58 
From a map of the Calder shown on the screen, it appears 
that the head of the river is just beyond Holme. Close by 
is the source of the East Calder which flows away into York- 
shire. It is the West Calder with which Mr. Allen had to deal. 
From Holme it flows to Burnley, Padiham and Whalley and 
joins the Kibble after covering a little under 20 miles. 
The Lecturer then threw on the screen several slides typical 
of the moorland hills and valleys through which the Calder 
winds, showing that in certain sections, at any rate, the Calder 
has claims to scenic beauty. Holme is the first interesting 
place on its banks and here is the ancient residence of the 
Whitaker family. This house was partly rebuilt in 1617. 
The earliest known ancestor of the family, Richard de 
Whitaker, settled in the district in the 14th century. The 
house has produced a famous line of scholars. One of them, 
William Whitaker, who died in 1595, is supposed to be a 
Burnley Grammar School boy, and is referred to by Thomas 
Fuller in his “ Lives of English Worthies.” William Whitaker 
was sent to Cambridge and later took a leading part in the Politi- 
cal and Theological controversies succeeding the Reformation. 
Bitter though controversies then were, he never lost the respect 
of his adversaries in the wordy warfare in which he was 
engaged. At the early age of 31 he was elected Master of 
St. John’s College, Cambridge. Fuller says Whitaker was 
elected because he had golden a head and the electors preferred 
this to silver hairs. He is said by one writer to have died 
from cold caught during a visit to his ancestral home during 
the winter months. The old chapel at Holme was built 
in 1534 or 1535. It was originally 30 feet by 15 feet wide. 
In 1788 it was taken down by Dr. Whitaker, the author of 
the history of Whalley. A new chapel was consecrated 
in 1794. The churchyard there is the burial place of some 
celebrated local men, including the late General Sir James 
Yorke Scarlett, G.C.B., who led the charge of the Heavy 
Brigade at Balaclava on Oct. 25th, 1854. 
Down the river a little, is Barcroft Hall, re-built in the 
16th and 17th centuries, and which was sold in 1795 to Chas. 
Towneley, the great collector of marbles. There are no 
members of the Barcroft family now in the district, but there 
are several branches in Ireland. In 1796 one member of the 
family, a Capt. Barcroft, came to Burnley, and in Colne and 
district he raised 300 men for His Majesty’s service in the 
low countries. The expedition was ill-fated ; the ship carrying 
the men was wrecked and all were drowned. 
But a short distance away from Barcroft is Towneley Hall, 
the largest and by far the most interesting Hall in this district. 
