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Home , Battle of Preston (1648), Clitheroe Castle, Clitheroe Castle Museum, College (Preston ward), Ribble Valley, River Hodder

One of the many J.R.R.Tolkien entries in the visitors book visitors the in entries J.R.R.Tolkien many the of One

ain entrance to Stonyhurst to entrance ain M

live on for future generations. future for on live

and in the College itself. College the in and olkien's connection with 's will Valley Ribble Lancashire's with connection olkien's T

of his time writing, both at the guest house guest the at both writing, time his of J.R.R. 2002, in Hall Mary’s St. at Library olkien T

econd World War. J.R.R. Tolkien spent much spent Tolkien J.R.R. War. World econd S late 1960s and early 1970s. With the opening of a new a of opening the With 1970s. early and 1960s late Lodge. New from that on based

school for ) during the during College) Stonyhurst for school taught classics at the College and St Mary's Hall in the in Hall Mary's St and College the at classics taught been have may house Bombadil's Tom from view the and

seminary at St. Mary’s Hall (now the preparatory the (now Hall Mary’s St. at seminary ed the inspiration for the Buckleberry Ferry in the book, the in Ferry Buckleberry the for inspiration the ed author, which continued when his younger son Michael son younger his when continued which author,

College in , was evacuated to the Jesuit the to evacuated was Rome, in College working when J.R.R. Tolkien was here) may have provid- have may here) was Tolkien J.R.R. when working tonyhurst College is proud of its association with the with association its of proud is College tonyhurst S

studying for the priesthood at the English the at priesthood the for studying which built Stonyhurst). The ferry at Hacking Hall (still Hall Hacking at ferry The Stonyhurst). built which

tonyhurst College. Their son, John, who was who John, son, Their College. tonyhurst S the River Shirebourn (similar to the name of the family the of name the to (similar Shirebourn River the he even taught a few lessons at the College during his visits. his during College the at lessons few a taught even he

a guest house in the grounds belonging to belonging grounds the in house guest a found locally, including Shire Lane (in Hurst Green) and Green) Hurst (in Lane Shire including locally, found Anglo Saxon and later of English Language and Literature, and Language English of later and Saxon Anglo

his wife and other children, regularly stayed at stayed regularly children, other and wife his occur in ‘’ are similar to those to similar are Rings’ the of Lord ‘The in occur upper gallery of the College. An Professor of Professor Oxford An College. the of gallery upper

finally published in 1954/55. J.R.R. Tolkien, J.R.R. 1954/55. in published finally tonyhurst is richly beautiful. A number of names which names of number A beautiful. richly is tonyhurst S working on 'The Lord of the Rings' in a classroom on the on classroom a in Rings' the of Lord 'The on working

compiled over the course of some 16 years, and years, 16 some of course the over compiled wooded landscapes and the countryside around countryside the and landscapes wooded his book, he certainly spent much of his time at Stonyhurst at time his of much spent certainly he book, his

The epic ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was trilogy Rings’ the of Lord ‘The epic The J. R. R. Tolkien was renowned for his love of nature and nature of love his for renowned was Tolkien R. R. J. Whatever the direct links which J.R.R. Tolkien used in used Tolkien J.R.R. which links direct the Whatever

Hacking Ferry Hacking

Rear view of New Lodge, where J.R.R.Tolkien stayed J.R.R.Tolkien where Lodge, New of view Rear t aysHl,Stonyhurst. Hall, Mary’s St.

and Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst and R. Tolkien R. J.R.

In the footsteps of Stonyhurst College How to Get There J.R.R. Tolkien Hurst Green is 8km /5miles west of and 15km/91/2 Stonyhurst in 1808. The earliest building at Stonyhurst miles north east of on the B6243. There is limited was probably built in the 13th century, and added to during the car parking in the village. Buses running between Clitheroe, 14th and 15th centuries. Around Whalley and Preston serve Hurst Green. For details, contact 1590, Richard Shireburn embarked Traveline on 0870 608 2 608. on the creation of a new Elizabethan house, which wasn’t completed CLITHEROE for a further 250 years. , who famously spent the night here on his way to the A59 in 1648, called Stonyhurst "the best half Stonyhurst College house" he had seen. B6243 M6 Whalley The Shireburns were devout Catholics and remained loyal to HURST GREEN B5269 A6 the king in the Civil War. Sir Nicholas Shireburn, who died in A671 32 A680 1717, was the last of the family to live at Stonyhurst. In 1754, 1 B6243 A666 M55 Stonyhurst passed to the of Dorset, who never 31A A6 A59 occupied the house and it was allowed to fall into a state of decay. A6068 A6119 7 31 A677 In 1794, the Welds placed Stonyhurst at the disposal of the 6 PRESTON 5 Jesuit English College at Liège, who were forced to flee from A675 30 4 the advancing French Revolutionary army. Stonyhurst began its M61 10 A677 new life as a boarding school for Catholic Boys. By the 1850s, 29 A674 M65 9 M65 2 3

