Haunted by (Pendle) Water

In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing

Norman Maclean: A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend over, I stopped off for a pitstop with mum and MrsB at Barrowford on the way back to Silsden today. Pendle Heritage Centre offers a much nicer sort of service station with a cup of strong Javanese coffee and a scone. The centre was set up some years back by the Heritage Trust for the North West, and they now have a portfolio of quite a few buildings which they and volunteers lovingly care for.

Oddly, I didn't think to take any photos, but ended up nosing around the adjacent river instead to look for signs of trout rising. You may have already noted that anything to do with river fly fishing is a bit of a mad obsession recurring passion. As it happened I didn't see any trout, in what later turns out to be a large stream called Pendle Water. In viewing the water, I did however come across this stone-carved name of the Grade II listed (and so also much-loved) Barrowford Bridge.

In contrast, I have to say that the river it crossed did not look as equally cared-for. It had rubbish dumped off the bridge into it - thought oddly no supermarket trolleys. The contrast was ironic given the clearly valued nature of both bridge and heritage centre.

Sad, but I was curious to check this hunch out afterwards when we got back home. Sure enough, an uncovered 1990 Study investigating Pendle Water described chemical and biological polution levels linked to storm sewage discharges.

This is probably more universal than I suspect most people realise.