Drive and Stroll with Ron Freethy

THE other day I read a short passage in a national newspaper which described Colne as "just another cotton town."

Just another cotton town indeed!

All our East Lancashire towns are different and each has a history dating back to long before the Industrial Revolution.

This is particularly the case with Colne.

The people of Colne were probably spinning and weaving before written records began and the atmospheric hill of Castercliffe was once an Iron Age fort and later a Roman signal station.

Colne had a market charter by 1296 but by this time the parish church was well established.

Built in 1122, St Bartholomew's was sited on top of a ridge with Wanless Water on one side and Colne Water on the other. The original settlement was indeed, as the song says, Bonny Colne Upon The Hill.

In 1640 a grammar school was built in the churchyard and this lovely old building still stands.

The surname Hartley is still common in the area and three men of that name are famous in the annals of Colne for three very contrasting reasons.

One was a philanthropist, another was a hero and the third was one of blackest villains in the history of Colne.

Sir William Pickles Hartley was born in Colne in 1846, was educated at the grammar school until he was 15 and then helped his mother with her grocery business.

William became a famous jam maker and sold this business for a handsome profit.

He then made a great success of his fruit preserving factory in Liverpool. His generosity was demonstrated not only in Lancashire but in many parts of the world.

He built the Hartley Homes in 1911 on the lines of medieval alms houses and these still stand today on Keighley Road on the approach to Lancaster Bridge.

The hero was a former bank clerk called Wallace Hartley whose love of music led to his appointment as bandmaster on the ill-fated Titanic.

In 1912 it was Hartley of Colne who bravely conducted the playing of Nearer My God to Thee as the vessel slid beneath the icy waves.

Christopher Hartley lived at Barnside and was a real thug.

First he poisoned his pregnant girlfriend and then almost cut off her head.

In 1789 he paid the penalty but when Barnside residents began to feel the presence of Hannah's ghost and stones of the hall began to "ooze blood" something had to be done.

A Catholic priest performed an exorcism and all was peaceful thereafter.

Colne is still a pleasant spot with plenty of parking and lots of places to walk.

A walk through the streets of old Colne is well worth it, while those who want to walk in the countryside have a wide choice.

Stroll up and over Castercliffe, down to the canal at Foulridge or follow the network of footpaths around Trawden, Laneshawbridge and Wycoller.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.