Summer outing — Into foreign parts: the Hodder and Calder valleys

6 July 2005
Leader - David Johnson
Reported by Audrey Daykin
 JOURNAL 
 2006 
 North Craven 
 Heritage Trust 

The Summer mid-week outing of 2005 was close to home and included some buildings familiar to many people but all were given fresh appeal by the tour guides and the group leader. The day began in Slaidburn where the Priest in Charge of St Andrew’s church, the Rev. Mark Russell-Smith, gave us an interesting talk about this ancient church.

Slaidburn Church

The present building is on the same site as the original 10th C Saxon church and proof of this early Christianity is in an unusual Angel stone found nearby. Barred doors indicate its function of sanctuary in lawless times; there are signs of a Norman rebuilding; the chantry chapel and Gothic style are 14th C but the church to be seen today is largely the result of the changes of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1615 the rector was an extreme Puritan. He ‘cleansed’ the church of its ‘popery’ and St Andrew’s is still known as a Low Church, e.g. it has a Holy table instead of an altar and the rare three-decker pulpit in the centre of the nave indicates the importance of preaching rather than Eucharistic ritual. The Puritans did appreciate ‘The work of human hands’ so there is beautiful wood carving on the screen and elsewhere but, if one studies it, there is clearly an absence of religious iconography. Instead, the fruits of nature have been carved. Slaidburn Parish Church has survived the centuries relatively intact, each generation simply adding on to what was there already. The interior is fascinating rather than beautiful and it has clearly been the centre of village life since the earliest days of Christianity in England.

A pleasant walk down the street past the old grammar school and many other old buildings worthy of a lingering look led us to the ‘Hark to Bounty’ inn, site of an old courtroom called:

The Mote Court

The courtroom has a raised seat for the magistrate, benches for the jury and slanting panelling indicative of movement of the building at some time. A Moot was an Anglo-Saxon legislative assembly and each Wapentake had one. The Moot at Slaidburn was for the Bowland Wapentake and within that ancient courtroom a group of local men dispensed justice on their fellow men. The cases heard there would have altered over time but crimes such as poaching would have been serious since the laws of the Forest of Bowland were harsh. This Anglo-Saxon organisation of local government was very efficient but as time passed it evolved into a more complex system of Manorial Courts, much of whose work was concerned with the conveyancing of copyhold property within the Manor of Slaidburn. The court rolls of the Manor of Slaidburn since 1519 have survived and are currently being transcribed from the legal Latin of the Middle Ages (see the Slaidburn web sites www.slaidburn.org.uk and www.slaidburn.com). A pleasant drive along country roads took us to our next stop:

Whalley Abbey

The story of how there came to be an abbey at Whalley is an interesting one. Before the 19th C the Diocese of Chester extended to Blackburn, so it is entirely feasible that there would have been movement of religious folk up and down Lancashire. There would have been established trade routes for the monks and friars to follow because the salt industry of Cheshire was important to the whole country. So it was that in 1289 a small group of monks set out from Stanlow in Cheshire to find their own Locus Benedictus - the Blessed Place. It was to be some years before they finally settled in Whalley. The 13th and 14th centuries were a great age for the building of cathedrals and abbeys and they tended to follow a pattern, but one or two things stand out at Whalley. The bookcases are still to be seen and their large size indicates that this must have been a centre for scholarship. The cellar or undercroft is larger than in many abbeys - used to store wool and textiles as well as food. Craftsmen such as masons must have been itinerant carrying just their tools (Rutherford, 1987) because locally there are quarries and forests known to have provided raw materials for the building of Whalley. Although no longer wealthy Whalley abbey is still important because it is now the Retreat House and Conference Centre for the Diocese of Blackburn. Our guide was the Retreat House manager (dressed for the occasion in the white habit and black scapula of a choir monk). Some of the gardens and one of the fish ponds have been restored: Whalley abbey is still Locus Benedictus. After lunch a very different location beckoned:

Browsholme Hall

Pronounced ‘Brusom’ , this Tudor mansion lies 4 miles north-west of Clitheroe and is home to the Parker family who have lived here since 1507. The family were ‘Bowbearers of the Forest’ and that responsibility in the Forest of Bowland was clearly explained by Mr Robert Redmayne Parker. The Forest was not a forest of trees but a stretch of land used as hunting territory by its owner. This clarifies the use of the word ‘Forest’ in other place names e.g. Forest of Dean. Hunting was essential to life and the laws of the forest were strictly enforced. There were many occupations among the staff of the forest - in the 14th C the family were Park Keepers, hence the name Parker. The building itself is a Tudor mansion, not really a stately home, and with few pretensions to grandeur. The windows have stone mullions and the columns of the portico display the Orders of Architecture; red sandstone has been used in its construction and the whole effect is pleasing to the eye. Inside, the Hall is full of curios as well as 17th C furniture. The library is panelled; the drawing room is formal with some Gillow furniture; the dining room is a later addition and is Regency. The bedrooms have changed little since an inventory of 1833 although some modern comforts have been added. In fact it was noticeable that as with Slaidburn Church those involved with this building over the centuries have added without destroying what was already there.

Meticulous organisation, interesting locations, good guides - everything came together to make this a most enjoyable day and our appreciation goes to David Johnson for making it so.

Bibliography

Browsholme Hall
  • Browsholme Hall guide book, 1992.

Slaidburn

Whalley

  • Rutherford, E., 1987. Sarum. Publ. Arrow Books.
  • Williams, G., 1996. Locus Benedictus, the story of Whalley Abbey.
  • Whalley Abbey Guide Book, 1996. 5th edition.

Slaidburn.jpg
Slaidburn
Browsholme.jpg
Browsholme
with permission from Mr Robert Parker
Monk.jpg
A monk



Slaidburn.jpg
Slaidburn


Browsholme.jpg
Browsholme
with permission from Mr Robert Parker