Bygone Burnley: Sabden, with historian Roger Frost MBE

Nestled in the foothills of Pendle Hill, the village of Sabden can lay claim to monumental discoveries and people that belie its small size.

Indeed, the discovery for the idea of bottled beer, courtesy of Read gentleman Alexander Nowell, whose happy accident in the Sabden Beck, can certainly be said to have had a revoluntionary and global impact to this day.

Similarly, the presence in the village of businessman turned famous Victorian politician and campaigner Richard Cobden, is a fact not many are aware of.

Our video begins in the original part of the village where Roger speaks outside St Nicholas’ Church, a stone’s throw from a row of original handloom weavers’ cottages.

He said: “The cottages were also lived in by Calico printers, a lot of early Sabden families were engaged in that industry. Richard Cobden was a partner in one of those companies. He was a famous member of the Anti-Corn Law League.”

No history of Sabden, however, can be made without mention of its famous ‘treacle mines’, as Roger explains the reality behind the fairytale.

“People came to Sabden from all over the place to collect troll-like treacle miners. In the 1960s and 70s it was a well-known local industry.

“The word treacle in old English means ‘holy water’ and Sabden had a holy well. People were aware of the holy well, and that’s where the ‘mines’ come from. Sabden made an industry out of a medieval holy well.”

Another feature of the village is the Sabden Beck, which flows into the Calder at Read. Under one of the bridges, one of the greatest inventions of all time took place, as Roger explains.

“Alexander Nowell from Read Hall, whose family were involved in the Lancashire Witch trials, became a clergyman and indeed rose to become the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

“However, he was the one who discovered the idea for bottled beer. He had been out fishing as a young boy and left his bottle of beer in the water to cool down. When he came back some days later to the Beck, near Read bridge, he discovered the beer inside had become effervescent.”