Hacking boat
 

Does anyone remember Hacking boat, or if people still visit there. As kids we were taken there by our parents often on Sundays to have a picnic. We would catch the Ribble bus in Melbourne St and get off at at Whalley then walk through an old abbey then through the fields where the Calder is and arrive at the Ribble. It seemed a long way to go then but obviously wasn't. Sometimes we would get off at Gt.Harwood and walk across Whalley nabs to get there.but I didn't like going that way. Too much like hard yakka:D

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Me, me, me ... I remember Hacking Boat extremely well Terry ... used to do exactly the same as you. Did seem a long way, didn't it ? particularly on a hot summer's day .... yes, memories are that we did have them now and then. Have photo somewhere of boat (but taken by my grandad before even my time). Have photos in me swimmin' cossie as a child,etc.
You must have been there same time as me.

Remember when you joined the country road again and there was a solitary tree in the middle of the junction surrounded by a little wall; the long field full of cow crap. Ah :e29: Yes, I remember it well :e29:

Think you can still do this walk, however, have to run the risk of the A59 to get there and, of course, no ferryman to pay anymore.

Sighs.. those were the days, eh ? ;)

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Katex you may very well have been there at the same time I was. There were sometimes many families there, especially on a nice summers day. I couldn't do it nowadays despite the fact that in reality it was a relatively short walk. Mostly I remember the cow crap and the little wooden styles we had to climb over. The tree only vaguely. Was it a horsechestnut or conker tree? I remember also getting stung by those horrible wasps which no amount of bashing would kill.:D

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Terrry ... how long you been in Queensland ?.. horse chestnut and conker tree the same.:) Not sure about this ... big tree anyway.
Didn't ever get stung by a wasp .. but remember a few of those thistles in the field which scratched my legs now and then.
Funny, strong recollections of walking there, can't picture myself walking back .. must have been too tired from all the paddling, cricket, rounders games we used to play.

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I can remember going down to the river through the Abbey, but I don't remember the boat. I remember picnicking under the viaduct when it came on to rain. Whalley Abbey was one of our favourite places for Sunday picnics. I do remember that my mother would often take her umbrella "then it won't rain"!

There were some great places to go for a Sunday then, and it cost no more than the bus fare. I can remember walking from Whalley to Hurst Green, and then walking down to the river there - there was a pool which was a natural swimming pool, just deep enough and not much current. The family of one of my school friends had a cabin there - whatever happened to those?

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Here are some pictures taken by my brother in March of this year, still looks lovely to me. :) Attachment 5733

Attachment 5734

Attachment 5735

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Hey, congratulations to me .... just worked out me first attachment, only took 2 hours !:D Not quite lined up nicely yet, but hope you enjoy the piccies Terry.

Tee hee. Think I'm gonna go attachment mad now.

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I remember Hacking Boat very well ,having been born in one of the sands cottages in Whalley we used to go there a lot and stop for an ice cream just past the viaduct on our way up what we called water side,My Father would call the Farmer who owned the rowing boat to come and ferry us accross for a few pennies
Ah yes those were the days

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Yes, I remember going to Hacking Boat with my mum & dad and I also remember loads of people picnicking and swimming in the river and the boat, but I don't think I ever crossed the river on it. Later when I was about 14 or 15 I use to fish on the Calder. Like the rest of you I caught the bus from Melbourne St then walked under the railway arches and fished my way down the river all the way to Hacking Boat. I've lived in the Dales for the last 34 years but I still travel down to a couple of times a week to fish on the Ribble, I was down at Hacking Boat last year.

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I googled somewhere, sometime :rolleyes: that the boat was now housed in a museum in Clitheroe (think was Clitheroe).

Coincidentally, my next door neighbours are moving down there next week, a sort of caravan park, but they have also built some log-type houses. They say still very peaceful down there still.

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Kate, that’s where I started, I Googled Hacking Boat and got some information about a ferry that was later replaced by a suspension bridge in the 1950's at Dinckley and it also said that the ferry boat was in Clitheroe Museum. I was confused because Dinckely was not the place where I use to go as a kid, so it was nice to hear other people from Accrington talking about the place I remember as a kid. Maybe there were two ferry's that crossed the Ribble? I'm not sure of the exact date when the suspension bridge at Dinckley was built, but it was in the 1950's when I was taken to Hacking Boat for picnics. I certainly remember the walk I did it often enough when I was fishing the Calder as a kid. I also remember walking all the way from Accrington a couple of times when I wanted to get to the river at dawn or I didn't have the bus money both ways. It's hard to think of doing that now, all the way to Hacking Boat in wellies.

