CLITHEROE Castle grounds could become home to a plaque highlighting a Lancashire trade union icon.

Mid Pennine Arts wants to honour David Shackleton as part of their Pendle Radicals Trail, part of a wider Pendle Hill regeneration project.

Rossendale-born Shackleton was a mill worker aged just nine. He later had links to trade unions, and industry organisations in Darwen and Blackburn.

He became the third-ever Labour MP in the Clitheroe by-election of 1902. Later, he became chairman of the parliamentary Labour Party and the TUC. Then he was the first Permanent Secretary of the new Ministry of Labour after the First World War.

Ribble Valley Council's community services committee will consider the Clitheroe request on Tuesday .

A council report states: “The trail has proved very popular and has outlasted the initial project. It is a volunteer-driven project, which benefits from the research of many valuable contributors.

"The BBC1 Songs of Praise programme dedicated a whole episode to the first phase, giving a national audience of 1.3 million. The trail is now being further developed by Mid Pennine Arts.

“The trail developers believe these hugely influential historic figures have not been fully celebrated in the areas they come from, and the new ideas fit well with the figures who have been celebrated so far.”

Clitheroe Castle grounds has been selected for its closeness to the Pinnacle, which came to the valley from Westminster.

Councillors have been told the castle's grounds have limited information boards and plaques, because of its special nature. Any additions will have been carefully considered.

A  management team is concerned named plaques may create a precedent for future requests. 

If councillors agreed to the plaque, Mid Pennine Arts would need to gain listed building consent.

Other plaques on the trail laud Quaker religious pioneer George Fox, on the summit of  Pendle Hill. Non-conformist Benjamin Ingham is celebrated at the last ‘Inghamite’ church in Wheatley Lane.

Clarion House, near Newchurch in Pendle, is also feted for its links to the former Independent Labour Party.

Stone panels are also proposed for three people.

One is Tom Stephenson, of Whalley, a journalist who played a top role with the Ramblers Association and worked with politicians to create national parks and long distance routes, including The Pennine Way.

Another highlights Richard Cobden in Sabden, a Victorian businessman with a calico printing works, a liberal politician and campaigner for peace and free trade.

The third is Rev T.A. Leonard, of Colne. Tom Leonard was a pastor during Victorian times who took mill workers on an outdoor holiday to the Lake District. He then created the Co-operative Holidays Association and the Holiday Fellowship and was a founder of the Youth Hostels Association.