| Slaidburn | |
The 'Hark to Bounty', Slaidburn |
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Slaidburn
Slaidburn shown within Lancashire |
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| Population | 288 (2001 Census) |
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| OS grid reference | SD715525 |
| District | Ribble Valley |
| Shire county | Lancashire |
| Region | North West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CLITHEROE |
| Postcode district | BB7 |
| Dialling code | 01200 |
| Police | Lancashire |
| Fire | Lancashire |
| Ambulance | North West |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament | Ribble Valley |
| List of places: UK • England • Lancashire | |
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. With a population in 2001 of just under 300, it covers just over 5000 acres of the Forest of Bowland.[1] Historically, a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Slaidburn lies near the head of the River Hodder and Stocks Reservoir, both within the Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Farming is still a major employer, but the area attracts tourists; for walking in particular. The civil parish of Slaidburn shares a parish council with Easington, a rural parish to the north of Slaidburn.[2]
The parish church of St Andrew has a superb Jacobean screen and a fine Georgian pulpit. The brass band composer William Rimmer (1862–1936) composed the now-popular march, named Slaidburn after the village, for the Slaidburn Silver Band. A new village hall has opened to much fanfare and is being well used.[3] There is a local pub, The Hark To Bounty, which upstairs houses the ancient halmote or courthouse of the Manor of Slaidburn [4]
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From early times, the Manor of Slaidburn formed part of the ancient Lordship of Bowland, being held in demesne from the second half of the fourteenth century.
The Lordship of Bowland comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km2) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram (Bowland-with-Leagram), Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby).
There was a major manorial reorganisation of Bowland in the second half of the fourteenth century, which may have been preciptated by a fall in population caused by the Black Death (1348–50) but was probably also a consequence of the absorption of Bowland into the Duchy of Lancaster. Among other changes, this saw Newton subsumed into the demesne of Slaidburn and the manorial caput shift from Grindleton to Slaidburn.[5]
Two of the Lord of Bowland's mesne manors - Battersby (Dunnow) and Knowlmere - fell within the bounds of the township of Newton but did not become part of the demesne of Slaidburn. See Newton-in-Bowland for further information.
According to a leading local historian, the historic Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn covered a wide area, not equivalent to the Slaidburn parish boundaries, but comprising the villages and town fields of Slaidburn and Newton-in-Bowland, including Ingbreak, a town field to the west of Slaidburn village; Raw Moor, part of the enclosed land of 1619 north of Slaidburn village in the Croasdale area; Brunghill Moor, Burn Moor and Dunsop, also enclosed in 1619 and near Back Lane and Burn Hill; Champion, also enclosed in 1619 and to the east of Slaidburn village; Woodhouse, to the north west of Slaidburn village; Youlstone Wood, also enclosed in 1619, and to the south of Newton village; and most of West Bradford and Grindleton villages and their town fields.[6]
Title to the Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn, West Bradford and Grindleton, including the township of Newton-in-Bowland, was bought by Tory MP, Ralph Assheton, later first Baron Clitheroe, in 1950.[7] In 1977, his second son, the Hon Nicholas Assheton, was granted title.[8] Since 2003, the Lord of the Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn has been Thomas Assheton, son of the Hon Nicholas Assheton and nephew of the second Baron Clitheroe.[9] Steward to the Manor of Slaidburn is Michael Parkinson. Parkinson, a land agent and chartered surveyor with Clitheroe firm Ingham & Yorke, also serves the Lord of Bowland as his Chief Steward of the Forest of Bowland.[10][11]
The Roman road known as Watling Street, that runs from Manchester via Ribchester to Carlisle, passes in a NNE direction to the west of the village before turning NW on Low Fell. This section is also known as the Hornby Road.
The River Hodder flows through the parish, joined by Croasdale Brook on the eastern edge of the village.
The historic parish of Slaidburn comprised the townships of Bowland Forest High, Easington, Newton, and Slaidburn itself.[12]
The church of St Andrew was built in the Perpendicular style: the powerful stone tower contrastes with the long, low, rendered walls of the nave and aisles. There is a fine interior with a great variety of pews ranging in date from the 17th to the 19th century. The font-cover is Elizabethan, the screen Jacobean and the three-decker pulpit is Georgian.[13] Since 1954, it has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.[14]