Malkin Morris Dancers

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

The Restoration of Lytham Hall

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

Winter Words 2024

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

Archaeology: 13 January 2024

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

Small Christmas Decorations for your Table

Judith Fothergill and Brenda Taylor expertly demonstrated creating small Christmas table arrangements. Decorating a re-used Christmas wreath, recycling humble tins, adorning them with Christmas ribbons and lights. Chicken wire was inserted instead of oasis floral foam, and by adding holly, ivy, spruce, flowers and baubles this modest tin was soon transformed. Instructions followed on how

Recent Works by Ribble Valley Archaeology

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

2023 AGM

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

Visit to Little Savoy Community Cinema

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

40th Anniversary Celebration

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

Guided Tour of Stonyhurst College

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

Walking Tour of The Site of Earby`s Corn Mill

This tour followed last year`s talk about the history of the corn mill. A group of us braved the rain and wind to meet near its site. We trekked up the beck which never runs dry, therefore enabling the mill to have been in constant use. Margaret Brown, our guide, pointed out where the stream

Members’ Day: Tour of Colne Town Hall, June 2023

Geoff Crambie, our local historian extraordinaire, took us on a tour of this Victorian building situated in the heart of Colne. We began by standing outside the front door on a magnificent 10ft square flagstone, thought to be the largest in the UK. Unfortunately, research has recently found that the flagstone dominating the frontage of

The Sixties. Decade or Decadence?

Frank Vigon gave a wonderful talk that took most of  us back to our youth in the sixties.   Frank told us of his early childhood spent playing on bombsites in the fifties and said he was a child of the war and that the Second World War had shaped the sixties.  He grew up in

Talk: Historic Graffiti

Colin Penny lived up to expectations and delivered an excellent and very interesting talk. He began with asking “What is Graffiti” of course everyone has their own ideas on this subject. Essentially it is leaving a mark in a public place, until recently, that is, 150 years ago it was not illegal to graffiti. Is

Talk: Amazing Artefacts from the North West

Valentine’s Day saw Alex Whitlock a Find Liason Officer from the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and also Chair of PAG, come to talk to the Friends about the artefacts found by the general public. The PAS records all non treasure items  that have been found anywhere in homes, sheds, gardens, fields, river banks,

Earby’s Corn Mill – Corn to Cotton and Boom to Bust

We were pleased to welcome Margaret Brown and Wendy Faulkner to talk about Earby’s Corn Mill and its journey from a simple corn mill to its development in the industrial revolution. The earliest mention of Earby is in the Domesday Book. Margaret delved back into history to mention that the Romans and Vikings used horizontal

Monasteries, Mills and More….

It was a lovely sunny afternoon when Bob Abel conducted a good group of Friends around the township of Barnoldswick. Yes, we did see the site of Monastery, which apparently wasn’t there long enough to leave any visible remains before the monks decamped to Kirkstall near Leeds to set up an Abbey there. The villagers

The 14 Freemen of Colne

The Friends were entertained and enlightened by local historian Geoff Crambie at our September meeting in the Barn. His talk was entitled “The 14 Freemen of Colne” but his talk encompassed much more than that. He spoke with lots of humour and great knowledge of Colne as it was when he was growing up and

Heyroyd House, Colne.

To celebrate National Heritage Week  we had a delightful afternoon at Heyroyd House, thanks to Sarah and David inviting us to see their lovely home and intriguing surroundings.  They couldn’t have been more generous as we toured the renovations that have painstakingly been carried out over twenty years. This very interesting late hall yeomans house

Archaeology Dig

At Higher White Lee farm we dug down and deeper and down and found what appeared to be an early drain.  In it was found two pieces of sea shell – a mussel and a cockle, which suggests it came from a high status building. Some early pot was also found. However, the age of

Garden Event

This was a treat on many levels.   We had an audio visual display by members of Nelson Camera Club.   Stunning images of flowers and beautiful gardens which were very professionally done and complimented by lovely music. Then a tour of the Walled Garden in all its late summer glory by Andrea Smith.  Next on was

Wycoller Walk

David Taylor took us on an interesting tour around the village of Wycoller. We learned about the pastoral pre history of the early settlement and also mediaeval and later history.   Henry de Lacey set up the vaccary system in areas of north east Lancashire and one included Trawden and naturally Wycoller.  After his demise

Visit to Queen St. Mill Textile Museum

We had a very enjoyable and interesting visit to the last surviving 19th Century steam powered weaving mill in the world.    This Grade 1 listed building has a mighty steam engine re named Peace after ww1 armistice, originally it was named Prudence and had a coal fired boiler. The mill is deemed to be of

Talk: The Rylestone Log Coffin Burials

Our last talk of the season in May was a treat for those with an interest in local archaeology. Retired archaeology lecturer, Roger Martlew, gave an extremely interesting exploration around ancient burial practices. His talk was entitled, “The Rylstone Bronze Age Log-Coffin Burial and its Regional Significance.” He traced the history of digs at the

Talk: A Journey along ‘The Cut’

Our April talk was a wonderful trip down the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from Skipton to Burnley. It came in the form of an illustrated lecture given by Andrea Smith. We learnt just what it took to build the canal in sections which eventually all linked up. We learnt of the funding required to achieve

Trip to Whalley Abbey

Another good trip out to see the Lay Brothers dormitory one of the finest examples in the country where we were fortunate to have a peek inside to see this enormous structure that belongs to the RC English Martyrs  we were lucky also to see inside this lovely church which also contained an early mediaeval

Cotton Town Chronicles

Peter and Barbara Snape gave an excellent multimedia presentation entitled the Cotton Town Chronicles. Their music and folk songs told the stories of the local cotton and mining industries in the nineteenth century. The presentation reflected the good times and the camaraderie experienced by the workers of the Industrial Revolution, but also the grim realities

Talk: A Century of Health

Denise North came to speak to the Friends and as usual with Denise we were treated to a well researched and entertaining account of “A century of Health in Burnley from 1815-1918”. She spoke about the development of sanitation in the town as the population grew. The small number of inhabitants in 1815 drew its