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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. It is in the

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...

district and at the United Kingdom 2001 census had a population of 156. The 2011 Census includes neighbouring Twiston giving a total for both parishes of 214. The village is on the north side of Pendle Hill 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 parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, 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 to ...

. 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 (however ro ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

(AONB). It adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of Rimington, Twiston, Worston,

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 of ...

and Sawley, and the Pendle parish of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth.

History

The manor was originally granted to the de Dinelay family in the fourteenth century by Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. It ceased to be a part of the Honour of Clitheroe in 1558 when it was purchased by the Assheton family. It still remains in Assheton ownership today but was reincorporated into the Honour of Clitheroe 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, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

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 channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

series '' Born and Bred'', set in the fictional village of Ormston, was also filmed in the village. The 2012 BBC drama '' The Secret of Crickley Hall'' was also filmed in and around Downham.

Governance

Downham was once a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

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 of

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 Pendle Hill 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