MANY a visitor to Worsthorne has been perplexed by this curiosity on one of the village's 19th-century terrace houses.

The Red Man is a sign built into the front of a house on Ormerod Street.

Above the figure of the colourfully clad character are the words 'The Original Red Man'. The date 1876 is engraved below.

Even some of the village's oldest residents do not know the story behind the oddity. Rumours abound of just what the sign could signify. But the definitive explanation is contained in a new book by two Worsthorne parish councillors, Alan Lawson and Bob Pinder.

Worsthorne Village Trail is a visitors' guide to 50 of the area's most interesting features.

According to Alan and Bob, two popular theories about the Red Man are false. Although it looks a little like a pub sign, there are no records of an inn at the address. And, although the Red Man is wearing a 19th-century post boy's uniform, the house had nothing to do with the mail service.

"The truth is more amusing," say the authors. "Back in the 1860s this row of houses was built by Mr Frank Redman and the figure is a pun on his name."

The publisher, Briercliffe's Roger Frost, said: "To date there has been very little published on the history of Worsthorne and this publication will be of interest not only to residents of the village but also to the many visitors who pass through it on their way to Hurstwood."

ZWorsthorne Village Trail is £2.25 from Burnley Central Library and shops in the village.

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