Pictures of Downham

About Downham

This pleasant village sits close to an old roman road on the slopes of a hill, it is in an area that is said to be the haunt of witches. Pendle Hill towers almost two thousand feet above the village of Downham and is said to have been associated with devil-worship between the 16th and 17th-centuries. Ten witches from here were tried and hanged at Lancaster Castle early in the 17th-century, and ever since these days, tales and legends of witchcraft in Downham, have abounded throughout the area.

The village owes much of it's uniformity and style to one family, the Asshetons. This family have watched over, and nurtured the village for centuries, beginning way back in the 13th-century when they built Downham Hall. They cared for the land and for the villagers, many of whom have a long history of family service to the Assetons. Not a great deal altered here until the early part of the 18th-century when when the gererosity of the Assetons caused improvements to the village. More homes where built and a vast sum of money was spent on enhancing St. Leonards Church to which was added a new vicarage. They built a school for the children of the village and to their own home, Downham Hall, they added a grand Regency facade.

Downham, is a spacious village with it's buildings, interestingly interspersed around two village greens. The handsome church and the village inn, are close to Downham Hall at the top of the village. At the opposite end of the village where an old stone bridge spans a sparkling little stream, another green is surrounded by old stone houses and cottages.

All around is lovely open countryside. Rich farmlands can be found hidden away in the lonely lanes that wend there way between villages. Contented cattle graze in meadows that front gracious old stone farmhouses, it is a place of quiet serenity, worthy of a fine painting or a picture postcard.

There are many old churches and historic buildings in the area and the nearby town of Clitheroe has a museum that tells of the history of the region and the Yorkshire Dales Lead Mining Museum is close to Kelbrook. Bancroft Mill is near Salterforth and in the countryside there are miles of lovely rivers and streams with an abundance of wildlife. Quaint shops are dotted around, so too, are pleasant inns and public houses so a tasty meal and a cooling glass or two are never far away!