The Land of the Lune - Drakkar Press

106 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell
a doctor and social reformer known for his
treatment of cholera in Manchester in 1832,
after which he wrote an influential book, The
Moral and Physical Condition of the Working
Classes Employed in the Cotton Manufacture
in Manchester. In 1842 Kay married Janet
Shuttleworth, daughter of Robert Shuttleworth
of Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley, who had long
owned land in Barbondale. Sir James Kay-
Shuttleworth, as he became, retired here in
1872 after his wife died.
Since 1910 the curving drive up to Barbon
Manor has been the site for the Barbon Sprint
Hillclimb, which is part of the British Hillclimb
Championship. The aim is to drive a vehicle
up the 800m course as fast as possible. While
no doubt a challenge for mechanics, it seems
to be a sport of great simplicity and (I imagine)
great noise.
Below the manor Barbon Beck passes
behind the neat village of Barbon. Barbon is ancient,
being listed in the Domesday Book as Berebrune, but
hides its heritage. St Bartholomew’s Church was built in
1893, on the site of a 17 th century chapel, all sign of which
was thereby removed. It was built in the perpendicular
style by the Lancaster-based firm of Paley & Austin,
which had a national reputation for its ecclesiastical
buildings.
There is a distinctive quality about the buildings of
Edward Paley and Hubert Austin, featuring
majestic towers, recessed spires and well-lit
naves, but, according to The Victorian Society,
“The later work of the Austin and Paley era
took on a squared-off Gothic look and became
stereotyped and conventionalised … There
was a loss of zest though still much to admire”.
Since Paley died in 1895 this may be thought
to apply to the Barbon church. But probably
the quotation is referring not to the aforementioned
gentlemen but to the firm of Paley
& Austin, which continued, through their sons,
until 1942.
More recently, new buildings have hidden
traces of the Lowgill-Clapham railway line and
station, which only closed in 1966. The 17 th
century Barbon Inn still survives, however,
and the sheep still graze, if rather tweely, in
the paddock by the memorial cross.
Barbon Manor
Below Hodge Bridge, Barbon Beck passes under no
less than four functional footbridges that enable golfers
to get from one part of Kirkby Lonsdale golf course to the
other. These bridges lack the charm and, I am sure, the
durability of the narrow packhorse bridge by Beckfoot
Farm. It is natural to wonder where the packhorses were
heading: did they use the two bridleway fords across the
Lune marked on the map? Today the fords seem usable
only very rarely.
St Bartholomew’s Church, Barbon
This is Chapter 6 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self