a church had been built and the front quadrangle completed. A674 A675 A A6 666 During the 1880s, the South Front was greatly extended. M61 28 Stonyhurst had become one of the foremost public schools in the country. As well as its links to J.R.R Tolkien, other literary figures Lancashire associated with the college include Sir (a Ribble Valley, former pupil), the poet Fr. (a former member of staff) and contemporary novelist Patrick McGrath. The village of Hurst Green is situated in the Ribble Valley, one of the most glorious landscapes in Britain. There is a varied The College is open to visitors during the summer holiday period choice of accommodation, restaurants, inns, shops, and and to organised groups booking in advance by arrangement. attractions offering excellent service, value for money and a warm Lancashire welcome. • Admission charged For further information including accommodation booking, • Refreshments and Gift shop maps, walks and cycle rides, contact Clitheroe Tourist Information Centre. • Limited facilities for disabled Tel: 01200 425566 • Coach parties and evening group tours (by prior arrangement) Email: [email protected] Website: www.ribblevalley.gov.uk For further details, contact: A 9km/ 51/2 miles circular walk Miss Frances Ahearne on 01254 826345. starting and finishing at Hurst Green in Ribble Valley, Lancashire. RIBBLE VALLEY COUNCIL In the footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien The walk starts from the War Memorial in the centre of Hurst Green