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I've just had to go and get the Ordnace Survey out of the car, after I realised what place you are all talking about.

We always called it Sail-Away Woods, which makes sense because of the boat, I suppose, though I can never remember a boat in the late sixties, though there is now a suspension bridge at Dinckley.

It was my favourite place for us to go walking when I wasa child, and is still a beautiful place.:)

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When I was in my early teens we use to get the bus to Cock Bridge and follow the river into Whalley, I was very interested in bird watching in those days, the feathered variety, I only graduated to the ones with skirts a few years later, and having given it much thought I should have stuck to the feathered variety:D:rolleyes:

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My Dad,s fav spot....rest his soul......in those days all the family used to pile into the Austin 7.....park in Whalley.....then walk...we visited on average every fortnight. Dad got adventurous later in his life and drove through the trough to Morecambe.......:D

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All this chatter of Whalley reminded me of a café in Whalley where cyclers and hikers gathered that sold the best cups and mugs of coffee for miles around. Their Eccles cakes were superb also.

It was located a few yards to the left from where the main road from Accrington arrived at the centre of Whalley. You went right for the bus station and left on the road to Billington for the café.

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Used to love Whalley in the 50s & 60s. The dog Inn, The Swan, . My aunt Mary & uncle Herbet had a cabin at Hacking Boat, some happy memories there. Worked at Brockhall & went down to the river quit regular, good place to take the nurses in the summer. Ahh the memoris.

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Remember my gran used to talk about going there:drink:

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Spent my youth there. lived a Brockhall. 2 of my friends drowned there when i was 18. found the boys bodys where the ribble joined the calder aparently the 2 rivers meeting causes a trench at the bottom once pulled down you can not go up against the water pushing down, or so the police diver said. there used to be a boat there before my time i found the old mooring posts about 200mt down from the ribble/calder join. As a boy i swam to the other side and found the oars in an old barn. firther back from the water was an old farn house that sheep lived in from time to time. there i found the origional boat. about that time i got chased off as it is was a private estate. maybe the old boat is still there. as i remember it was about 15ft to 20 ft covered in tar and needed 4 oars.

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I remember the suspension bridge down the side of the Tanners Arms, it got washed away years ago, did they replace it?

There has been a whirlpool there for as long as I can remember. I think the area is called Sale Wheel Wood, between Ribchester and Dinkley. You used to be able to see the river from the woods but don't know if you still can. The trees were covering the view years ago.

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we don't get the summers like we used to,the weather is against us for picnics at our favourite spots.

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The suspention bridge near the Tanners is at Dinkly a couple of miles down streem. I remember a couple of times when a patient of brockhall escaped and tried to swim the river. my dad and others used to go down to the suspention bridge a day or so later because they expected the body to get stuck on the rocks, it usually did.

There is no visable whirlpool where the Calder meets the Ribble (the spot i am talking about) just lots of under tow. OK if you swim on the top but if you dive down you may not come up.

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Sally's cafe back in the 50's!! mushy peas!-all after a day at Hacking boat where, at the Hall, you could get a basket with mugs, pot of tea etc. the Green Punt would take you over the water for2d. EW.
Other great swimming places were West Bradford bend, Mytton & Brungerly bridge

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I have old colour photos of Hacking hall & boat-- How do I upload them?

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There are instructions here Wiggy ... to be honest I just hit the attachments button above this window .. it brings up the browse window .. and go from there, as per Len's instructions.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ples-4719.html

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This is off t'internet...."Dinckley is Celtic in origin and the name means 'fort of the wood'. It is positioned off the beaten track and is unspoiled making it ideal for delightful walks including through Sale Wheel Woods to the Old Dinckley Ferry which has now been replaced by a low level suspension bridge. The Old Hacking Boat House is a reminder of when the ferryman would transport travellers across the river (The Boat is now in Clitheroe Museum). Hacking Hall Stands on the opposite bank built by Thomas Livesey in 1607 and the riverside can see part of the ferryboat’s jetty. The front of the Hall has 14 sets of mullioned windows and a public car park can be found here".

