During the afternoon attended the closing ceremony of the
Chorley Heritage Events in Chorley Town Hall

Lancastrian Suit, Chorley Town Hall.

Central lift and stairwell, Chorley Town Hall.

Sunny bike ride through Belmont.

New telegraph pole outside our house

Homeward bound.
Waverley Railway Station, Edinburgh

Bamburgh Castle on a misty morning.

Falling tide at the Lindisfarne causeway to Holy Island

Warning to those crossing on a rising tide

Berwick upon Tweed old bridge and sundial.

Holy Island causeway just before I cycled across.

I camped at Chapel Point by Skateraw Harbour. Across the harbour to the south is Torness Nuclear Power Station. The memorial cross is to the boys of St Giles - later Canongate-Boys Club, Edinburgh. It  was re-erected here in 1980 and dedicated by The Very Rev. Dr Ronald Selby Wright C.V.O, The founder warden 1927-1978
In memory of
David Adams RAF aged 21
William Brown Lt BY aged 23
Jack Cooper RAOC aged 22
Jimmie Dalgleish MM RHA aged 23
Jim Stewart RAF aged 19
Jim Stobbie RN aged 19
Who loved to camp here and gave their lives that others too might love it.

Durham Cathedral

Inside the cathedral I took out my camera and was told photography wasn't allowed. When I asked why I was told it was intrusive. There was hardly anyone around. I wandered away from the impressive nave and found this quiet room with nobody about

I returned to the nave and was again told not to take photos. After explaining how I'd cycled a long way and how there were few people about I was allowed to take this image.

After Durham I visited Finchale Priory. The cafe was open and I was getting hungry. They called this tray of chips a chip butty. It is a tray of chips and a piece of bread at either end.

This is the first time I've visited the wonderful 'Angel of the North' by Anthony Gormley.

The adjacent information board revealed how deep the foundations go.

Wide view at Seaton Sluice

Lazonby Railway Station. Start of my cycle ride across England and north to Scotland.

Seen outside a house in Nenthead, Cumbria.

The Open Heritage Weekend events continued and today I joined a guided tour of Rivington village in the pouring rain. One stop was at the Rivington Unitarian Chapel. It dates from 1703.

Rivington Unitarian Chapel interior showing the box-pews

In the graveyard area several stone door lintels recovered from various properties that were demolished and submerged when the nearby reservoirs were constructed in the mid 1800s. This one is:

I
16 I R 98

Which is apparently to James and Rebecca Isherwood of Ainsworth’s (later Wood’s) Farm. Though I'm puzzled by James being depicted by what looks like an 'I'
The lintel pictures were taken on Tue 17 Sep 13 when I called in on a bike ride.

Part of the week end's Open Heritage visits was to Chorley Unitarian Chapel. Doreen Jolly gave an excellent presentation of historical memorabilia in the Unitarian Chapel on Park Street Chorley. Along with the display Doreen described some of her recent historical researches which each year add more information to the wonderful history of the Church.

On this day in 1752 Great Britain changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. This meant that Wed 2nd Sep 1752 was followed by Thu 14th Sep 1752.
 

During the morning I walked over the 3 summits of Quinag in the mist. This photo was taken on the descent just as I got below the clouds.

Misty Quinag

Ardvreck Castle was built around 1590 by the Clan MacLeod family. Nearby is Calda House, also near the shore of  Loch Assynt. It was built in 1726 but burnt down in mysterious circumstances in 1737.

Ardvrek Castle & Quinag in the distance

Calda House

Calda House as it was in 1737.

1883 Gratitude and Respect

This stone feature, built in 1886,
was originally located at the road junction
and housed a clock. It was moved to this location
in 1993 when the Village Square was
upgraded. George Whyte of Sangomore,
the local stonemason, was reputedly never
paid for the construction of the clock tower
as the hoped for public subscription
never materialised!
 

No payment for the stonemason

I couldn't enjoy it because it was locked!

The Loo at the Light

The Lighthouse from a windswept coast

Misty view of the Old Man of Stoer

I was out for a bike ride this morning and was delighted to see several bikes parked along the fence by Railway Park in Brinscall. There were no cyclists to be seen but a quick look through the window of the cottage tearoom opposite solved the mystery. It reminded me of my cycling club days in the mid 60s with the Ribble Valley Cycle Club when we’d head off to distant villages and enjoy large mugs of tea in local cafes.

As I approached home I called to see my good friend Jack. He is a keen local historian and I had some information for him. I noticed a wonderful portrait on his living room wall that a local artist had painted. It was portrait of Jack painted for his 80th birthday. It is a devastatingly accurate likeness.