1 With your back to the main road, The Observatories walk along Warren Fold. Just beyond Hodder Place the last of the houses, go over a stile The first observatory at Stonyhurst - you will see the domed of This impressive building dates back was begun in 1838 and completed in to 1780, when it was the home of a 1845. In 1868, this observatory – Stonyhurst College straight ahead cotton mill-owner. All traces of the known as the Dome Observatory – of you. Follow the wall on your mill, on the river bank below the was completed. It houses a larger left, pass through a gateway and 6 house, have now disappeared. The telescope than the original building turn sharp right. Walk across the Hodder building was greatly extended by the and is still in use by the students. field, passing a lone tree, to reach Place Jesuits in the nineteenth century the fence on the other side. when it was used as a Novitiate and then as a preparatory school until its Hill Barn Farm closure in 1971. It has since been 2 Don't go through the gate, but turn divided into privately owned houses The Barn, which stands alongside the right and follow the fence, heading and flats. path, is at least in part probably late towards the red brick cricket pavilion. medieval. Until as late as the 1820s, a Go through a kissing gate and Hacking Hall number of 14th and 15th century Garden Pavilion buildings survived at Stonyhurst. It is continue to follow the field boundary. Cromwell’s Bridge possible that the barn dates from the After passing through another kissing St. Mary’s Woodfields Also known as Devil's Bridge, the same period, as the roof is supported gate, follow the path downhill and Stonyhurst Hall 5 7 packhorse bridge across the Hodder on 5 massive oak cruck frames. This over the stream. Climb uphill with College Cromwell’s was built by Sir Richard Shireburn in building technique fell out of favour Fox Fall Wood on your left. 1562, replacing a wooden bridge Bridge 9 in the 16th century due to a Where the Hodder joins the River dating from at least 1331. Legend says shortage of timber. Ribble, take the path to the left, that it was used by Oliver Cromwell 3 As the gradient levels, bear right around the gate, to reach a stile by a during his march from to across the narrow paddock to follow Observatories R I V E R bench. Go over the stile and turn intercept the Royalists at the Battle of Garden Pavilions the iron fence to the corner. Go H left to follow a wide track alongside Preston in 1648. It is far more likely through the gate in the corner and Hall Barn O the Ribble. After about 1km, the that he would have crossed the river The two pavilions, with their elegant Farm D at Higher Hodder Bridge. turn right, passing the current 4 8 Ribble is joined from the left by the curving roofs, were added to D Observatory for the College. N River Calder, with Hacking Hall on Stonyhurst – along with a formal E Follow the tarmac track downhill R the opposite bank. walled garden – by Sir Nicholas 3 Shireburn in the late 17th century. towards Hall Barn Farm. Winckley Hall Farm 10 Continue to follow the bank of the The octagonal building beyond (now In the 12th century,Winckley was part used as a tea room) is the old Winckley Ribble until the path narrows near a of the estates of the Knights observatory of 1838 (see above). 4 Turn left before the gate and go Hall stone building on the right. Go Hospitaller. By the early 13th century through a wooden gate, following through a gate on to a track and it had been granted to John de 2 E the line of the farm buildings. There L over a stile, heading towards Jumbles Winkley. John supported Thomas Earl B Winckley B of Lancaster in his revolt against is a magnificent view of Stonyhurst I Farm. Follow the track around to A D Hall Farm R College and the Pavilions to your R O 9 the left to pick up the line of the river Edward II in 1318. Although Thomas Pendle Hill dominates the south L E Y A L was executed for treason, John eastern flank of the Ribble Valley left. You will shortly emerge on to H again. Where the track turns right, a track. straight ahead, W keep straight on alongside the Ribble. Winkley was pardoned. Little of the and is the highest hill in Lancashire early house survives. at 557m (1860ft). following the hedge. To your left is HURST As you walk you will see a stone 1 was built in the 12th century on the St. Mary’s Hall, formerly a seminary. GREEN Stone Cross cross on the hillside to your right. rocky outcrop overlooking the Across the playing fields to your Jumbles crossing of the Ribble at Edisford. right is the distinctive profile of Shireburn Farm Hacking Hall 11 Where the cross disappears from view, The castle and adjacent museum Pendle Hill, with - a little to its Arms Hotel The de Hacking family occupied this E go over a stile, across a gravel are open throughout the year. left - Clitheroe Castle. L 10 site from at least 1200, until it passed For opening times, contact B surface, then over another stile to by marriage to the Shuttleworth 11 B Clitheroe Tourist Information on I continue alongside the river. Ahead family in the 14th century. The R 01200 425566. 5 When you reach Woodfields, cross of you is a graceful three-arched present house was built in 1607 by Sir R Thomas Walmsley of Dunkenhalgh, the road, bearing slightly to the left 12 aqueduct. When you reach the Aqueduct E the noted circuit judge, who had and turn down the lane between V aqueduct, go over the stile to its Woodfields and the houses. The lane soon becomes I right, bearing slightly right across married the heiress Anne R Shuttleworth. Just upstream of the New Lodge a rough track and swings to the left. the field and through another stile hall was the ferry service, which Turn right and go over the wooden on the edge of a wood. Cross the The houses around Woodfields are operated until the 1950s. The stile, then follow the edge of the R wooden bridge and climb the stepped owned by Stonyhurst College and E ferryman's hut and the ferry itself are Heron C A D provide accommodation for staff. field alongside Over Hacking Wood. L path to another stile. Go over this on display at . J.R.R.Tolkien stayed at nearby New Near the corner, turn left over a Hacking stile and walk straight ahead, Lodge when he visited his son John stile, then right to descend a Hall following the fence on the left. at St. Mary’s Hall. At that time, it was stepped path. The Stone Cross a seminary for the English College 7 Where the track meets the main 12 The base of the cross dates to the evacuated from Rome. His other son Where the fence turns sharply left, 6 Cross the bridge over the stream and road at Lower Hodder Bridge, cross keep straight on downhill. Cross early Christian period and was Michael later lived at Woodfields and originally sited to the north of Cross planted a copse in his father's follow the path which forks to the over, pausing to admire Cromwell's 8 Go through the kissing gate and two bridges and another stile, then . Bridge just a little downstream. Gills Farm. It was moved to its memory following J.R.R.Tolkien's right towards the turn left along the tarmac track, turn slightly to the left. You should present position in 1833 by the Turn right along the footway and death in 1973. Just before reaching the river, turn which drops steadily downhill. now be walking uphill along a low Rector of Stonyhurst. At the same follow the road uphill. Opposite right over another bridge and climb Where the track levels, go straight ridge with streams on either side. time a new shaft and arms were cut steadily uphill. Passing Hodder the junction, go left over a stile and ahead, through the gate and into After about 200m, cross the stream to surmount the pedestal. River Hodder Place on your right, the path now bear slightly left across the field to on the right and turn left to continue another stile in the fence opposite. Winckley Hall Farm yard. Turn The Hodder marks the historic descends towards the river. Herons uphill, following the line of the can be seen along this stretch of Go over the stile and walk straight right, go through the yard, then field boundary on the left. At the The Aqueduct county boundary between turn left, passing a brick wall on the Lancashire (this side) and river. Go through the stile at the uphill, crossing another stile before top of the field, go over a stone stile The graceful stone aqueduct was (far side). Much of the land in the bottom of the hill to emerge from the brow. Bear slightly right across left to reach a gate. Go through the in the left corner and pass through constructed in the 1880s by the Hodder Valley further to the north is the woodland on to a wide, surfaced the field, passing through a kissing stile and turn immediately right the car park of the Shireburn Arms Blackburn Corporation. It originally owned by the Queen as the Duke of track. You will now follow the river gate and heading towards the hedge along a gravel track, with the River Hotel. Cross the road to return to carried water from via an Lancaster. as it curves gently round to the right. to the left of the farm buildings. Cromwell’s Bridge Hodder again on your left. the start of the walk. underground pipeline