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My maternal grandparents' were tenant farmers at Dinckley in the 1930's and my late mother often related to the 'Dinckley Ferry' which operated between Dinckley and the river bridge at Ribchester. The ferry vessel was known locally as the 'Hacking Boat' for whatever reason and the name apparently stuck to the area in which it plied it's trade - or so I was led to believe.

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The farm was owned by the Hacking family, thats as much as I know about it

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The land was owned by the del Hacking family from at least 1200, and may have been known in those days as Hacking or land of Hacking.

Bernard de Hacking gave his estate to his son William in 1328. The land then passed to the Shuttleworth family when his only daughter Agnes married Henry Shuttleworth.

It again passed through marriage when Anne Shuttleworth, the sole heir of Robert Shuttlworth married Sir Thomas Walmsley, who built the house in 1607.:)

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According to an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 5 July 1993, the ferry ran from 1686 to the mid-50s. It was a flat bottomed boat with seats round the sides. Mr Michael Jackson, a former Ribble Valley Council chief executive discovered it decaying in a barn while out rambling and had it restored. It was on display at the Clitheroe Castle Museum but took up to much space and is now in the possession of the Ribble Valley Borough Council. Standing on the Billington side of the river you had to shout for the farmer or his wife to ferry you across the Ribble, where it joins the Calder, for a few coppers. It is reputed that dogs were sometimes left to swim across to avoid payment. A long chain acted as an anchor

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...ckingFerry.jpg

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Wonder what ever happened to this idea from 2000?

Hacking Ferry Bridge | Projects | WilkinsonEyre.Architects

http://www.manzieclan.plus.com/RAlancashire/bridge.htm

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According to an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 5 July 1993, the ferry ran from 1686 to the mid-50s. It was a flat bottomed boat with seats round the sides. Mr Michael Jackson, a former Ribble Valley Council chief executive discovered it decaying in a barn while out rambling and had it restored. It was on display at the Clitheroe Castle Museum but took up to much space and is now in the possession of the Ribble Valley Borough Council. Standing on the Billington side of the river you had to shout for the farmer or his wife to ferry you across the Ribble, where it joins the Calder, for a few coppers. It is reputed that dogs were sometimes left to swim across to avoid payment. A long chain acted as an anchor

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...ckingFerry.jpg

Re: Hacking boat
 

According to an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 5 July 1993, the ferry ran from 1686 to the mid-50s. It was a flat bottomed boat with seats round the sides. Mr Michael Jackson, a former Ribble Valley Council chief executive discovered it decaying in a barn while out rambling and had it restored. It was on display at the Clitheroe Castle Museum but took up to much space and is now in the possession of the Ribble Valley Borough Council. Standing on the Billington side of the river you had to shout for the farmer or his wife to ferry you across the Ribble, where it joins the Calder, for a few coppers. It is reputed that dogs were sometimes left to swim across to avoid payment. A long chain acted as an anchor Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...ckingFerry.jpg

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They say 'The Grass is Greener on the other side', but from what I remember the terrain on the other banking was sort of lumpier, marshy and full of thistles and more cow clap .. :)

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well i can't remember.....then i'm younger.:D

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Unfortunately, that is an argument I can't get out of. :p

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Found this in my family pictures, was at Hacking Boat.
Notice the paddling shoes, I had some and they were made of rubber and pink.. :)

Attachment 18048

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I farm down stream of hacking boat and my uncle is the owner of the old boat house,just to clear some confusion there was a ferry at dinckley also and sail wheel is further down stream from dinckley.The last farmer at the boat house was Harry Holden he moved away from the house near 60 years ago and the house lay derelict till 2001 when my uncle purchased it from the stonyhurst estate.

