The good, the bad and the brave!

FAR too often people refer to a line in an old poem which mentions "Bonnie Colne on the hill" and then spoil it by saying that it is just "another textile town," whatever that is supposed to mean!

Actually there was an iron age settlement above Colne and Castercliffe was later used by the Romans; it was famous for textiles (wool and linen) by the time its first market charter was granted in 1296.

By this time the splendid church of St Bartholomew was already maturing nicely. It was consecrated in 1122 and set on a hill with Colne Water on one side and Wanless Water on the other.

Colne, like all towns, is best explored on foot and the car parking is usually adequate. The only traffic problem these days has been caused by the M65 coming to an abrupt end on the outskirts of the town and causing an inevitable bottleneck.

The church is a joy both inside and out and visitors should look out for a cube-shaped sundial above the porch and also take time to explore the old Grammar School which was founded in 1640 and situated to the right of the church.

Inside are some magnificent pillars which most historians think are the original Norman structures and there is also some fine Tudor woodwork. There are a number of impressive hatchments celebrating the lives of the Emmott family of Emmott Hall and the Cunliffes of nearby Wycoller, now one of Lancashire's finest country parks.

No account of Colne, however, would be complete without reference to three (probably unrelated) chaps named Hartley. One was good, one was a hero and the other an absolute rotter!

Sir William Pickles Hartley was born in Colne in 1846 and was educated at the Grammar School. He started work at the age of 15 in his mother's grocery store, but soon began making wonderful jam

His fame spread and he established a world famous factory in Liverpool and made himself a fortune in the process.

Like many Victorians he was generous with his brass and the Hartley Homes which he founded still stand in all their glory on Keighley Road and on the left just before the turn off to Wycoller at Laneshawbridge. The Hartleys also endowed a hospital situated nearby. The Homes are a collection of Alms Houses opened in 1911.

The hero was the unrelated Wallace Hartley, a former bank clerk who later became the band leader aboard the ill-fated Titanic. It was Wallace in 1912 who conducted "Nearer My God To Thee" as the liner slipped beneath the waves with a loss of more than one thousand lives.

Now we come to the rotter who let down the Hartley name but at least he came first so that the other two were able to make amends. Christopher Hartley poisoned Hannah Corbridge, his pregnant girlfriend, and then decapitated her.

This was in 1789 and strangely this was the year of the French Revolution when cutting heads off seemed to be in fashion!

Christopher lived in the Laneshawbridge area and he buried Hannah near Barnside Hall close to Laneshawbridge, but now long demolished. For many years local folk told of ghostly sightings in the area which only disappeared following an exorcism.

These days Laneshawbridge is a pleasant spot and just beyond Carriers Row, a super footpath leads alongside streams and across fields to Wycoller.

This is the place in spring to listen to skylarks, lapwings and meadow pipits and later the fields abound with mayflower and water mint.

I hope these few notes will confirm that Colne is set on a hill and that it is still also "reet Bonny".

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