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SOME HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF 
THE RIVER CALDER. 
(Illustrated by the Lantern). 
By Mr. JOHN ALLEN, of Burnley. October 13//;, 1908. 
Mr. Allen said the subject of the paper might be thought 
insignificant by some as the River Calder is not 20 miles long, 
and nothing that is especially rare is to be seen on its banks. 
Yet it is not without interest to the historian, who looks upon 
a stream not to view its beauty, or its usefulness for sewage 
purposes or its capacity for providing power, but to consider 
the part it has played in the lives and destiny of the people 
through whose neighbourhood it flows. 
Most great cities are on the banks of rivers large or small. 
This is not an accident, but the consequence of the law of 
human development. Formerly rivers provided a natural- 
method of getting rid of sewage and provided towns with a 
water supply at their doors. 
The earliest reference to the Calder which is made in ancient 
documents is its mention in a rent roll of the end of the 13th 
century. Camden and Saville, of the time of Oueen Elizabeth, 
also mention the river and describe its course. There is 
not a single castle on its banks. Of the 17 castles built in 
Lancashire during the castle building era commencing about 
1066, there was none nearer than that at Clitheroe. Yet 
this is not altogether unpleasing, as however picturesque the 
ruins may be, the presence of a castle near a manufacturing 
town is always a reminder of very evil days in that district. 
Although the Calder valley boasts no castles, yet it is not 
without memorials of bye-gone days ; its basin contains a 
large number of old halls, several ancient ecclesiastical 
foundations (such as those of Holme, Padiham, Altham and 
Whalley) and one abbey. The want of adequate consideration 
leads many completely to overlook the features of interest 
attached to these places 
