Chatburn is a village,

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 authority ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132. Its council is based in Clitheroe. ...

, East

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 Lancashi ...

, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,102. Situated in a hollow between two ridges north-east of

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

, just off the

A59 road The A59 is a major road in England which is around long and runs from Wallasey, Merseyside to York, North Yorkshire. The alignment formed part of the Trunk Roads Act 1936, being then designated as the A59. It is a key route connecting Merseysi ...

, relatively near

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 Pe ...

south-east of the village. Lanehead quarry is situated to the West at the termination of Chatburn Old Road. Ribble lane at 240 above sea level leads down to the

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea (t ...

North of the village, the top of Downham road being 150 feet higher. The parish adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of

Grindleton Grindleton is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of the English county of Lancashire, formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its 3,700 acres sit within the Forest of Bowland. The population of the civil ward taken at the ...

, Sawley,

Rimington Rimington is a rural village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish was 382 at the 2001 Census, however at the 2011 Census Middop was included with Rimington giving a total of 480. It is e ...

Downham Downham is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It borders the London Borough of Bromley, and is located north of Bromley and south of Catford. Downham was named in honour of Lord Downham, who was ...

Worston Worston is a small linear village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. The village is north-west of Pendle Hill, east of Clitheroe, and is in the Ribble Valley district. As it is only a small village, with a population of 76 at the 2001 cen ...

and West Bradford.

History

The village itself can be dated back to

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

times; it takes its name (as does the lowest Avenue) from one of the most distinguished characters of that time,

St Chad Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Catholic monk who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised ...

, and having a brook (or burn) hence the name. The village sits outside 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 ...

and was never considered part of the ancient

Lordship of Bowland The Lordship of Bowland is a feudal barony associated with the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. The lordship fell into disuse between 1885 and 2008, during which time it was widely believed to have lapsed; it was revived in 2008. In 18 ...

. A feature of the village is the spire of the parish church, which was erected around 1838. The steeple was struck by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

in 1854, but was rebuilt in the same year. Over the years Chatburn has had several mills, one had a large brick chimney, the site is now houses on both sides of Ribble Lane. Early in the 15th century there was a watermill. Chatburn railway station was closed in 1962 before the report of

Dr Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the ...

. Bold Venture lime works, gas works and quarry provided much employment for villagers for many years, now part of Lanehead quarry located across the railway from the Pendle trading estate, the former Pendle Hotel and the opposite side of the road to the old telephone exchange building. It was owned by Dixon Robinson from 1837, he also built the Pendle Hotel and Black Bull public houses. Dixon was a major landowner and also built about 20 houses in the village. At Quarry farm, on the left of Ribble lane there were 3 limekilns, Big, Small & Farm. All 3 appear on the 1786 Yates map One was located on the very east end of Park Ave The village also features Chatburn Post Office which was bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Chatburn Old road was the main Liverpool to Skipton road before the existing Chatburn to Clitheroe was cut in 1826/7. This then became the main

, until the Clitheroe bypass & Downham road cutting was opened in about 1971. Parts of the village and surroundings featured in the 1961 film '' Whistle Down the Wind'' starring

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising ...

, Alan Barnes, Diane Holgate and children from Chatburn Primary School.

Governance

Chatburn was once a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in the ancient parish of Whalley. This became a

in 1866, forming part of the Clitheroe Rural District from 1894 till 1974. Chatburn also gives its name to a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Borough Council, which also includes

and

Twiston Twiston is a village and a civil parish in the Ribble Valley District, in the English county of Lancashire. It is near the town of Clitheroe and the village of Downham (in whose parish the population of Twiston is now included). The parish is pa ...

. The ward had a population of 1,324 in 2001, falling to 1,316 in 2011. The ward elects a single councillor, who currently is Gary Scott of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Media gallery

File:Old Road, Chatburn - geograph.org.uk - 406588.jpg, Surviving part of Chatburn Old Road File:Christ Church, Chatburn.jpg, Christ Church File:Bold Venture Cottages - geograph.org.uk - 1141933.jpg, Bold Venture Cottages. File:The Black Bull, Bridge Street, Chatburn - geograph.org.uk - 541623.jpg, Black Bull Inn File:The Brown Cow, Bridge Street, Chatburn - geograph.org.uk - 541626.jpg, Brown Cow public house File:River Ribble and Pendle Hill from near Chatburn - geograph.org.uk - 1453926.jpg,

with

in the background

References

External links

Chatburn Village

e-Chatburn

Chatburn conservation areas Apprasial

Chatburn search results at Historic England's Pastscape site

pp372-73 of The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster Vol 6
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of Ribble Valley Wards of Lancashire Politics of Ribble Valley

History

Governance

Media gallery

See also

References

External links