Samlesbury () is a village and
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 ...
in
South Ribble
South Ribble is a borough in the county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The population, at the 2011 Census, was 109,057. Notable towns and villages include Walton le Dale, Bamber Bridge, Leyland and Penwortham. It ...
,
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.
Samlesbury Hall, a historic house, is in the village, as is
Samlesbury Aerodrome
Samlesbury Aerodrome is a disused airfield at Balderstone near Samlesbury and Blackburn in Ribble Valley district of Lancashire. The aerodrome is owned by defence company BAE Systems which uses the site for the manufactured of several differ ...
and a large modern brewery owned by
Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters ...
. The population at the
2011 census was 1,206.
History
The village's name is derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''sceamol'', meaning ledge and ''burh'' meaning fortification, hence literally "ledge fortification". It may also be that the name at least partly derives from the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
name for 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 ...
and its eponymous
Celtic deity,
Belisama.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, there was
fortified house
A fortified house or fortified mansion is a type of building which developed in Europe during the Middle Ages, generally with significant fortifications added.
United States
In the United States, historically a fortified house was often calle ...
near the river, probably a stone tower, held by the Denyas family. It was destroyed by the Scots during
The Great Raid of 1322
The Great Raid of 1322 was a major raid carried out by Robert the Bruce, during the First Scottish War of Independence, on Northern England between 30 September and 2 November 1322, resulting in the Battle of Old Byland. Numerous raids began by ...
. A family heiress, Alicia Denyas, married Gilbert de Southworth, builder of
Samlesbury Hall.
The parish was part of
Preston Rural District
Preston was a rural district in Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded Preston on the north, west and east sides.
The district was created under the Local Government Act 1894. It was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government A ...
throughout its existence from 1894 to 1974. In 1974 the parish became part of South Ribble.
Samlesbury Hall
![Samlesbury Hall - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Samlesbury_Hall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_150049.jpg)
Samlesbury Hall is a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
built in 1325 which has been many things since then including a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
and girls' boarding school, but since 1925, when it was saved from being demolished for its timber, it has been administered by a registered charitable trust, the Samlesbury Hall Trust. This Grade I listed medieval manor house attracts more than 50,000 visitors each year.
Religious buildings
Samlesbury parish church, like
the one at nearby Walton-le-Dale, is dedicated to St. Leonard the Less and was founded in 1096. The church contains a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
tub
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
, a medieval bell and Sir Thomas Southworth's funerary
armour
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
dating from 1546. It also has a church chest, a two-decker
pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
and a complete set of
box pews dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church is St Mary and St John Southworth. There was previously also a
Wesleyan Methodist chapel.
Education
Samlesbury benefits from having its own primary school called Samlesbury Church of England Primary School. The school is located beside the Church of St Leonard the Less, on the banks of 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 ...
.
Samlesbury witches
The Samlesbury witches—Jane Southworth, Jennet Brierley and Ellen Brierley—were accused of child murder and cannibalism and tried at
Lancaster Assizes
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...
on 19 August 1612, in the same series of trials as the
Pendle witches
The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged ...
. All three were found not guilty in a trial which one historian has described as "largely a piece of anti-Catholic propaganda".
Samlesbury brewery
Samlesbury brewery is a large modern brewery belonging to
InBev
InBev () is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...
. It was completed in 1972 to brew
Heineken lager for
Whitbread
Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England.
The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s.
Its largest division ...
. It produces ''
Boddington's Bitter
Bitter may refer to:
Common uses
* Resentment, negative emotion or attitude, similar to being jaded, cynical or otherwise negatively affected by experience
* Bitter (taste), one of the five basic tastes
Books
* '' Bitter (novel)'', a 2022 nove ...
'', and bottled and keg ''
Bass Pale Ale'' for export.
Samlesbury Engineering
Samlesbury Engineering was a subsidiary of the
Lancashire Aircraft Corporation
Lancashire Aircraft Corporation was a major British charter airline after World War II. Its founding father was Eric Rylands. It played an important role in the Berlin Airlift. It also flew scheduled routes and was important in the development ...
at
Warton which was chaired by
Sir Wavell Wakefield, later
Lord Wakefield of
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...
. The company specialised in bus manufacturing but was capable of high-quality engineering.
Their workshop, where the ill-fated
Bluebird K7
''Bluebird K7'' is a jet engined hydroplane which Britain's Donald Campbell set seven world water speed records between 1955 and 1967. ''K7'' was the first successful jet-powered hydroplane, and was considered revolutionary when launched i ...
was designed and built, was on the car park behind Samlesbury Hall. Bluebird K7 was the turbo jet-engined hydroplane in which
Donald Campbell
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
set seven world water speed records during the 1950s and in which he was killed on
Coniston Water
Coniston Water in the English county of Cumbria is the third-largest lake in the Lake District by volume (after Windermere and Ullswater), and the fifth-largest by area. It is five miles long by half a mile wide (8 km by 800 m), has ...
in 1967.
The Lancashire Aircraft Corporation, together with Samlesbury Engineering, eventually became part of what is now
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
, which today has a facility at
BAE Samlesbury
Samlesbury Aerodrome is a disused airfield at Balderstone, Lancashire, Balderstone near Samlesbury and Blackburn in Ribble Valley district of Lancashire. The aerodrome is owned by defence company BAE Systems which uses the site for the manufac ...
.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Samlesbury
Samlesbury is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Ribble district of Lancashire, England. It contains 22 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of thes ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Samlesbury at genuki.org
{{authority control
Villages in Lancashire
Aviation in Lancashire
Geography of South Ribble
Civil parishes in Lancashire