Drive and Stroll, with Ron Freethy

LUCKILY I have been tackling a route close to home and for those of you with a bit of spare petrol in your tank Whalley is one of those places which always provides something of interest.

And this week I am in search of industrial history along the banks of the River Calder.

There is a pay and display car park in the centre of the village but on a bright summer's day I parked at Spring Wood and followed the footpath from there down into Whalley.

I stood by the bridge and looked upstream to the old weir and then downstream to the magnificent red brick viaduct (see picture). This fantastic structure is still used and provides the link between Blackburn and Clitheroe which thankfully is once more safe from closure.

The weir serves to accelerate the current of the River Calder and was important in the days when textiles were produced using the power of water. The river is now much cleaner than in the past and the weir is now the haunt of the resident dipper and the summer visiting common sandpiper.

From the bridge a stroll towards the centre of the village leads to a left turn and a footpath via the Abbey cornmill. The waterwheel is still present, although obviously not functional, on the site of the old monastic mill.

The footpath leads between allotments and then onwards to the parish church of St Mary on the right and the Cistercian Abbey ruins on the left just beyond the school. The small entrance fee to the abbey grounds is excellent value and includes an exhibition of artefacts relating to life between the 1920s and the 1960s. If you fancy a reminder of shopping during this period then this is the place for you.

The entrance to the abbey is obviously through the magnificent old gatehouse. If you want to see a little more of the old abbey then continue along the road towards the railway viaduct.

On the left you will see lots of old buildings situated close to the catholic church. Spanning the road is a second impressive gatehouse.

I retraced my steps before entering the churchyard. Actually the parish church of St Mary is Norman in origin and is much older than the 14th century abbey. Inside the church are many artefacts removed from the abbey when it was dissolved by Henry VIII in the late 1530s. Well worth looking at are the carved seats called Misericords and a really magnificent wooden carved screen.

On a bright late summer evening I followed the footpath back to Spring Wood passing through Archbishop's Wood which obviously relates to the medieval period when the abbots of Whalley ruled the roost.