Trough of Bowland. Lancashire

john-e-big-guns

This area is my local play ground..love it

BikeyMikey1

Did the Trough there and back. I did have to stop a few times on the big hill but I refused to walk. Brilliant ride. Got home went to the local shops and fell off my bike in the park in front of two pensioners Still could have been worse, could have done it while I was going down the Trough at 48k! Only thing hurt was my pride.

oldnewbiker

A nice loop for the Trough is Bentham over Cross o greet and Tatham fells to Slaidburn on past Dunsop Bridge over the Trough and then through Caton and Wray back to Bentham ,there are lots of dufferent lanes around Jubilee Tower so you can make it anything between 45 /60 miles .Its fantastic cycling country.

Weejie54

Small correction, mind. Trough of Bowland, Lancashire? No. Bowland is in Yorkshire. The 1974 administrative boundary changes may deceive a few, but, if you get to the top of the climb, you'll see the boundary stone. The geographical borders have not changed.

It was part of Northumbria in the 7th century. It became part of the "Honor of Clitheroe" and then the Duchy of Lancaster for a few centuries after that.
Who cares? It was a place we went to as kids in the 50s and 60s and I wasn't much aware of county boundaries in those days.

maddog 2

The Trough is definitely in Lancashire, at least the climb we've been talking about (Boundary Fell), as is most of Tatham Fell (Cross of Greet)

Some of Bowland Knotts is Yorkshire though.

This is a map of Lancashire, with the border on.

see http://www.visitlancashire.com/xsdbimgs ... ireMap.pdf

Clarion

Wrong, for the reasons given above. The 1974 administrative boundary changes explicitly did not change the geographical boundaries. People do often make that mistake.

The Boundary Stone is still on the boundary. I can understand why Lancashire want to claim Bowland, though - it is very beautiful.

I should add that boundary changes made at other times may have different effects, such as the consolidation of Todmorden into Yorkshire in about 1869 (news still not got through to the Post Office) or the changes to Middlesex in about 1965.

maddog 2

maddog 2

This is interesting...

what's the difference is between administrative and geographical then?

Are you suggesting Dunsop Bridge and Slaidburn et al are in Yorkshire?

If Boundary Fell is on the Yorkshire border then where does the border encroach in from?

In other words, where is the geographical border and which towns are in and outside Lancashire?

Clarion

Yep. For administrative purposes, it is governed by LCC. Here's a link giving a proper geographical map (not much detail, I'm afraid ,but you should be able to make it out), and backing up the information (more details are available in Bradford, Michael, The Fight For Yorkshire, Hutton Press).

Map - http://www.chromavision.co.uk/yt/map.htm

Book - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FIGHT-YORKSHIRE-M ... 0302900674

Clarion

Barnoldswick, Dunsop Bridge, Slaidburn et al are all Yorkshire.

Pendle Hill is Lancashire, as is Clitheroe.

maddog 2

Nice one.

So it all depends on how you define Lancashire.

If it's the administrative region then the Trough is in

And it it's geographical/historical then it's half way in

mmm I suspect the administrative form has a stronger argument but I can see both angles

maddog 2

Clarion wrote:

Dunsop Bridge, Slaidburn et al are all Yorkshire.

but in the "Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunsop_Bridge

I wonder if the people in these places see themselves as Lancastrians or Yorkshiremen?

maddog 2

Good info Clarion

must do some work now....

Weejie54

what's the difference is between administrative and geographical then?

Time. All the counties were drawn for administrative purposes anyway. Whether in Norman times, Victorian times, 1974 or whatever.
Some folk got uppity in 1974 and the government had to reassure them they were still Yorkshire folk, Lancastrians, etc.
Geographically, there is probably as much diversity in the old Ridings of Yorkshire as there is in the whole of Britain.

Territorial claptrap. Counties, wapentakes, parishes - all get folk puffing out their breast feathers.

Clarion

This is quite close to home for me, as I was born in Craven (in the never-existing Borough of Stainecliffe, but that's another story/geographical item of interest), and West Craven was cut off, despite the protests of residents.

I don't suppose many people know or care. But it's still important to some of us. Technically, since the dissolution of the Metropolitan Borough Councils in the mid-80s, there has been no such thing as West or North Yorkshire, while the Ridings still exist. I was born in the West Riding, and went to college in the West Riding (Sheffield), but the 1974 changes would suggest that, far from both being in the same third of the same county, you would have had to travel from North Yorkshire, through West Yorkshire, and out the other side to get to South Yorkshire. Silly, really.

I can see the administrative purpose of the 1974 changes, but they don't affect what Yorkshire is.

If I remember the border correctly, The Inn At Whitewell is in Yorkshire, but the other bank of the river is Lancashire.

antfly

You're living in the past, it's all in Lancashire now and you're not having it back.

Clarion

Oh, we'll have it back. We've been around a long time; we can play a long game. You'll see.

Weejie54

"Kingdom of Northumbria around 800 AD."

They're all Geordies.

maddog 2

it's just come on the BBC website that they've found oil in Slaidburn

grab your pitchforks fellas

Clarion

*Proud Deiran*

Weejie54

*Proud Deiran*

I wouldn't like to be riding a Mercian bike around those parts.

dommccabe17

I grew up the little village Wray. I used to do this route regularly as a kid on my old 531 raleigh.
Park up in wray, head up past overhouses towards tatham then on up the moors and over the cross of greet. Head down past stocks reservoir to slaidburn. From there head on towards then over the trough of bowland and on towards quernmore (near lancaster.) then take the road for caton and from there back around to Wray.
Lots of climbing, beautiful views, fairly quiet roads and the riders you meet enroute will always wave

If you MTB there is a good blast on an old roman road from Roeburndale (a lung searing ride up the fells from Wray) to slaidburn. Then rideback around over the cross of greet.

Best avoided during grouse season though - some toff inbred might blast you with his purdeys!

Clarion

When I lived in Lancaster, I used to do bits of that route from the other end. Wonderful riding, if a bit tough in places.

man2wolf

Went for a walk (sacrilege, I know) yesterday around Beacon fell. Drove home via Chipping, Whitewell, Dunsop Bridge, Newton, Waddington, Clitheroe. Not been up that way before. Looks like really good cycling country. There seemed to be some kind of event on around there, possible sportive. Anybody know what it was?

jc4lab

dommccabe17 wrote:

I grew up the little village Wray. I used to do this route regularly as a kid on my old 531 raleigh.
Best avoided during grouse season though - some toff inbred might blast you with his purdeys!

Or you could get mugged by a scarecrow..
http://www.vrwray.com/scarecrow-map-2010/index.html

-

maddog 2

man2wolf wrote:

there seemed to be some kind of event on around there, possible sportive. Anybody know what it was?

Lancashire Loop was on. I wasn't doing it as I was elsewhere but here's the route.

http://www.cycle-route.com/routes/Lanca ... -3870.html

Clarion

Pendle Pedal is the other big one in the area. Wonderful cycling in Bowland - gentle pretty stuff in the valley and tough climbs out. It's no coincidence that Eddisford bridge by Clitheroe is a traditional honeypot for cyclists.