Drive and Stroll, with Ron Freethy

BARROWFORD is one of those places not quite big enough to be a town but too big to be regarded as a beautiful village.

It is, however, a fascinating place graced by having some wonderful old buildings.

Barrowford is set astride the old Turnpike road built in the 18th Century and linking Nelson, Colne and Gisburn. On the main road look out for a milestone set into a wall just before reaching the splendidly restored Toll House. The latter is part of the museum run by the Lancashire Heritage Trust.

On the opposite side of the road to Colne to the Toll House is the mainly 16th and 17th Century farmhouse, which once belonged to the Bannister family. The first man to run a mile in four minutes -- Roger Bannister -- can trace his ancestors back to this old Manor House, now the base of the Heritage Centre.

Here is a splendid shop cafe and a museum dedicated to the history of Pendleside. An old barn has been splendidly converted into a conference centre. The complex is open throughout the year.

I love to stand close to the river between the Heritage Centre and Barrowford Park and look down at the old weir. Although the old water-powered cotton mill has long gone the weir remains, you can get a feeling for the awesome power of water.

In the final three months of the last century (I mean October to December 2000), the people of Barrowford discovered far too much about the power of water. Some scientists are predicting that we will have a heatwave this summer and to some extent I agree because nature works on the law of averages. We have not had a hot summer for some time so let us hope! Returning from the Heritage Centre I went in search of two buildings both dating from Tudor and Stuart times.

These are the White Bear pub set just off the main road and the Lamb Club, situated off to the right on the side road leading towards Wheatley Lane.

The White Bear (which serves substantial refreshments) is said to have been named not after an albino bear but after one of Henry VIII's battleships. It was once the home of the Hargreaves family. Prior to the coming of the Turnpike Road, the family land stretched down to the river. So it was that the Hargreaves family dominated one bank of Pendle Water with the Bannisters being the main family on the other.

A close look at the Lamb Working Men's Club suggests that this is a magnificent building dating from the 17th Century and I wonder if any reader can tell me more about the history of this building. I would love to include these details in a future column.

I concluded my stroll through Barrowford by having another look at the river and then following upstream to Higherford Bridge, which is one of the most underrated structures in the county. It was once crossed by packhorses from the 16th Century and was until the coming of the Turnpike, the major route through Barrowford.

In the 18th Century, John Wesley preached on the bridge and I suppose this was the equivalent of a modern evangelist choosing to spread the gospel on a motorway service station.

Thus Barrowford is an historical tapestry covering around 500 years of the East Lancashire story.