As members and guests arrived at the Cruck Barn, they were offered a glass of prosecco and entertained by members of Pendle Youth and Children’s Choir, led by their conductor, Julie Townson, with accompanist Peter Elmer. In the rustic surroundings the choir sang beautifully, as sunshine streamed in through the open barn doors. Our guest
Our guides, Keith and Frank welcomed 10 Friends’ members to the Theatre. We met in the Theatre bar, which used to be the bar of the Derby Arms pub adjoining the Theatre. Keith explained that the Hippodrome Theatre (built I 1914) had been a variety theatre and cinema before ending up as a bingo hall
During the 1960s Denise was visiting auction houses looking for items to furnish her house. She found a box of clearance items for which she made a successful bid. When she emptied the box at home, in amongst the goods that she had wanted was a mysterious tin box, which contained 116 postcards that had
Alex began his talk by explaining that he is one of a network of 40 Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) for England and Wales. He is responsible for reporting finds from Lancashire and Cumbria. FLOs were established under the Portable Antiquities Scheme in 1996, in response to a huge rise in archaeological finds by metal detectorists.
Gavin Jones, Jenny Palmer, Nicola Nuttall What a moving and thought-provoking afternoon as three authors delivered very personal accounts of how their stories came to be written and published. First up was Gavin Jones whose theme was ‘Short Story Writing’. He began by giving a brief history and definition of ‘the short story’. It is
An investigation of The Fence and the site of the cattle pool of Brericar, near Higham. For many years the Friends of Pendle Heritage – Archaeology have been investigating the de Lacy vaccaries within the Blackburn Hundred, made up of those within the Forests of Pendle, Rossendale, Trawden and Accrington. Research of the vaccaries within
‘Internationally and globally renowned but, locally, little known.’ Sean Clayton, Chief Executive, opened his talk about Peter Reed with the statement above. Founded in Nelson in 1861, by the time the company moved to Springbank Mill in 1891, Peter Reed operated 748 looms and was the second largest weaver of cotton in the world. Despite
Today, Alex Whitlock gave members a fascinating presentation on the 2024 excavations at Upper White Lee, Higham, undertaken by members between March and September last year. There was a small selection of the many finds from the site, ceramic, stone, metal which covered the large table; plenty of shards of pottery dating from 16 –
After being introduced by FoPH chair, Dawn Beaumont, Geoff began by welcoming Wilfred Spencer’s daughter, Frances to the meeting. Geoff explained that, as a proud Colner, he could not imagine living anywhere else – except, to the great surprise of the audience – Las Vegas! Geoff has visited the city on many occasions and loves
Peter & Barbara Snape FoPH chair, Dawn Beaumont welcomed Peter & Barbara, who opened the afternoon with a rendition of ‘My New Hat’, a song telling the story of a cotton operative’s purchase. Peter explained that, in the mid nineteenth century, Preston was the centre for the printing of ‘broadside ballads’ that reflected the lives
Our chair, Dawn Beaumont reported that our volunteer committee remains at 4, having said farewell to Gill Barton and Brenda Taylor. Behind the scenes there are many volunteers who willingly give their time to helping in so many ways. Without doubt this year’s ‘stars’ have been Archaeology – what a summer of discovery they have had.
