This will be our second Members Day event.  After a successful day last year it was decided to continue to have something especially for the Friends as a token of appreciation for their continued support.  It is a free, members only event with refreshments.   This year is a special anniversary year of the founding of the Friends of Pendle Heritage.

We will be taken on a tour of the Council Chambers and Mayors’ Parlour and we may get a peep at the inside of the Clock Tower. This very well known and significant local landmark can be seen for miles around the Pendle area  has been noted by generations of people, many being mill folk.

It was the significant growth of the number of cotton mills in the area in the 19th Century,  linked to the increasing numbers of population that led to the need for a dedicated Town Hall.  Designed by Alfred Waterhouse and officially opened by the chair and later Mayor of the Council, Samuel Catlow on the 13th January 1894, it is well over a century old.   In 1895 Colne became a Borough Council, administrating to the needs of government and population alike.

It has been said that the town hall had the largest paving stone in front of a public building in the county if not the country. However after research, it seems that the paving stones in front of St George’s Hall, Liverpool are larger, beating the 10ft x 9ft, 2 ton stone in Colne.

Banner Image: Colne Town Hall.