Drive and Stroll, with Ron Freethy: Historic Colne, inspired by a blockbuster

WATCHING the film Titanic on Christmas Day helped me to plan this walk.

I began in Colne and the climbed steeply up to the old Iron Age Fort at Castercliffe before descending once more to Bonnie Colne up the Hill with Pendle nestling at its feet.

Until the filming of Titanic, Colne's hero had disappeared into history. Colne's former library has now become a Unitarian Chapel but there is a mini-history lesson lurking in its front garden about half-way up the steeply sloping Albert Road, the town's main thoroughfare.

Here is one of the early gas lamps which illuminated Victorian Colne and also the foundation stone of the Cloth Hill which controlled the woollen trade of the town before textile mills sprouted and cotton became king.

The most evocative feature, however, is a memorial bust to local man Wallace Hartley who was the bandmaster on board the Titanic. She sank on April 15, 1912, with the loss of 1,490 lives. As she slipped beneath the waves it was Wallace who struck up the tune "Nearer My God to Thee" and whose bravery touched the heart of the nation.

The industrial revolution did not obliterate the history of Colne. Explore the medieval church and in the grounds of this architectural gem is the wonderful old schoolhouse which was the town's Grammar School until the 20th Century.

From the church look out towards Pendle Hill whilst in the opposite direction stands the almost ignored upland area known as Cartercliffe. This was certainly an Iron Age Fort and which almost certainly was taken over by the Romans. If such an archeological gem was in southern England it would have been given a lottery grant in order to unearth its secrets in a sensitive manner.

We have all hear the song "I'll Take The High Road and You Take The Low Road" but in the 18th Century this had real meaning.

Once trade evolved along the Lancashire valleys large areas were drained and straight roads were built for coaches. Prior to that time packhorses avoided the boggy areas and literally trekked up hill and down dale.

I followed the old road and gasped for breath and had frequent rests as I reached the summit of Castercliffe. From there I looked down on Colne and kept the cold at bay by drinking my flask of hot coffee and had a breakfast composed of Christmas cake and cheese. This is my favourite way to enjoy Christmas cake -- I'm always far too full to enjoy it until well into January.

There is no doubt that Castercliffe is always atmospheric especially when its summit is crowded with birds such as lapwings, golden plover and on the day of my stroll a little owl created havoc by charging headlong into a flock of starlings. The slowest bird soon became the owl's breakfast!

The descent into Colne was full of interest with fieldfares feeding on the remains of hawthorn berries and rosehips. A weasel crossed the road in front of me and a group of eight partridges lifted from a field, their wings making a loud cracking sound as they headed off downhill.

Church bells blended with the sound of birds and I was left thinking that the winter days are so magnificent and yet we have too few hours of daylight that not a minute must be wasted.

For people who fell miserable I would ask them to spare a thought for Wallace Hartley way back in 1912. How excited he must have been to land this wonderful job as music master on the greatest ship ever built. And then came the iceberg! Let Colne not forget one of its bravest sons.