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I have just been reading the posts on Hacking Boat which have taken me right back to my school days,(I think a lot of posts do that for most people) mine are happy days two or three of us and dogs walking from Clayton down lower Barnes st over to Gt Harwood up to the church and over Whalley nab then on to Hacking Boat.
One time when we went must have been a hot sumer day so we took our shirts off, i got terribly sunburnt so bad i was off school for 2 weeks,so even now i do not sit out in the sun.
When Easter came round one year four pals and dogs took a tent and went to camp out there,settling down for the night was not easy with the dogs and a tent only made for three,but we all eventualy got of to sleep.Dont no how long after we were woken up covered in ants, jumped up and ran into the river and it was freezing,when we got back to the tent we watched the ants carrying away pieces of our only loaf.
Decision made to go home.
Never been in a tent since, caravan yes.

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I think the Hacking family fan the "Ferry" across the river.
Irene B (Was Davies)

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Does anyone know anything about the tumulus on the west side of the river from Hacking Hall? I heard it contains the dead from a battle in the Dark Ages.

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Have you seen this? from

http://catterall.net/history/celtic.html

Towards the end of the eighth century, The kingdom of Northumbria, suffered from major internal disputes, and also came under attack from Danish settlers from [ ...]. The sack of the monastic establishment at Lindisfarne was quickly followed by attacks on Jarrow and Monkwearmouth.

The Danes quickly established a foothold, settled and moved westwards across the Pennines. The [Anglo Saxon Chronicle] records a battle in 798 close to Whalley when a chieftain or war leader named Alric was killed.
" 798 ... there was a great battle on Northumbrian land in the spring on 4 Nones April at Whalley and there Alric, son of Heardbearhtes, was killed and many others with him."

The story is repeated by Simeon of Durham, and it was clearly an event of importance to the developing Ango-Saxon nations. Simeon adds the information that the battle occurred in the reign od Eardwulf 'in the region that is called by the English Billangahoth (Langho) near Walalege (Whalley) and that the fight was lead by 'Wada Dux'. Wada is apparently a local, as his name apperas in several place names near Whalley. The victory went to the Danes, and presumably Alric was their leader in this battle.

Langho is a village, close to Whalley and the junction of the Calder and the Ribble. Close to the junction, near Hacking Hall, is a large conical tumulus called the Loe Hill, 120 yards in circumference. Thomas Dunham Whitaker dug into this tumulus in 1815 and found it to be an artificial mound, but because of its size did not penetrate to the centre. Whitaker suggests that this is a monument to, or the tomb of Alric. There is hill named Wadhow four miles up the Ribble, whicvh he suggests might have been Wada's camp before the battle, nearby is the town of Wada, Waddington, Edisforth (the Nobleman's Ford) and Wiswall (the Hero's Well.)

It appears that the invading Danes had penetrated the Aire Gap as far as Whalley where they met and defeated resistance from the local Northumbrians, but their leader Alric was killed.

Of this encounter, Whitaker writes:
"Considered as an obscure village in a remote province, this testimony is honourable to Whalley. Few even of our large provincial towns, excepting those which lay claim to Roman antiquity, have any earlier record than the great register of Domesday; but our story reaches nearly three centuries backward into the Saxon era, is connected in its origin with an important national event, and attested by no private register, but by the annals of the Northumbrian kingdom."

Also http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?d...=chron&id=798a

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I seem to remember we would get the bus to the De Tabley Arms & walk through the woods to the river - I knew it as Dinkley Ferry (later the suspension bridge). Seem to remember particularly the bluebells & the smell of wild garlic.

We also often did the Whalley Nab walk, had tea at the cafe by the bus station and caught the bus back to Ossy.

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And I think we called the woods "Sail Wheel" woods.

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This post really does bring back memories Myself, Derek Salmon, Chris Kenyon, Mick Doyle, Anthony Wood, it was a regular trip out for us

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Would that be the Derek Salmon who was injured in a car crash at Shap Fell and later died? I knew him - but not well.

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Yes you are correct. Derek and I were best of pals. Was such a sad loss of a young life

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During the war I used to travel from Accrington to Whalley with my Grandmother. We used to walk across the fields to the Ferry sometimes we would stop at a farmhouse that served salmon meals. Does anybody remember this ?

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I stand to be corrected here but I have always thought that Hacking Boat and Dinckley Ferry were two different places, Hacking Boat being at the confluence of the Ribble and Calder at Calderfoot and Dinckley Ferry being where the Dinckley footbridge now spans the river Ribble below Hurst Green. As I say, I stand to be corrected on this. Yours Taddy