The Trough of Bowland is a valley and high pass in 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 thei ...

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 pass, reaching above sea level at the

head of the valley The head of the valley or, less commonly, the valley head, refers to the uppermost part of a valley.Leser (2005), p. 935. Description The head of a valley may take widely differing forms; for example, in highland regions the valley often ends i ...

, links to Wyresdale, dividing the upland core of Bowland into two main blocks. Though steep and narrow, the road is the most direct connection between Lancaster and

Dunsop Bridge Dunsop Bridge is a village in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, north-west of Clitheroe, south-east of Lancaster and west of Skipton. It is in the civil parish of Bowland Forest High. Historically, the village is part of the ...

, and hence

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 ...

. It was the route taken by 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 ...

" to their trial at

Lancaster Castle Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle and former prison in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but it may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of ...

in 1612. The Grey Stone of Trough, at the head of the pass, marks the line of the historic county boundary between Lancashire and the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. Historically, the Trough marked the westernmost boundary 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 ...

Definition

The Trough is scenic and popular with visitors, particularly walkers and cyclists, and it is sometimes considered synonymous with the Forest of Bowland as a whole. However, it is only a small part of the wider

at . The

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indicates the ''Trough of Bowland'' to be solely the steep upper valley of Losterdale Brook above Trough Barn. However, the generally used definition includes: * the main valleys of Langden Brook and its tributaries, as far as Dunsop Bridge, * on the Wyresdale side of the pass, the moorland and wooded valley of Trough Beck as far as Trough Bridge; most reasonably extend the western 'boundary' to encompass the rest of the wooded headwater valley of the Wyre as far as Marshaw.

Land usage

The Trough is very sparsely populated: there are only two farms on the Langden side (Sykes and Hareden), and, in Wyresdale, the small community of Marshaw. All feature Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s. Evidence of past industrial use remains in the form of a disused roadside

lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is :Calcium carbonate, Ca ...

and several quarry scars. What is believed to be the former location of the Sykes Smelt Mill is now the headquarters of the Bowland Pennine

Mountain Rescue Team Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with tec ...

. Water is abstracted from the main streams of the Trough to supply the city of Preston. Water intakes were built at the mouths of Hareden, Losterdale and Langden Brooks in the 1920s, linked by a series of aqueducts to the Alston Reservoirs near

Longridge Longridge is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long ridge above the River Ribble. Its nearest neigh ...

. The water intakes are now operated by

United Utilities United Utilities Group plc (UU), the United Kingdom's largest listed water company, was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West Englan ...

from their office at Stocks board house

References

External links

* {{coord, 53.969214, N, 2.570829, W, region:GB-LAN_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Forest of Bowland Geography of Ribble Valley Geography of the City of Lancaster Mountain passes of England Landforms of Lancashire Lime kilns in the United Kingdom