Whalley. 2 2 



appears to grow truly wild. In autumn it abounds with 

 golden-rod, ferns, hawkweeds, and the blue jasione, and 

 upon the slopes, as in Hurst Clough, there are many 

 bushes of the deepest-coloured of the wild English roses, 

 the Rosa villosa. A romantic natural dell called 

 "The Jumbles," near Edgworth, is also rich in wild- 

 flowers, but a factory having taken possession, it invites 

 one no longer. 



The valley through which the railway pursues its 

 course, running on to Darwen, and thence to Blackburn, 

 is one of those which perfectly illustrates the rich 

 character of the Lancashire uplands. An excellent idea 

 of its various wealth is gathered from near the Scout, 

 when on the way to Smithills, and even while travelling 

 it is impossible not to perceive how fruitful is every part 

 in the picturesque, particularly in amphitheatres receding 

 among the hills, which if somewhat naked, still always 

 have a cheerful look. All the way, moreover, there is 

 the noble spectacle of human activity. Langho station, 

 a quarter of an hour beyond Blackburn, opens the way 

 once more to pleasing novelty of scene, not to mention 

 its ancient and beautiful little chapel, the oldest place of 

 Christian worship in Lancashire still used as one, and from 

 which it is no more than a pleasant walk of two or three 

 miles to Whalley itself, the locality of the earliest Christian 

 preaching in our county. Here it was that Paulinus, 

 in 627, made his first efforts to convert the Northum- 

 brians crosses in the ancient graveyard commemorate 

 the event, memorials of pious labour which belong, in 





