Downham 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 authorit ...

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 Lancas ...

, England. It is 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 Clith ...

district and at the

United Kingdom 2001 census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

had a population of 156. The 2011 Census includes neighbouring

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 p ...

giving a total for both parishes of 214. The village is on the north side of

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 ...

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 ...

about from

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 ...

. Much of the parish, including the village is part of 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 (howe ...

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). It adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of

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 ...

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 200 ...

Chatburn Chatburn is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Ribble Valley, East Lancashire, 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, just off t ...

and Sawley, and the Pendle parish of

Barley-with-Wheatley Booth Barley-with-Wheatley Booth is a civil parish in the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. It has a population of 298, and contains the village of Barley and the hamlet of White Hough or Whitehough (). To the west of Barley is Pendle Hill; ...

History

The manor was originally granted to the de Dinelay family in the fourteenth century by

Henry of Grosmont Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster (– 23 March 1361) was an English statesman, diplomat, soldier, and Christian writer. The owner of Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, Grosmont was a member of the House of Plantagenet, which was ruling ov ...

, 1st Duke of Lancaster. It ceased to be a part of the

Honour of Clitheroe The Honour of Clitheroe is an ancient grouping of manors and royal forests centred on Clitheroe Castle in Lancashire, England; an honour traditionally being the grant of a large landholding complex, not all of whose parts are contiguous. In th ...

in 1558 when it was purchased by the Assheton family. It still remains in Assheton ownership today but was reincorporated into the

in 1945 when Ralph Assheton, later 1st Baron Clitheroe, bought the remnants of the Honour from the administrators of the Clitheroe Estate Company. The 2nd Lord Clitheroe does not allow overhead electricity lines, aerials or satellite dishes, making the village a popular location for filming

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

s. Downham was one of the locations used in the 1961 film '' Whistle Down the Wind'', and the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

series ''

Born and Bred ''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a ...

'', set in the fictional village of Ormston, was also filmed in the village. The 2012 BBC drama ''

The Secret Of Crickley Hall ''The Secret of Crickley Hall'' is a 2006 supernatural thriller novel by the British writer James Herbert. Synopsis 2006 Gabe Caleigh, his wife Eve, and their children, Loren, Cameron and Cally, live in London. One day Cameron goes missing ...

'' was also filmed in and around Downham.

Governance

Downham 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, ...

in the ancient parish of Whalley. This became a

in 1866, forming part of the Clitheroe Rural District from 1894 till 1974. Along with Chatburn and Twiston, the parish makes up the

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.

Media gallery

File:Parish Church of St Leonard, Downham - geograph.org.uk - 410970.jpg, St Leonard's Church File:School, Downham.jpg, Former Downham School with

in the background File:Downham Hall - geograph.org.uk - 67362.jpg, Downham Hall File:Downham Green - geograph.org.uk - 1583737.jpg, Downham Green File:The Assheton Arms, Downham - geograph.org.uk - 538018.jpg, The Assheton Arms File:General views of houses at Downham - geograph.org.uk - 1052837.jpg, A view of the village with the Lidgett House in the background

References

External links

Downham Parish Meeting (Lancashire Parish Portal)
* ttps://www.ribblevalley.gov.uk/downloads/file/3683/downham_conservation_area_appraisal Downham Conservation Area Appraisalbr>Downham search results at Historic England's Pastscape sitepp552-58 of The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster Vol 6
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of Ribble Valley Forest of Bowland

History

Governance

Media gallery

See also

References

External links