Barley is a village in the borough of Pendle, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth. The village lies between Black Moss Reservoirs and

Ogden Reservoirs Upper and Lower Ogden Reservoirs are half a mile to the west of the village of Barley, in the Borough of Pendle, England. They supply drinking water to the town of Nelson. Three forests covering more than can be found close to the reservoirs. ...

, and is within the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

(AONB). The hamlet of Barley Green is immediately southwest of the village. The village is close to

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the P ...

, and is a popular starting point for walkers of this hill. The circular

Pendle Way The Pendle Way is a Recreational Path in the South Pennines of England which encircles the borough of Pendle. It was officially opened in 1987.Paul Hannon. Walking Country: Pendle Way. Hillside Publications (Preston) 1997, 2006. The circu ...

long-distance trail passes through here. There is a children's playground by the stream. There is also a substantial 1920s public house, The Pendle Inn, and a restaurant, The Barley Mow. It has won the small village category in 1996 and the hamlet category of the Lancashire

Best Kept Village A best kept village is a village that has won one of the annual county competitions in the United Kingdom for its tidiness, appropriateness, and typicality. The competitions have been nationally organized by the Campaign to Protect Rural England ...

competition in 2008 and 09.

History

After a cow farm was established around 1266, Barley earned its livelihood from

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

. This continued up until the 18th century. During the 18th century

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s began to be manufactured as an extra source of income. The

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

s around Barley offered an effective source of

waterpower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a w ...

which led to the building of several cotton factories. Two small cotton mills were built at Narrowgates and Barley Green. At its height, Barley Green Mill had 200 looms, until floods destroyed the building in 1880. The cotton twist mill at Narrowgates, which was built by William Hartley to spin cotton warp thread, and the adjacent weavers cottages survive and are now private houses.

References

External links

forestofbowland.com - Aitken Wood and Pendle Sculpture Trail Walk
{{Borough of Pendle geography Towns and villages in the Borough of Pendle Forest of Bowland