Aug 2008

Sun 31 Aug 2008

Local field walk - Botany and Limbrick, Chorley.

Our final field walk of the season was Botany and Limbrick, lead by Joan Dickinson. We started at the canal bridge at Botany which used to be a busy industrial area as the canal reached here in the 1790s, giving Chorley its industrial link to Wigan and the Liverpool area. The area is still known as Botany and when the canal arrived it was called Botany Bay. After the canal arrived the railway came in 1869 and the embankment can still be seen, though the arches carrying it over the canal were demolished in the 1960s when the M61 was built.

Group photo near Bagganley Lane.

Cowling Mill

We walked along Bagganley Lane then along the footpath to the buildings which were the former Lower Healey Bleachworks. Crossing over the M61 motorway we came to the site of a former Internment Camp which existed in the 1940s. We joined the Leeds and Liverpool canal and walked along the towpath to Crosse Hall where an old photograph of the buildings was compared to how things looked today. Rejoining the canal we walked to Cowling and down the road to Cowling Mill which was built in 1906.

We walked along the little know Crosse Hall Street, under the canal, and up to re-join Crosse Hall Lane. Back over the canal bridge we puzzled at the road name of Howarth Road leading to the new residential development being built to the east of the canal. Joan subsequently did some investigations and found reference to a T. Howarth of Progress Mill, Seymour St.

An interesting Edward VII post box on Eaves Lane.

Eaves Lane Building. The former Co-Op.
Chorley Co-Operative Society Branch No 7.

We reached Eaves Lane and walked north to look at the site of the former Workhouse where the original iron railings with an 1871 date still visible on the castings. At Bagganley Lane we walked back down to the canal where the Talbot Mill used to be and returned to Botany along the canal towpath.

Tue12 Aug 2008

Darren Cranshaw - The Brindle Estate and the Cavendish Family

Darren Cranshaw, the Archivist of Brindle Historical Society, visited us for the first time to present his lavishly illustrated history of the Brindle Estate and Cavendish Family.
The documented history of the Brindle area goes back many centuries. The Lancashire Record Office in Preston has 14 boxes of catalogued information in connection with it. Thomas de Burnul held lands here in the reign of Henry III (1207 – 1272) who came to the throne in 1216, reigning for 56 years.

The next monarch was Edward I and the estate then passed with Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir Peter de Bryn of Brynhill, to William Gerard Esq. The Gerard family owned large estates other than Brindle. In 1513 Sir Thomas Gerard was said to lead Brindle tenants and archers at the Battle of Flodden where the English defeated the invading Scots at Flodden Field in Northumberland. In 1547 the Cavendish family entered the picture through marriage. However, it appears that William Cavendish (1505-1557) may have seized the estate.

Chatsworth House now enters the picture being the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, whose family name is Cavendish. It is also worth noting that over the centuries the landlords have been mostly absent. In 1611 William Senior surveyed the Earl of Devonshire’s estates and a wonderful map of brindle survives. It compares well with today’s map. In the 1840s part of the estate was sold. The current owner is Miss Ruth Aspinall who had given a lot of assistance in the area, helping with the funding of the village school and also the rebuilding of the village institute.

Sat 02 Aug 2008

Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society
4^th annual ‘Celebration of Family History’ at Astley Hall, Chorley.

It was a wonderful sunny day and in spite of that over 400 people visited the Hall and its dark interiors. Hopefully most were there to see the displays by the many groups who put on displays. The Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society stand was manned by Joan and Boyd and lot of interest was shown. The pile of sheets showing our programme of events was gone by the end of the day.

Astley Hall, Chorley

The Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society display.

The Drawing Room, Astley Hall.