New book charts the history of water supplies across the Hodder Valley

Covering the villages of Tosside, Slaidburn, Newton in Bowland, Dunsop Bridge and the former settlement of Stocks in Bowland at Dale Head, the book begins with the earliest known settlers to the Valley in the Bronze Age, who decided to make their home near the banks of the River Hodder for its clear and plentiful supply of water.

Many of the villages and outlying properties relied on wells and troughs for their drinking water and these have been researched and documented. During the early 20th Century several of the villages were experiencing problems accessing a good, clean water supply. Early private, piped supplies followed at later dates and many of them have been traced.

Various people have been interviewed and documents consulted at Lancashire Archives and Clitheroe Library. Many estate papers have been viewed that had been stored carefully away, implying that the water supplies and their purity were of great importance.

Water has always been vital for life, with a good, clean supply being essential. Several mains water supplies are taken from the gathering grounds of the Hodder Valley, originally to serve the growing towns of Lancashire, they initially bypassed the villages enroute, who were often struggling themselves for water.

Titled Water from the Fells: A History of Water Supplies to Slaidburn and the surrounding Villages of the Hodder Valley, this new book records the early, private supplies to those villages and charts some of their struggles to gain access to the water they so badly needed.

Priced £12 plus £2.50 p&p, the book is available from Slaidburn Archive, 25 Church Street, Slaidburn, Clitheroe BB7 3ER. Please send a cheque or contact the Archive on [email protected] or phone 01200 446161 for BACS details. Open on a Wednesday and Friday from 11.00am to 3.30pm the Archive is a treasure trove of information for local or family historians.