Priestly Clough

[gdm27]

When I was a lad back in the 50s & 60s the Clough was our trip to the country. The last time I was down there was when my old Dad and myself went on one of our last walks together before he passed away, we found it blocked off and a barbed wire fence across it! I always remembered it as a beautiful place even then as a snot nosed working class urchin. We used to get to it, I know there are a few other ways, by going past Rileys farm then taking a right at the bottom. Does anyone know what the ruins were just in front of you there?? In Summer you would find the place full of families enjoying themselves in this area, picnics etc. As kids we would walk all the way climbing across the "pipe" through to Five Arches then back. Is the place still privately owned and blocked to everyone?

[odders]

no

[flashy]

where is Priestly Clough??

[jelly baby]

We spent a lot of time walking around there with our dad when we were younger. He would tell us tales of 'Granny Green Teeth' who lived there and how she would capture small children who did not stay near their parents!!
We used to get to it by going around the back of woodnook bleaching & dyeing on Mount St and we'd walk up to the five arches and come out at the top near Hollands pies.

[Mancie]

Originally Posted by flashy

where is Priestly Clough??

it's a sort of valley were the old Accy to Manchester railway ran..we used to go down there long ago with two dogs, ferret and nets after rabbits...at dawn on a freezing January morning..best hangover cure I've know!

[flashy]

Originally Posted by Mancie

it's a sort of valley were the old Accy to Manchester railway ran..we used to go down there long ago with two dogs, ferret and nets after rabbits...at dawn on a freezing January morning..best hangover cure I've know!

that really didnt tell me anything at all Mancie, i dont think i was even born when that railway was there

[beechy]

Originally Posted by flashy

where is Priestly Clough??

cant say exactly were it starts or ends..but
it was a track of land than ran from accrington up to baxenden
starting nuttal st /victoria st.and running past king georges playing fields
and up on toward the chemical works at bash passing hollands pies
im sure if im wrong i will be corrected

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by beechy

cant say exactly were it starts or ends..but
it was a track of land than ran from accrington up to baxenden
starting nuttal st /victoria st.and running past king georges playing fields
and up on toward the chemical works at bash passing hollands pies
im sure if im wrong i will be corrected

Can remember when I went to school at the Holy Family beechy, sometimes I used to walk up Pendleton Avenue and running up the side was valley with a brook in it. Mates who lived round that area used to call that the Clough, don't know if these two were linked

[Margaret Pilkington]

Priestley Clough was my playground.......you could enter by the bottom path, near Highams Mill....this took you past the lodge on your right hand side, and the brook on the left side(the lodge had an overflow which fed into the brook).......or you could go via the top path which was alongside the cottage at the bottom of Riley's Hill.
This path allowed you to look down over the lodge.......both paths converged by the bottom of Nelsons Farm.
During our summer holidays we would spend all day in the clough......it was a place where you could let your imagiation run riot.......it could be a wild jungle or red indian country.....in our minds, that is......we climbed trees, made dens, picked flowers......ran played and screeched to our hearts content without incurring the wrath of any adults.......there were none about to disturb. A childhood idyll.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Priestley Clough was my playground.......you could enter by the bottom path, near Highams Mill....this took you past the lodge on your right hand side, and the brook on the left side(the lodge had an overflow which fed into the brook).......or you could go via the top path which was alongside the cottage at the bottom of Riley's Hill.
This path allowed you to look down over the lodge.......both paths converged by the bottom of Nelsons Farm.
During our summer holidays we would spend all day in the clough......it was a place where you could let your imagiation run riot.......it could be a wild jungle or red indian country.....in our minds, that is......we climbed trees, made dens, picked flowers......ran played and screeched to our hearts content without incurring the wrath of any adults.......there were none about to disturb. A childhood idyll.

Very happy day's Mrs Pilkington..although we are a few years apart it was our play ground too...do you remember the Bluebells.

The old place was a coal mine and a Mill, there where also cottages that sat below Nelsons Farm, all gone now apart from the old house that hides in the overgrowth....its was still private land when I was up there a couple of years ago...maybe time for another visit.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Yes Doug, I do remember the bluebells.....we were forbidden to pick them and take them into the house as my Ma thought it was bad luck to have them in the house.
They were indeed happy days.

[ian1]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Can remember when I went to school at the Holy Family beechy, sometimes I used to walk up Pendleton Avenue and running up the side was valley with a brook in it. Mates who lived round that area used to call that the Clough, don't know if these two were linked

I used to go there too , remember the "Monkey climb" at the top end near fern gore ??
ian

[duckworth]

wasn't that called Nelson's Clough or something like that

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by duckworth

wasn't that called Nelson's Clough or something like that

Think you coud be right duckworth

[Morecambe Ex Pat]

Ah good memories- We were on the Ossy side of the clough, never knew it's proper name - it was just 'The Clough' to us but what a fantastic playground.
Sliding down from what is now Yew Tree drive on a car bonnet in the snow all the way down to the brook.
The rope swing over the 'gorge' where one guy fell and broke both of his arms.
We made a professional job of damming the brook until someone broke the dam and flooded the allotment by St Mary's School.