According to an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 5 July 1993, the ferry ran from 1686 to the mid-50s. It was a flat bottomed boat with seats round the sides. Mr Michael Jackson, a former Ribble Valley Council chief executive discovered it decaying in a barn while out rambling and had it restored. It was on display at the Clitheroe Castle Museum but took up to much space and is now in the possession of the Ribble Valley Borough Council. Standing on the Billington side of the river you had to shout for the farmer or his wife to ferry you across the Ribble, where it joins the Calder, for a few coppers. It is reputed that dogs were sometimes left to swim across to avoid payment. A long chain acted as an anchor
