Official town trail launched

The project, spearheaded by the Brierfield Action in the Community charity and students from Marsden Heights Community College, highlights landmarks such as Brierfield Mill, the old fire station, churches and a mosque.

A noticeboard which marks out the route was unveiled by the mayors of Brierfield and Pendle, Cllr Nawaz Ahmed and Cllr David Brown, at the town hall earlier this week.

The charity, supported by not-for-profit group Participation Works North West, won a Heritage Lottery Grant of £4,950 last October to fund the noticeboard and information leaflets for walkers visiting the old textile mill town.

Pauline Allen, founder member and director of Brierfield Action in the Community, said it was important for the town's residents not to forget its history.

She said: "I think it is absolutely super. We have the leaflets all ready to go and the board itself looks lovely. It's very clear and open I think it is really interesting.

"I moved to Brierfield from Burnley in 1989. My husband is from Colne so we knew the area relatively well, but the history of a place is very personal to it.

"Even though we have lived here a long time, there were still some really interesting things on there that we didn't know."

It is hoped that the trail will boost the town's tourism offering for walkers visiting the area.

A spokesman for the project said: "The group believes that the Brierfield Town Trail highlights a shared history between different faith communities and backgrounds, one that enabled Brierfield to grow and thrive due to some devout religious men and a vision that brought the cotton textile industry, along with better transport links to Brierfield."

The trail takes in Brierfield Town Hall, the old fire station, the Primitive Methodist Chapel and Sunday School, Brierfield Baptist Church, St Luke's CE Church, the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, the Smith and Nephew buildings at Brierfield Mill and Jamia Mosque Sultania.