Thursday, 10 October 2024 was a great night for viewing the Northern Lights from home. This was the second time this year they have been visible, but we managed to sleep through the first time. Visible for around 30 minutes, we had a decent view from both the front and back garden.
Lancashire Association
Accrington, Lancashire
St James
Tuesday, 6 February 2024 in 2h 59 (11–1–14 in G)
5040 A’ Chailleach Delight Royal
Composed by R O Hall
600th peal together: 2 & 8.
At Moss Side and to the west of Schleswig Way, the B5253, at OS grid reference SD 52327 21226 are the remains of 38 stone fence posts running north-west between The River Lostock and Wade Brook. They stand in the old water meadow known as Ambrye Meadow.
Thought to date back to around 1785 the sandstone posts were used to divide the meadow into three parcels of land.
More information can be found here: http://lancs99.blogspot.com/2006/11/ambrye-meadow-field-stones.html
St Hilda’s church has a fine ring of 1949 Mears & Stainbank bells. The tenor bells weighs 14-1-21, 733 kg, and is tuned to F♯.
St Andrew’s church host a fine-toned ring of 10 Gillett & Johnston bells cast in 1929. Further details are available on the Dove website.
| Bell | Note | Weight of Bell |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | G | 5 – 1 – 14 |
| 2 | F | 5 – 2 – 7 |
| 3 | E♭ | 5 – 2 – 14 |
| 4 | D | 5 – 3 – 5 |
| 5 | C | 6 – 1 – 19 |
| 6 | B♭ | 8 – 1 – 21 |
| 7 | A♭ | 10 – 3 – 4 |
| 8 | G | 12 – 2 – 9 |
| 9 | F | 16 – 3 – 12 |
| 10 | E♭ | 22 – 2 – 16 |
Most visitors use the Tesco car park which is a council-owned short term car park.
Here are three extracts from the St Andrew’s Day peal from 2022.
Worden Lane runs south from the top of Fox Lane towards Holt Brow passing Worden Park. Like many roads in Leyland it has had numerous names in the past: Whittaker Lane, then Lodge Lane, more recently New Road, and today – Worden Lane.
At the north end of Worden Lane stands the Leyland Drinking Well and Leyland Cross.
A pair of carved date stones in a wall beside Clough House on Worden Lane. One shows 1584 and the second shows 1585. They are not in their original locations as it is thought they came from St Andrew’s Church.
Established in 1854 by Rev. Henry Anselm Brewer, the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary’s replaced the earlier chapel of St Andrew the Apostle that had been opened in Leyland House. The church was enlarged in 1919 and was used until it closed in 1961 when the new St Mary’s church was built in Broadfield Drive. Only the front wall now remains. There is a graveyard behind which includes a war memorial.
A very minor diversion from Worden Lane takes us to North Lodge and the entrance to Worden Park. The neoclassical North Lodge and gateway with its Tuscan style columns are still one of the main entrances to the parkland. The road that leads from it into the grounds is probably one of the original estate drives shown on the 1725 map. It forms a crossroads with another original drive ‘The Avenue’ which leads down towards the hall.
Worden Park was acquired by the Farington in 1534. It remained in the possession of the family until their home, Worden Hall, was damaged in a fire in 1947. The lands and the ruined hall were sold, in 1950, to Leyland Urban District Council and the current park was opened to the public in 1951.
The hall has been demolished, but many of the early buildings and gardens can still be enjoyed today.
Our walk begins on the north side of the park at the 19th century gateway beside North Lodge heading south towards the junction with the former Hall Lane and the remains of Worden Hall.
The site was included in land granted to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in the C12 or early C13. Worden subsequently passed from the Bussel family to the Anderton family. In 1534 it was acquired by Sir Henry Farington and it remained in the Farington family until 1947. In 1950 Leyland Council purchased it. It was opened to the public on 18 June 1951 and it remains in use as a public park (1999).
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000955
Off Worden Lane, the neoclassical North Lodge and gateway with its Tuscan style columns is the main pedestrian entrance to the parkland for many in the town. The road that leads from it into the grounds, heading south, is probably one of the original estate drives shown on the 1725 map. It forms a crossroads with another original drive ‘The Avenue’ which leads west towards the site of the hall.
Worden Lodge came about around 1761 following an agreement between Captain Isaac Hamon and Sir William Farington. Captain Hamon rented the northwest corner of a close known as Great Low Field, which was part of the Shaw Hall demesne.
Both the 1848 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey Map and the 1893 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey Map show this named as Leyland Lodge. However, by 1911 it is shown on the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey Map as Worden Lodge. By 1955 the land and boundary walls are still shown on the 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey Map, but no obvious building is shown and the name has been removed.
All that remains now, at the western end of thecae park, is a short section of standing wall, a gatepost, and some dressed stone blocks in the trees around the car park.
