Page 32 - Discovery Guide

Clarion House, Newchurch in Pendle
Sabden © Graham Cooper
Pendle Hill
Downham is one of the prettiest villages in the area - quiet and unspoiled - with
a gurgling brook running past the village green and stone-built cottages. The church tower is a splendid example of 15th century architecture. Continue over the hill from Downham to reach Barley, which began as a farming community and developed as the textiles industry grew. It has a central car park and facilities, as well as the Cabin café and two pubs.
Newchurch clings to the southern slopes of Pendle Hill. The village is famous for St Mary’s church and its curious ‘eye of God’ on the tower, which watches over the village. The church was built in 1544 by the inhabitants of the five ‘booths’, of which Goldshaw Booth is now the village parish.
The word ‘booth’ is thought to come from the Norse word ‘but’ meaning dwelling place. Only the lower courses of the 16th century tower now remain;the rest of the ‘New’ church was rebuilt in 1735.
Sabden was a farming valley from the 13th century onwards, and you can
still see the remains of ‘vaccary walls’ from this time in some areas. From the 19th century the farms prospered as they supplied milk, wool and meat to
the nearby developing towns of East Lancashire. Sabden also developed its own industries, with calico printing, cotton spinning and weaving all taking place at the Union, Victoria and Cobden mills.
The village of Sabden is a great base to explore the Pendle Hill area.
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Walk:
l Churn Clough Easy Access Trail www.forestofbowland.com/ walking#61981607
www.forestof bowland.com
Highlight:
l From the Nick of Pendle explore ‘deerstones’ - a series of large millstone grit boulders supposedly showing the Devil’s footprints from when he jumped from Hameldon Hill to Pendle carrying an apron full of stones - hence ‘Apronful Hill’!