The Battle of Britain - Brunanburgh was it local?

[Darkstar]

Hi lordmagic,It seems that we read the same books

As a by note to the info on Waltons spire, it may well be a boundary marker. Because Marsden as in little and great Marsden could be derived from either Marshdene neaning obviously 'marshy valley', or more likely from Merclesdene (sp?) meaning ' marker or boundry stone'.

Also there is no evidence of Roman occupation in the Pendle area, although as you say a track runs down by Castercliff, it then runs through the greenfield area and down by what is now the Pendle heritage centre at Parkhill Barrowford. Although if you look at an aerial photo of Castercliffe just to the left side of the actual fort there is a definate oblong shape which looks like it could have been a Roman marching camp used temporarily by a body of troops. It is interesting to note that the roman historian Tacitus mentions that the Brigantes (our local celt tribe) were the last people to succumb to Roman rule, under the governer Agricola. He further mentions that the tribe would pay tribute as required, but if anyone ridiculed or upset them they would be deadly.

I hope this topic can carry on for a while, as our area is steeped in history.

[Kiki]

Walton was it a person or area that the spire was named after?realize now he was probably the Victorian guy was he resposible for building Walton School too Iwonder?

[Lordmagic]

The school's history dates back to 1895 when it opened in the centre of town as the Nelson Higher Grade School and it moved to the present site in 1927. In 1972 it was re-organised as an 11-16 comprehensive school and renamed Walton High School. I am unsure who the original founder of the school is but usually they are formed by the local gentry as was the case in Burnley with the Burnley Grammar School was founded and funded by the Parker family whom had a very active role within the school.

The Waltons settled in the Great Marsden district early in the 14th century. Before the Norman Conquest this area was an unbroken stretch of woodland partly Marsden Ley, partly Boulsworth and partly the Forest of Rossendale. Mentioned in the Domesday Survey the area formed part of the lands owned by Edward the Confessor in 1066 and eventually transferred to Roger de Piotou by William the Conqueror. The king held the lands in 1086, in 1182 the Honor of Clitheroe was granted to the de Lacey family who, in the 12 & 13th centuries held 300 acres in demesne in Gt.Marsden.

Richard Wroe was the only son of Rev.Thomas Wroe who married Mary, the sister of Henry Walton. Richard Wroe-Walton married Elizabeth Topham and was succeeded by his son Richard Thomas Wroe-Walton (b1773 d 1845). #This Richard was responsible for the creation of what we now know as Walton Spire, near Shellfield on the Marsden estates. He dressed (trimmed) the existing large,ancient monolith and added a stone cross to the top, (today this act would have seen him prosecuted for vandalising an ancient monument JAC).
:Wink:

[Kiki]

Thanks Lordmagic! i was wondering!

[Lordmagic]

Thanks Kiki, I will eventually put a little bit more info on this topic very soon, I need to tie up a few loose threads, as you can imagine research takes alot of time and effort, the deeper you dig the more pieces to the jig saw emerge, I need to have a beer now to reflect on the proogress made and the way forward!

[Kiki]

I am very interested in local history and this thread is way back!

[Rolyat]

Just a note, and to keep this thread in the eye, I've just uploaded a picture showing the opposite view of one of Lord Magic's images. The LM shot shows a ridge with the cameraman being in the region of Walton's Spire. My pic shows Pendle Hill, Walton's Spire and the Clarion from the point of the ridge. Nothing special about it - just nice to see things from both directions.

[Lordmagic]

Hi Buddies, sorry for the dely but having a few technical problems back ere! The next few posts I'll give greater detail in what has been mentioned earlier including some pictures for visual stimulation! Cheer up its not that bad, is it?Name : Castercliff Camp, Nelson.Castercliff is a small hillfort of Iron Age date with at least 7 hut circles visable to the eye on a good day and is located on raised ground overlooking the Calder Valley. The enclosure site is oval shaped roughly measuring 115m by 76m that is enclosed on all sides except the north end with three rubble ramparts each measuring upto 1.5m high and situated on the slope of the hill with an external ditch up to 1.5m deep in front of each. The maximum width of the whole rampart and ditch system is approximately 46m. On the north side the defences are incomplete and consist in the main of a single rampart and ditch, there are some short lengths of triple rampart and ditch separated by areas of undisturbed ground are also visible here. Limited excavation of the defences indicated that the inner rampart was revetted with stone and also timber-laced.PICTURES: (Pictures can be seen within the Heritage, Culture Gallery)CASTERCLIFF CAMP PICTURE: A view of the camp location.MAIN BANK: The main bank surrounding the camp.OVERVIEW SIZE OF CAMP: Not the best picture but this one does show you the sheer size of this monument.TOP OF MAIN BANK: Various earthworks you can also see the main bank here.HUT CIRCLES AT CASTERCLIFF: One of the several hut circles. Post a reply at will, go on, use your imagination.

[Rolyat]

Picture added similar to Lordmagic's Overview shot

[Rolyat]

Last thursday (27th Oct) was a cracking day so I walked up to Castercliffe. I took several pictures around the fort and on the top (there is a footpath over the top). They are, pretty much, just newer shots similar to those posted by Lordmagic.

Rather than put what appear to be random pictures onto the Burnleyweb site I've created a webpage for them.
http://www.teapothand-knits.co.uk/castercliffe.htm

[Lordmagic]

I agree Rolyat, many thanks and can you help out on this one? So here goes again, with another fairly close by location of another local strategic point of control as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Twist Castle

The remains of a remote Farmstead located on Extwistle Moor from the mid to late Iron Age commanding excellent strategic views of the surrounding area, especially Swinden Reservoir, it also overlooks an old sandstone quarry which is quite close to the site. There must be some answers around here, what antiquities has the reservoir swallowed?, some time ago I can vaguely remember reading that an artifact in the form of a sword (bent/snapped) were found here on conversion to a utility reservoir but I'm not sure, can anyone confirm this? Twist castle seems a very peaceful location, probably very bleak in winter though. The site consists of two enclosures with more stone left than the ringstones close by and a couple of hundred yards away is a robbed and ruined Bronze Age barrow, when this happened, who knows. Monk Hall is relatively near with Extwistle Hall close to follow, all around this particular ancient area Thursden/Swinden/Briercliffe/Extwistle you will stumble over time and time again a past wealth of vague history, ancient stone crosses and markers, Tumulus, Tumuli, Cairn Circles and other Earthworks scatter within a two mile area mainly westwards from Twist Castle.

Pictures:

1. Twist Castle location (Top of the hill, central and right of the photo)
Attachment 380

2. The Enclosure at Twist Castle
Attachment 381

3. Remains of Twist Castle
Attachment 382

[Rolyat]

I want to go up that end of the world anyway to log the trig on Extwistle Moor. It isn't going to be for a while now though because of all this rain.

[steveearby]

hi to lord magic and darkstar im presently studying brunanburgh and beleive the site to be in our area would be great to talk to you both worth reading valley of the drawn sword Barrowford press any info you have would be useful and worth a pint please get back in touch