COME IN YOU'RE WELCOME 3+ Miles
CLITHEROE KIDS (or are you too young)
Jim, Mike, Anthony, Danny, John W.
After Mike's successful and hugely enjoyable town trail of Poulton we planned to repeat the style of walk in Clitheroe.
On a lovely sun filled morning the car parks looked full so we found a couple of spots down a side street. Our cars are at the end of the street in mid photo.
And off we went with the castle dominating the horizon
Over recent weeks we have got into the habit of starting our walks with a brew and here we are in a charming square with an equally charming cafe
It was very pleasant sitting in the morning sunshine chatting but the low sun tends to wash the colour out of our photos.
Leaving the cafe we found ourselves in "Castle Street". To our left the castle was even more dominant whilst down to our right was the Iconic Carnegie Library building.
It was not our intention to visit the Castle today as we have been there on several previous walks.
On our downward walk we passed two blue plaques. One to a gentleman called called the Rev King who was a friend of Captain Cook and sailed with him on his voyages of discovery.
The other refers to Sir Frank Whittle, claimed as the inventor of the Jet Engine.
John referred to him as "Uncle Frank". There is no relationship whatsoever but his birthday was JUNE 1st the same as John's
Further down the street (Now called Market Street) we came to the White Lion Hotel. Here the guide told us to look for rings in the wall where livestock pens were attached on market days. Looking for RINGS such as we had found in Poulton we were disappointed to find them little more than "Cup hooks". Mike demonstrates !
Then we came to the Carnegie Library building and stepping inside we got a pleasant surprise.
As we stepped into the Carnegie Library building a young Man gave us a friendly greeting and invited us to explore the building. "Particularly Upstairs"he advised. So we did.
As we went through the door at the top of the stairs a lady left her desk approached us "I'll show you round." she said. She led us round the building and then asked "Would you like to see our "Secret" place. ""Oh yes" we replied.
The study room where local students were taking advantage of the facilities.
The Moot Hall ... where the mayor is inaugurated and it doubles up as a court room.
And then the "secret place"
It was the old town gaol, which, looking behind the two resident villains, you will see was cut out of the solid limestone rock that Clitheroe is built upon. Two miniscule cells were also in this rocky chamber. We thanked this lady profusely for this impromptu tour. Sadly she did not wish to be included in the photos. There was so much to see but you will have to visit yourselves.
Immediately opposite as we left the library was the rather small "Town Hall".
We were now following Church St. This of course took us to the parish church of St Mary Magdalene's.
If you look carefully you will see, in the distance, the seemingly non stop plume of white steam coming from Clitheroe's famous cement works.
St Mary Magdalene's Parish Church
Beyond the door the church another friendly local lady offered to show us round and for a while did so.
Leaving the church we walked steeply down the hill to where Church St met Well Terrace. On the way down we searched for a house numbered twenty two and a half . It had been built to fill in the gap between 22 and 23. WE COULDN'T FIND IT. This house was associated with a Dr Webster who campaigned vigorously following the Lancashire Witches trials. He wrote a book "The Displaying of SUPPOSED Witchcraft". claiming that it was all superstition and the witches DID NOT EXIST. Well done him.
There are three old wells in Clitheroe we only managed to find two.
St Mary's Well
In Carnegie Library we had seen old bye laws which warned of heavy punishments for anyone polluting these public wells or allowing animals to enter them of even taking more water than they needed in times of drought.
Just across the road from the well was an area called the alleys, The alleys have now gone the area being occupied by new builds mostly in the form of care homes. It seemed that from this area 9 archers and 3 men at arms were recruited to go to Agincourt to fight on St Crispin's day alongside Henry the 5th.
" Once more into the breach dear friends once more
Or close the wall up with our English dead" (Shakespeare)
They probably did,
There was also, many years later, a threatened riot by cotton workers whose wages had been cut. The disturbance was quelled by a company of Huzzars who later went to Africa to fight in the Zulu Wars, They were all killed.
The film ZULU records the "Battle of Rourke's Drift" It is an excellent film well worth watching not least for it's portrayal of the dignity, bravery and honour of the Zulu warriors.
Shortly after this we turned into York St at the corner of which was the original (?) Clitheroe Royal Grammar School building.
Beyond the grammar school we found ourselves walking uphill along York Street in the direction of the castle.
Here we passed the iron studded doorway into the gaol that our erstwhile guide had told us to look out for.
As well as the door there was something strange high above us.Is it a bird.... is it a plane.... No it's a HORSE !
Though what it's doing up there Lord knows. "DON'T JUMP DOBBIN"
By now lunch time was well advanced and piteous cries of "Food, Food." emanating from one of the group caused us to search assiduously for the nearest cafe. We found one in Well Gate passing, as we looked for it Harris Court where the Rev Robert Harris of Preston's Harris Library and Museum fame once lived with his family.
"A Holy Grail Tattoo". Now that sounds intriguing.
"The Brioche" Cafe (above) proved to be excellent with a warm and friendly staff.
"What time is it Mr Wolf "........... LUNCHTIME !
After lunch we continued down Well Gate to find............................. A well !
This was the Hield Well. the largest of the towns wells. Hield thought to mean "The well at the bottom of the hill." Other explanations are available.
No idea why this door was so decorative but it deserved a photo.
Our final visit was to the Roman Catholic church of St Michael & St John's.
A highly decorated side altar.
The traditional covering, in purple, of statues during lent. Looked a bit scary to me.
An unusual feature was the positioning of the Holy Water "fonts?" part way down the church in the pillars.
Our visit to Clitheroe was now over and all that remained was the walk back to the cars.
BUT NOT QUITE !
John, who is not a little forgetful, (Ask his wife or his companions for that matter) had, once again, left his stick in the church. He plodded back up the hill to retrieve it. BUT the church, wide open when we left a few minutes before, was now securely LOCKED.
He padded round to the presbytery to ask if he could get it back.
A very kind lady scurried off and came back with the pages of the trail guide . "Thank you. but I need my stick as well." He pleaded.
Lady scurried off again and came back again with said stick. THANK YOU !By the time he rejoined the group they had decided that he had got lost and forgotten the way back.
Off to the cars and away home.
There were many other things in Clitheroe we did not see. Perhaps worth a second visit sometime in the future.
THE END
JW
