Strenuous Leader: n/a Distance : tbc
No leader at the time of publication but walk details will be discussed in the car park before setting off.
Moderate Leader: Laura Distance : 7 miles
We leave Barrowford, heading upstream along Pendle water via Higherford Mill. We continue along the beck and over pastures, uphill to near Blacko Tower.
We continue across Blacko hillside towards Malkin Tower Farm, then reach Foulridge Reservoir. We carry on along the Bridleway and pick up the tow path along the Leeds Liverpool Canal that brings us back to Barrowford.
Paths are reasonable in dry weather, however as we leave Blacko, we encounter cattle that have churned up their field and it is quite uneven. It would be muddy if it has rained.
Expect to walk through sheep, cattle (including bulls) and horses.
Total ascent 200m, 656 feet.
Easy Leader: n/a Distance : tbc
No leader at the time of publication but walk details will be discussed in the car park before setting off.
NOTES ON THE AREA
The characterful charming village of Barrowford pronounced with the emphasis on Ford, is in Pendle District and sits on the confluence of two rivers, Pendle Water and Colne Water, where trout can often be seen leaping through the clear waters. It is surrounded by beautiful countryside that is great for walking or cycling, and so it’s perfect for the Pendle Cycling Festival. It is also full of history, including the story of the nearby Pendle witches, and is now an upmarket place full of attractive 17th and 18th century farmhouses and pretty handloom weavers’ cottages. The independent boutiques that line the high street are jammed with smart designer fashion, attracting some of the North West’s most affluent customers including footballers and their other halves.
The village is on the Leeds to Liverpool Canal. The canal has 91 locks, seven of which are in Barrowford. The oldest bridge in town, the Packhorse Bridge near Higherford Mill, dates back to the end of the 16th century. Pendle Heritage Centre is home to the two oldest buildings in Barrowford, the Fold and Park Hill, which date back to 1550. The buildings have been extensively altered over the last 200 years as you’ll see at the exhibition inside.
Barrowford is now part of Nelson. Although originally dependent on farming, it expanded rapidly as a textile town during the 19th century. A few mills were built at that time but mechanised production moved to nearby Nelson, which had better rail and canal facilities.
Roger Bannister, who ran the first four-minute mile, is a descendant of the Bannister family, a dynasty of local farmers, who lived at Park Hill. At the rear of the house is a walled garden containing organic fruit, vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
On the corner, across the bridge, stands the Toll House. This small building was designed so that the road could be seen in both directions. This ensured that no one on the old Marsden to Long Preston turnpike could slip by unnoticed. On the front of the 1803 house is the renovated board indicating the various toll prices. In 1774 John Wesley, the Methodist leader, had to hide in what is now the White Bear Inn on Gisburn Road, when he was chased by a local mob. Built in 1607, its name is thought to be connected with bear baiting.
In 1964 a disastrous fire devastated the church of St Thomas in Church Street. The remains of the original 1841 building are found in the Remembrance Garden. Bank Hall, otherwise the Lamb Club, stands further east from the church along Church Street. It’s a Jacobean house dating from 1696, with mullioned windows on the second floor and a porch on the second floor which is wider than the lower one. At the bottom of the carved finials are faces, which were thought to act as a protection against witchcraft.
At the western end of Summit Pool, east of the town at Barrowford Locks, seven locks take the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in a descent of 65.5 ft to Burnley Pool. The reservoir nearby was built in 1885 to take the overflow from Foulridge Reservoirs.