A small and select 8 Spaggers enjoyed some super autumn weather and an interesting walk from the Entwistle Dam Car Park.

A very bumpy old road up to The Station Arms (a pub we all know these days as The Strawbury Duck) and Entwistle Railway station. Built in 1848, 8 miles south of Blackburn it expanded in 1902 to 4 lines to support the Know Mill bleachworks and print complex with coal, raw cotton, and chemicals: and to be an exit route for the finished goods. Only 1 line now after mill closure and Dr Beeching in the 1960s…….

Then through the woods and underneath the routes of the overhead pulley ropeways that supported the deliveries to the mill complex and around the lake.

Know Mill was closed and demolished in 1962. The Wayoh dam height was increased and the mill site then flooded. The road was flooded too and a new causeway built to support Hob Lane. All the workers and managers homes were knocked down too – very little trace remains.

It’s now a very green wooded area that nature is recovering. Later in the season when the leaves have fallen or when the water level is very low there will be even better views of the mill site and foundations. If anyone’s interested……….