated. In
a savage act of revenge for the massacre his army had brought
on the town early in the troubles, Stanley was executed and
his severed head and body, in separate caskets, were taken back to
the family burial place at Ormskirk.
Impressive buildings here include 14th century
Smithills Hall and the late 15th century
Hall-i'-th'-Wood, a fine example of a wealthy merchant's house.
One of Bolton's most recent attractions is the
state-of-the-art Reebok Stadium, home of Bolton Wanderers FC.
Six miles east of Bolton lies Bury, another typical
Lancashire mill town that is more famous for its inhabitants that its buildings.
Over the centuries the town has given the world the
Pilkington family of glassworks fame, John Kay, the inventor of the
flying shuttle, and Robert Peel, the politician who repealed the
Corn Laws and founded the modern police force. On the outskirts
of the town lies Burrs Country Park which, as well as offering a
wide range of activities, also has an interesting industrial trail
around the historic mill site.
Further east again is Rochdale, another cotton
town, most famous as being the birthplace of the
Co-operative Movement; in carefully restored Toad Lane, to the north of
the town centre, is the world's first Co-op shop, the
Rochdale Pioneers.
Ribchester
5 miles NW of Blackburn on the B6245
Situated on the banks of the River Ribble, the village is famous for
its Roman Fort on the northern riverbank, first established
by Gnaeus Julius Agricola in AD 79. Although little of the fort's
walls remain, the granary and its hypocaust have been
excavated, revealing interesting finds that can be seen in the fort's
Roman Museum.
Lancaster
The capital town of Lancashire boasts a long and
interesting history. It was in the 10th century that Athelstan, the grandson
of Alfred the Great, had lands in the area, and during the reign
of William the Conqueror large parts of what is now Lancashire
were given by the grateful king to his cousin Roger of Pitou, who
made his base at Lancaster. Queen Elizabeth II retains the title
of Duke of Lancaster. Within yards of the railway station lies
Lancaster Castle, a great medieval fortress founded by the Normans to
keep out Scottish invaders and strengthened by John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. In Church Street stands the 17th
century Judge's Lodging, which now houses two separate museums,
the Museum of Childhood and the Gillow and Town House Museum.
The town's rich maritime history is celebrated at
St George's Quay, which, with its great
stone warehouses and superb Custom House, is now an
award-winning Maritime Museum. One of the first sights visitors see of the
town is the great green copper dome of the impressive
Ashton Memorial, built by the linoleum
manufacturer Lord Ashton in memory of his wife and a landmark for
miles around that stands on a hilltop in the centre of the
splendid Edwardian Williamson Park. Pevsner described it as
`the grandest monument in England'.
Around Lancaster
Carnforth
5 miles N of Lancaster on the A6
Not many towns are best known for their stations, but Carnforth
is one of them: it was used as the setting for the 1940s film
classic Brief Encounter. The old engine sheds and
sidings are now occupied by Steamtown, one of the
largest steam railway centres in the north of England.
Just to the north lies Leighton Hall,
a fine early 19th century house that is now owned by a branch of
the Gillow family; the fine furniture seen in the hall reflects the
trade that made the family fortune.
Forest of Bowland
3 miles E of Lancaster
Designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in February
1964, this large and scenic area is a paradise for walkers and
country lovers that is dotted with picturesque villages. Following
the Norman Conquest, Bowland became part of the Honour
of Clitheroe and the vast estates that belonged to the de Lacy family.
In 1399, when the then Duke of Lancaster came to the throne
as Henry IV, Bowland finally became one of nearly 100 royal
hunting forests.
The remains of a Roman road can be clearly seen traversing
the land and many of the villages in the area have names dating back to
the Saxon period. Perhaps the most celebrated of the many
routes across Bowland is the minor road from Lancaster to Clitheroe
that crosses the Abbeydale Moor and the Trough of Bowland
before descending into the lovely Hodder Valley around Dunsop Bridge.
At the heart of the Forest is Slaidburn, a pretty village of
stone cottages and cobbled pavements whose 13th century public
house Hark to Bounty contains an old court room where, from
around 1250, the Chief Court of Bowland, or Halmote, was held.
The Hark to Bounty inn was originally called
The Dog, but one day in 1875 the local Hunt gathered here. A
visiting squire, listening to the hounds outside, clearly made out the cry
of his favourite hound rising above the others and exclaimed "Hark
to Bounty!". The landlord was so impressed by this
unrestrained show of delight that he changed the name of his pub there
and then.
Morecambe
3 miles W of Lancaster on the A589
Featuring prominently on the Lancashire coastline,
Morecambe has long been one of the most popular seaside resorts in
the North, and it can truly be said to enjoy one of the finest views
from its promenade of any resort in England - a magnificent sweep
of coastline and bay, looking across to the Lakeland mountains.
Many buildings date from Morecambe's heyday as a holiday
destination, including the Midland Hotel, built in the early 1930s to designs
by Oliver Hill.
Near the Stone jetty is the Eric Morecambe
Statue with words from the song Bring Me Sunshine
carved into the granite steps. Morecambe
Bay, a vast wide, flat tidal plain situated between Lancashire and
Cumbria, is the home of many forms of marine life as well as being a
very popular and important habitat for birds. It's also famous for a
great delicacy - Morecambe Bay potted shrimps. The Bay is also
very treacherous, and over the years many have fallen victim of
the
tides and the quicksands. In medieval times this perilous
track formed part of the main west coast route from England
to Scotland, and the monks of Furness would act as guides
for travellers who wished to avoid the long overland route. Today,
Cross Bay Walks are led by the Queen's Guide to the Sands.
|
|
Travel Publishing Ltd, 7a Apollo House, Calleva Park,
Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK RG7 8TN
e-mail:
info@travelpublishing.co.uk
Copyright © 2008 Travel Publishing Ltd |
|