The ‘Road Closed’ sign on Moor Road in incomplete and incorrect. Considering they’ve closed it for 16 weeks from 27th Aug 2013 I’d have though more information would be useful. The sign doesn’t say where the road is closed and doesn’t say it isn’t closed to pedestrians and cyclists.

At the rear (NW) side of Chorley St Laurence Parish Church is one of its old entrances. It is also the bottom of Hollinshead Street and was once the main road into Chorley. When the large house opposite was converted to the ‘Swan with Two necks’ pub the area was made into walls and tables. The pub closed over a year ago and the area now resembles a rubbish dump. It is just a stones throw away from the Town Hall.

While on a cycle ride from White Coppice to Anglezarke I saw a sign saying ‘Road Closed ahead’ What annoys me is they don’t tell you where the closure is. It wasn’t closed to pedestrians or cyclist but they were too lazy to bother to tell anyone that. Being on a bike I ignored the sign and found security barriers on the Anglezarke Reservoir dam where a machine was digging the embankment.

On the old road from Nenthead to Mid Ashgill is this Telephone Call Box. There is no phone inside and no mobile phone signal. What’s that all about?

At 1pm I arrived at Withnell Fold Sports and Social Club by the Cricket Field for their monthly walk.
15 walkers headed though Withnell Fold village and down to the canal bank where we turned right and headed towards Hoghton. Our first brief stop was on the canal bank adjacent to the detached house of Silverwood. To locals of Withnell Fold it has always been known as the Gasworks as that is what it was build as by Withnell Council around 1907 to provide gas to the area. It ceased to be used as a gasworks many decades ago, probably in the 1940s and from then on was a private dwelling. The old brick retorts were removed in the 1960s and the house has been considerable improved since then. Remnants of the coal loading wharf is still visible along the towpath as some iron mooring rings can still be seen.
In less than a mile the walkers crossed the bridge over the canal and headed up the ancient grass track-way known as ‘Whave’s Lane’.
Its history goes back many centuries and it predates the Leeds and Liverpool canal below which was opened in 1816. The Hoghton Manor Court Records make reference to it on 22 April 1675 and it states:
“It is ordered by this Jury the inhabitants of Olurton shall well & suffiently scoure all & everie or theare pportionable parts of the wheave [whave] lying betwixt Widow Livesey & Olurton Wheave before the 24 day of June next in payne of VJs VIIJd [six shillings and sixpence].

Meaning clean out the track side ditches or be fine. The spelling is as the original and bear in mind the first main English Dictionary would not be published for almost another hundred years.

Through Ollerton the path crosses a lovely mown garden and over a small hill with excellent views all around. We reached the main road, crossed to Bury Lane then across a field path to the old Parsonage building. Over the fence it was just possible to see some old stones poking though the grass. They are all that remains of Hoghton Old School.

The long demolished Hoghton Old School is shown on the right

The 1840s map showing the school. The blue line is the route we walked

We continued along a grassy path though fields, passing the Golf Club on the way. The path eventually descends towards the line of the old disused railway and along Pleasant View. Up Norcross Brow we joined the path that heads up on to the moors. The first part is an access track to Withnell Villa which was the scene of a gruesome murder on 5 March 1992.
The house was occupied by David Wilson who was visited by two professional hit men who shot and killed him in the garage as what appeared to be a smuggling related vendetta.

Withnell Villa

Leaving the buildings behind we headed up on to the moors and across to the main objective of the day, the ruin of Solomon’s Temple. It is just a ruined farmhouse though the name would suggest otherwise.
The area was also one of the World War Two decoy sites known as Starfish sites. Its purpose was to divert German Bombers by igniting fires and showing patterned lights on the moors. The theory being that bombers would see the fires at night and assume it was a burning factory previously hit then aim at the site so saving the real target.

Wall re-building near Solomon's Temple

The group at Solomon's Temple

There are no remains of the oil tanks but some lighting pole bases can still be seen and the underground wires can be located with a metal detector. Further down Hatch Brook was the brick and earthenware oil trap that was originally built to prevent oil from the tanks running down the brook.

The oil trap in Hatch Brook

Warning on Harbour Lane

Thanks to Audrey for the fantastic spread of food

Down through the Brinscall Pine Woods we passed Brinscall Hall, up through fields to Harbour Lane and across the fields to Higher Wheelton and back to the Sports Club for tea and cakes.
It was an enjoyable walk of 12.9km (8 miles)

Plan of the walk