Clitheroe, The Castle 1927

Photo ref: 80535

More about this scene

The Inner Keep is on the right, with holes knocked into its 9ft-thick walls. It is the smallest Norman keep in England, and last saw action at the end of the Civil War, when Colonel Ashton's forces barricaded themselves in the castle demanding the pay that was owed them. Parliament had the castle and its chapel dismantled, so that no-one could ever defy the Commonwealth again. The buildings on the left date from c1725, when the Crown owned the castle; it is now a museum of Ribble life. The North-West Sound Archives are also based here, which do marvellous work recording people talking of their lives. Roger de Pictou was granted the land between the Mersey and the Ribble, but he soon fell out of favour; Ilbert de Lacy built the castle - he was given the land from here to Pontefract. The last of the family was hung for treason to the Crown. It has been the property of the Duke of Albermarle, the Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. This last family formed the Clitheroe Castle Estate Ltd in order to sell the castle and all the feudal rights which went with it to the people of Clitheroe. In 1919, amid the pain and sadness after the First World War, the people of Clitheroe raised £15,000 to buy the Castle and its grounds, and a Garden of Remembrance was laid out. The statue of the soldier with his rifle upside-down was put up shortly afterwards.

An extract from Heart of Lancashire Photographic Memories.