For forty years FoPH members have been digging into Pendle’s past. In its 40th year, well 2023 into 2024, we have been hunting for physical evidence of a cattle pool known as Brericar, one of the many Lancashire holdings, many within the Blackburn Hundred, of Queen Isabella (c.1295 to 22 August 1358), wife of King Edward
It’s fair to say that Rawden is a proud Lancastrian and ‘Snuffy Arroder’ – a person born in Great Harwood. As such, he was delighted to be appointed to the post of the Great Harwood Town Crier in 2010. Resplendent in his uniform, Rawden donned his plumed tricorn hat and white gloves before ringing his
Levens Hall: The Park & Gardens Steve Halliwell On arrival, at the Heritage Centre’s amazing Cruck Barn, members and guests received a glass of prosecco and were entertained by The Cliviger Ukulele Band as they took their seats for the illustrated talk. Photo: Pete Booth Our chair, Dawn Beaumont, welcomed everyone and introduced the afternoon’s
There was an atmosphere of anticipation as members gathered to greet Eric Knowles, the boy from Nelson, who found fame as a presenter of The Antiques Road Show, and is a FoPH Patron. Eric had travelled from the south of England especially to unveil a painting featuring Barley and Pendle Hill by Eileen Sorrel, which
Promptly at 2pm our volunteer guide, Linda, greeted 16 members on the drive before the imposing façade of the Hall. Linda explained that Richard Parker probably built the first house at Browsholme, pronounced ‘Brusom’, (the home at the top of the brow, or hill) in the early 15th century. Richard’s grandson, Edmund Parker built the
Alex led a most interesting and informative walk along the side of Pendle Hill above Sabden, on a blustery but sunny day. Several well-hidden earthworks and features were investigated, from the prehistoric period to the early post-medieval era. There were many archaeological features in the area. The walk included a visit to what is probably
(Photos: credit Anne-Marie Imeson) Howard Harrison and Anne-Marie Imeson from Nelson Camera Club gave a fascinating audio-visual presentation, which commenced with a tour of Norfolk, where Howard’s mother comes from. Howard spent some of his childhood years in Norfolk and returns there as much as possible. His photos included: Birds: Avocet, Bearded Tit, Black-tailed Godwit,
Friends of Pendle Heritage (FoPH) members were invited to Pendle Heritage Centre on 30 April 2024 to meet Michael Guy, Heritage Trust for the North West (HTNW) Chief Executive, who was appointed to the role in December 2023. Mr Guy gave a career summary covering his legal and heritage background. He advised his first board meeting
A ‘nostalgia’ afternoon brought back memories from members’ sharing recollections relating to keepsakes they had brought with them. From a silver cup bought by neighbours to celebrate the first birth of a child, who lived in Sydney Avenue, Whalley, to baking items, especially the Prestige hand whisk ‘version 2’, which is still in use and
The Malkin Morris Dancers, a northwest clog morris team formed 7 years go and based in Roughlee, entertained us in March 2024, accompanied by the excellent musicians – The Roughlee Ruffians. A talk was given by Virgina Crewe, who’s ‘claim to fame’ is her skirt fell off at her first event! We learnt that nobody
Peter Anthony, General Manager, and Paul Lomax gave an insight into their last eight years at the Hall. Peter began his talk by outlining the history of the Hall, originally a Jacobean house, but transformed by the architect John Carr into the Georgian Hall we see today. He spoke about the Clifton family connection, particularly
Sue Allonby commenced by lighting three candles, representing the storytellers, the listeners and readers, and the traditional stories shared from around the world. She then enthusiastically narrated tales of ‘A Cat, a Mouse, a Pig, and a Cow, who all got home before MIDNIGHT’; the ‘Magic Lemon’ featuring a flying carpet; ‘Captain Robert Parker and the
Alex Whitlock led a group of members on a very informative walk around Sawley, following a pre-walk meeting at Booths café, Barrowford. It was a very pleasant stroll on a mostly fine day. With the help of an appraisal of 12th century Sawley Abbey, we tried to identify the various humps and bumps in the
Judith Hartley and Brenda Taylor showed an enthusiastic group how to turn a humble baked bean tin, filled with holly and evergreens, into something that sparkled with ribbons and lights. They demonstrated a Christmas wreath as a table centre piece, won in the raffle by Pam Barton, and how to decorate a front door. Seasonal
Barrie Tyrer, a keen amateur archaeologist, along with others, had taken on a project to investigate part of the Roman road around Downham and Rimington. They did this by first digging test pits, which are mini excavations usually 1 square metre. These are ways to obtain maximum information from minimum damage and take very little
The Chair`s report detailed that although the committee had shrunk in numbers, they had plenty of speaker meetings, walks and events planned for the future. This year our big event had been the celebration of our 40th Anniversary marked by a unique day that took place in the Cruck barn. Huge thanks were given to
On this visit we learnt of the dedication of Andrew Reed and his small team of like-minded people who practically single-handedly created a community cinema in an old World War 1 Nissen hut in Colne. Working to a small budget they turned unwanted household objects into something they could use to further the atmosphere and
The Cruck Barn at Park Hill Event – an Overview Despite forebodings about the weather, the day of 2nd September 2023 dawned bright and sunny. It was some time since Pendle Heritage Centre had hosted an event of this scale with nationally famed speakers, and much time and effort had gone into the planning of
Our tour of Stonyhurst College, Museum and Exhibition was perhaps a bit of a Marmite tour, you either loved it or you didn’t and it wasn’t without its critics. It was dominated by Shakespeare, though that wasn’t the original intention when the tour was booked back in February. However, we trod in academia and saw