Tourist guide to Great Harwood (From Blackburn Citizen)

12:00pm Tuesday 24th July 2007

IN the 11th century, Harwode Magna was an important settlement situated close to Hyndburn Brook and its junction with the River Calder.

From 1338 until 1933 there was celebrated the custom of Crying the Fair.

This announced the start of a huge market and fair.

Since then some effort has been made to salute the start of the fair at 9am on August 21 but alas the event itself is not longer celebrated.

At one time in the late 19th century there were 21 cotton mills at work in the town, along with row upon row of terraced houses for the employees.

Most of the cloth produced was exported to India.

The church of St Bartholomew has a 15th century battlemented tower and a splendid nave roof constructed in the 17th century.

There is a holy water stoup in the porch obviously dating back to the days before 1540 when the church was Catholic.

In front of the 19th century town hall is the Mercer clock, built in 1921 to celebrate the work of John Mercer a local chemist.

He invented a process later called Mercerisation, which involved treating the cotton cloth with caustic soda.

This produced an almost translucent effect on the textile.

One market nearby which has been forgotten is that at Martholme, situated between Great Harwood and Whalley.

Now a private residence, the hall and gatehouse was built in 1577 by the Fitton and Hesketh family, who moved to Rufford in the 17th century.

Here a market, courthouse and a tythe collecting area operated during the 16th century and probably before.

Overlooking the old hall is the 10-arched railway viaduct overlooking the River Calder, built in 1877.

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