Drive and Stroll: Ron Freethy on why medieval Clitheroe was famous for the three Ls

THE last Saturday in April proved to be warm and sunny and as usual the weather forecast was wrong!

I parked my car close to West Bradford Bridge and followed the Ribble Way footpath upstream.

This is excellent rambling country set close to the Castle Cement Works. The works is screened by trees and the river hereabouts is crystal clear.

This is one of the most popular stretches for anglers in search of salmon, brown trout and sea trout.

The area is rich in limestone and there was a saying during medieval times that Clitheroe was famous for the three Ls - Latin, Law and Limestone.

These days we need limestone for roads and also for building cement. From monastic times onwards Clitheroe limestone was carried by packhorse into the upland farms of Lancashire and beyond.

In these areas the soil is far too acid to be fertile. These days we can add all sorts of artificial fertiliser but in the old days only lime would neutralise these soils.

As the industrial revolution gathered pace limestone was needed to produce the mortar used in the construction industry. The Clitheroe area was famous for its lawyers and scholars, hence the three Ls - Latin, Law and Limestone. These days we can add another L to this area of Ribblesdale. This is the Living World because few areas can beat this walk for its wildlife.

Bird life is always plentiful here and I soon found dipper, my first common sandpiper of the year and hundreds of sand martins which have arrived in numbers over the last few weeks.

I had expected to see sand martins but I did not expect all the breeding holes in the river bank to be fully occupied by breeding pairs. The martins looked cute as their heads peeped out of the holes in the bank. Their twittering was almost deafening as they flew about over the surface of the water in search of insects to satisfy their hunger.

Below the martins' nests I fund a delightful clump of marsh marigolds also called King Cups. Their yellow flowers reflected the sunlight and this, and the presence of the summer migrants (sand martins, swallows and common sandpipers) proves that good weather is on the way.

This is never a walk to hurry and I rested on a seat dedicated "to the memory of Brian Hartley (1927-1983) of the Fylde Ramblers." This is a wonderful way to be remembered and the lovely spot was made even more enjoyable by the sound of the rippling of the River Ribble blending with the sound of lapwing, oyster catcher and curlew.

I know of no river in Britain which can beat the Ribble for history. It has got even better in recent years thanks to the setting up of the well marked Ribble Way.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.