Tag Archives: #Towneley

Autumn Days when the Grass is Jewelled

(Excerpt) Autumn brings with it many sensory delights; sounds, tastes and sights unique to the season, yet it does not arrive with a single scent but instead with a layered, shifting perfume that settles into the hedgerows, woodlands, and wet country lanes.

Unnatural Histories; Burnley’s Boggarts

Lancashire’s misty moors and ancient lanes are inhabited by all sorts of weird and eldritch beings; witches, spectral dogs and highwaymen have haunted these parts for centuries. Yet few of these mythical entities evoke as much intrigue and trepidation as the boggart.

The Common Field Grasshopper

The chirping of grasshoppers is a familiar sound in the British countryside during the summer months and certainly contributing its song to this chorus is the Common Field Grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, which is one of our most common and widespread grasshopper species. Its scientific name is rare in being perfectly descriptive of the creature, (youContinue reading “The Common Field Grasshopper”

Downham Hall

Downham Hall is the home of the Assheton family who own Downham estate, it was designed by architect George Webster in 1835 and built on the foundations of and with stone from an earlier sixteenth century hall. It was rebuilt in a simple, classical style compared to other buildings that George Webster designed in orderContinue reading “Downham Hall”

Bridges over the River Hodder, Part One; The Bowland Main

The Aqueduct carrying the Bowland Main was designed by the civil engineer William Booth Bryan for the Blackburn corporation and opened in 1882. It carries water from the Brennand and Whitendale rivers to Fishmoor reservoir above Blackburn in Lancashire. A section of the aqueduct is visible near Dunsop Bridge where it crosses the river Hodder,Continue reading “Bridges over the River Hodder, Part One; The Bowland Main”