Chorley and South Ribble History Pages

‘ The two most fascinating subjects in the universe are sex and the 18th century’ – Bridget Brophy Sorry, but this article is about the 18 th century. It was indeed a fascinating time, when Britain gradually evolved from a rather sleepy agricultural nation into the world’s first industrial economy and global power. The massive changes that began during the Georgian ‘long eighteenth century’ even touched little Chorley, sited as it was in one of the cradles of industrialisation. In this article, we will focus on Chorley in Georgian times, and consider how it became part of industrial Lancashire (the history of sex in Chorley remains to be written – though probably not by me). The 18th Century Manse adjacent to Chorley Unitarian Chapel, the childhood home of Sir Henry Tate The Georgian Period – the Long Eighteenth Century The Georgian period covers the reigns of the four successive Hanoverian King Georges, who held the British throne from 1714 to 1830. The scene was set ...

 I am a strictly casual birdwatcher. I own an ornithologist’s telescope and occasionally spend time in hides, but not for long and not with much success – I have to rely on others to identify most sightings. I am certainly not a ‘twitcher’, and was not even tempted by the recent appearanceof a rare belted kingfisher at Brockholes nature reserve . But I like spotting birds, and for years have taken my binoculars with me on my many walks around Whittle-le-Woods and have maintained a bird feeding station outside my living room window. I have seen and appreciated a wide range of birds, and have noticed the changes in bird populations that have occurred over the thirty-five years that I have lived in Whittle. In this article, I will set out the results of my years of casual ornithology.   My musings were inspired by a recent article by the writer Stephen Moss, who remarked that he had seen 100 bird species within a mile ofhis home . Now Stephen Moss is a professional naturalist...