Originally, possibly mid 19th century, a conservatory attached to Worden Hall, later used as a greenhouse, it is has a wooden frame on a stone plinth, and glazed walls and roof. A short section of the wall of Worden House remains standing to the right.
The icehouse door, called an ogee, is S-shaped in section and is very unusual. Some of the ornamentation originates from the Parish Church and were relocated when the nave was altered in 1816. This includes two carved figures, either side of the door, which date to around 1500. They sit on two corbels that were clearly not designed to hold them. Other carvings include three shield shapes and a block with a hollow spandrel. There is no public access to the inside of the icehouse.
On the mound of the icehouse is a large inscribed rock with the inscription reading “Greenstone porphyry, Helvellyn, Prof I Phillips, brought from Worden drift”. This is a “glacial erratic”, and was brought from Helvellyn in the Lake District by a glacier during the last ice age.
Now situated at Churchtown, Southport, Mersyside this 18 century commemorative obelisk was formerly at Worden Hall, Leyland. Following the fire at Worden Hall the obelisk was sold around 1948 to Colonel Roger Fleetwood Hesketh of Meols Hall and placed here in 1950. It is made from dressed gritstone blocks, of square section. The pedestal is c. 2m high, with a chamfered base, one broad band and a cavetto-moulded cornice with a worn inscription running round the east, north and west sides: Rebuilt in Commemoration of the Glorious illegible. More photographs can be seen in my blog.
Originally, the obelisk stood north of the bank of Shaw Brook to the west of Farmyard Woods. https://w3w.co/zooms.divide.legs
Fox Lane is one of the early roads in Leyland and today it links Severn Stars with Towngate. On the 1844 Village Plan it is named Liverpool Road, but the 1830 and subsequent Ordnance Survey maps name it as Union Street. By 1890 the eastern end was known as Union Street as far west as the alms houses, the centre section was Fox Lane, and the western end around Seven Stars was named Brook Street.
All the older buildings are at either the eastern end, Union Street, or the western end, Brook Street. All the centre section is modern build.
Our walk commences outside the Fox & Lion at the eastern end of Fox Lane.
Looking east from the top of Fox Lane towards St Andrew’s Parish Church. The Fox & Lion was originally a row of cottages and was converted to a public house called The Ring O’ Bells. Sometime around the 1800s, the name was changed to Bay Horse. The Georgian look to the east front of building is fake.
Originally constructed as houses, these were converted to shops and are currently derelict. They have recently been sold …
A terrace of twenty-six brick-built cottages used by hand loom weavers. Originally known as the Friendly Society Houses, they are built around 1801.
Details to be added.
The cutting of the Lancaster Canal began around 1792 and the canal has always existed as two separate sections. The southern cutting ran from Aspull, in the south, to Walton Summit. The northern section ran from Preston to Kendal. The small section between Walton Summit and Preston, which required crossing the River Ribble, was never completed and a temporary tramroad was opened in 1803 to enable the transfer of cargo between Walton Summit and Preston.
The southern cutting from Johnson’s Hillock to Bark Hill at Aspull became part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1810 and is still navigable today. At Johnson’s Hillock there is a short arm of the original Lancaster Canal running northwest from the wooden lock bridge to Town Lane.
Almost all of the cut between here and Walton Summit was filled by rubble from the construction of the M61 motorway. Through lack of use and the significant cost of constructing bridges and tunnels to accommodate the motorway, it was decided in the 1960s to close this section of the canal. Only a few very short sections of the cut are visible along with the remains of a few bridges and basins.
The two Whittle Tunnels and Moss Bridge can still be found in good condition at Whittle-le-Woods. Summit Bridge and White Bride stand in isolation in woods close to Walton Summit and can be accessed by a footpath that runs under the M61 motorway.
Footpaths can now be walked that follow the line of the canal cutting as we head north from Whittle Tunnels.
Following the former canal cutting as it passes between Brindle and Clayton Brook on its way to Walton Summit we come across the sites of White Bridge and Summit Bridge. White Bridge has been removed and replaced by a grass bank crossing the cutting. Summit Bridge stands isolated in woodland and crosses a muddy ditch.
The northern cutting of the canal now starts at Maudlands, on the north west side of Preston, and can be navigated as far as Tewitfield.
Originally, the canal ran as far south as the basin and coal yards on the southwest side of Corporation Street between Ladywell Street and Ring Way. Heading north towards Maudlands, there is no cutting visible as UCLAN have built over the land. However, there are still indications of a number of the bridges and banks to be seen.
Signs of the tramroad can still be found at Walton Summit, in Preston city centre, and near to Walton-le-Dale where the course of the tramroad is used as a footpath. There is also a large trestle bridge crossing the River Ribble in Avenham Park, but this is currently closed. Two very small sections of the tramroad were excavated in Bamber Bridge and have been preserved at Worden Park in Leyland.
