Drive & Stroll, with RON FREETHY - this week, Chingle Hall

LAST week I was asked to give a lecture in Goosnargh and what a joy I discovered. This is a haunting and historical village -- literally.

The day dawned warm and bright with daisies, dandelions and celandines adding lots of wonderful colour. Common flowers look really beautiful when they are blooming in large numbers.

I spent some time enjoying the village green. The name Goosnargh is Scandinavian and means a goose-field. This was obviously the traditional use of this open space.

After my talk I followed Church Lane and close to the B5269 is Chingle Hall. This looked beautiful in the summer sunshine and belied the reputation that Chingle is the most haunted building in Britain.

It is thought that in the reign of Charles I a Franciscan monk called John Wall was executed for his faith. He was hung drawn and quartered by Protestants but nobody knew where his head was buried, although all the other grizzly bits were accounted for. It is thought that his head is within the masonry of the hall and they believe that he is still trying to get out.

The marked footpath passes through Fernyhalgh and then circles back to Goosnargh. In 1384 a rich merchant was facing the ravages of a storm and he vowed that should he survive he would build a shrine.

He erected a chapel around a healing well at Fernyhalgh.Thankfully some modern-day pilgrims still find physical and mental stimulation by splashing themselves with water from the healing well. When I reached the village the sun was still shining and the majestic old sundial in the churchyard was working.

The precise date of the church of St Mary the Virgin has been open to debate but it has a Christian history dating back prior to the Norman Conquest. The church structure may date to around 1260, which is also the date of Chingle Hall. What is certain is that much of the church dates to the 14th century.

I strolled around the churchyard which was gleaming with the blooms of lesser celandine and a blackbird sang from a hedgerow. On a trickling stream running alongside a marked footpath I found a pair of displaying grey wagtails. From the churchyard I could also see what appeared to be a manor house.

Bushell House was in fact built around 1750 as a hospital for men and women in need of help.

The impressive building has been enlarged on at least three occasions since but it still serves the same function as on the day it opened.

Any village needs a green, a splendid old house and a church of noble proportions. It also needs a historic pub serving ales, wines and spirits (excluding poor old Father John Wall). Goosnargh has two pubs with the Grapes on the church side of the road and the Bushell Arms on the opposite side.

It is hard to imagine a more peaceful village than Goosnargh, not to mention the glorious countryside which surrounds it and makes walking such a pleasure.

Things have not always been so peaceful -- take 1648 for example. While building up to the battle of Preston, some of Cromwell's soldiers are said to have stabled their horses in the church.

Until 1952 historians disputed that Goosnargh and Cromwell were associated. Then an iron box was found in the church archives. When it was opened letters were found and one was signed by, guess who? None other than Oliver Cromwell.

Few people realise that Preston was the final battle of the Civil War. Soldiers from all over Lancashire, including East Lancashire, headed towards Preston.

I enjoyed giving my lecture but the added bonus was the discovery of a wonderful stroll which has now been added to my list of favourites.

Getting there: From the M6 Motorway turn off at junction 32 and follow the Garstang road just for a short distance. At Broughton traffic lights turn right on the B8269 to Goosnargh. A left turn leads into the heart of the old village.