Hesketh Bank 6 Miles Walkers Anthony, Vic, Mike, John R, and Danny

              We parked near the beginning of Becconsall Lane and got booted.

Walking north along Station Road, just before the end of the road is a large barn on the left. Turning left just before the barn, we enter a designated conservation area. Alongside the barn is the entrance to, what was in former times, The Hesketh Arms, (formerly The Ship Inn), which was owned by Lord Hesketh. It was once a busy Inn and Coaching House for those wanting to cross the River Ribble at low tide.                                                                             Continuing along we come to a row fishermen's cottages. These are some of the oldest houses in the village, built in the 17th century. Some steep steps lead down to Shore Road. Turning right we after only a few yards on our left we came to Guide Road, so named because it was the route taken by the guide leading the travellers across to Freckleton and The Fylde. Across from Guide Road, on Shore Road is a high stone wall and banking, It is this bank which Hesketh Bank is reputed to be named after. At high tide, before the marsh was reclaimed the river used to lap against the wall. While we were there a car stopped and the passenger window was lowered to reveal my brother, Stephen, who lives on Shore Road and was on his way to do his volunteering at the Community Centre. He invited us to pop in for drinks after our walk, but by the time we got bike everyone had locked up and gone home

Shore Road after Station Road, changes to Marsh Road. A little way along there, on the right hand side, but no longer in use is what is known as "The Dead House". There is no indication on the building as to it's original use. With the improvements in transportation, the deceased are now taken to the mortuary at Ormskirk Hospital.

                                                Continuing along Marsh Road.

A kissing gate near the end of the road, leads onto a broad, straight track, at the end of which is an embankment. On climbing up the embankment we found ourselves on the levee of the River Douglas. Turning right, we walked along the levee for 3/4 mile.

                                      But not until we'd had our morning brew.

Suitably refreshed, we carried on along the bank. at the end of which, passing through another kissing gate, we entered The Douglas Boatyard.

Had we gone down Becconsall Lane at the start of our walk, we would have eventually arrived at the boatyard. We turned right up the lane to a small church, where we had arranged to meet our friends, John and Martin for dinner.

And here they are, having just beet us to the best seats in the graveyard, and as it happens also beet a man who I had met on a previous walk. Every day the man walks his dog down to the river, lets the dog have a swim then walks up to the graveyard, where they both sit on that particular seat. There was no reserved sign on the bench and John and Martin were unaware of this. The man wasn't bothered, he was just happy to stop for a chat, but the dog didn't seem too happy though and kept making some funny noises. I,m sure John and Martin would have got up, had they known.😀

The church, now not in use anymore, was built on the site of an earlier 16th century chapel, built by the Becconsall family of Becconsall Hall as a chapel of ease.                                       Several of the gravestones in the graveyard are noticeably damaged. The damage was caused by a bomb, dropped by a German plane during WW2 as it was returning from a bombing raid over Liverpool. One of the fragments of shrapnel went through the window of the nearby Ferry House, and is still lodged in the chimney breast.                                            There are some interesting headstones in the graveyard, some highlighting the tragedy of child deaths in earlier days.

 

            After dinner we bade farewell to our friends and returned to the boatyard.

In it's heyday during the industrial revolution the Douglas was a busy river, and Hesketh Bank had it's own customs officer who was housed in Douglas Bank farm, which is next to the Ferry House. By the end of the 19th century with the arrival of the railways and better road transport. the river transport began to wind down.

On a previous walk with family, another of my brothers (Derek) tripped over a metal post that was sticking out of the ground, but camouflaged by grass. I brought a lump hammer with me today with the intention of hammering it into the ground, but try as I may it would not budge. I think the next time I come this way I had better bring a sledge hammer.

The path from the boatyard to the canal has been mainly reconstructed recently, but there is just a short stretch at either end that is still a single file footpath.

During the early days of the industrial revolution, a canal spur was dug from the Leeds, Liverpool canal, to the River Douglas at Tarleton, thus allowing a more cost affective way of transporting coal from Wigan, all the way to the sea. The rest of the walk is of little interest so I will close here.                                                               

                                                     The End

                                                         Danny