Bowland Forest High

Bowland Forest High
Bowland Forest High
	Croasdale Fell
	Bowland Forest High Location in Ribble Valley Bowland Forest High Location in the Forest of Bowland Bowland Forest High Location within Lancashire
Area	79.7708 km2 (30.7997 sq mi)
Population	144 (2011)
• Density	2/km2 (5.2/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SD659501
Civil parish	Bowland Forest High;
District	Ribble Valley;
Shire county	Lancashire;
Region	North West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CLITHEROE
Postcode district	BB7
Dialling code	01200
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Ribble Valley;
	List of places UK England Lancashire 53°56′46″N 2°31′12″W / 53.946°N 2.520°W

Bowland Forest High is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, covering some 20,000 acres (80 km²) of the Forest of Bowland. It fell within the ancient boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 163, falling to 144 at the 2011 Census.^[1]^[2] The parish includes the settlements of Hareden, Sykes, and Dunsop Bridge. It covers Sykes Fell, Whins Brow, Croasdale Fell and Wolfhole Crag. Before 1974, it formed part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

History

Historic Bowland comprised a Royal Forest and a Liberty of ten manors spanning eight townships and four parishes and covered an area of almost 300 square miles (800 km²) on the historic borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire.^[3] The manors within the Liberty were Slaidburn (Newton-in-Bowland, West Bradford, Grindleton), Knowlmere, Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill (Crook), Leagram (Bowland-with-Leagram), Hammerton and Dunnow (Battersby). Modern-day Bowland Forest is divided into two large administrative townships - Great Bowland (Bowland Forest High and Bowland Forest Low) and Little Bowland (Bowland-with-Leagram) - but the Forest was much more extensive in previous times.

St Hubert, the patron saint of hunting, is also patron saint of the Forest of Bowland and has a chapel dedicated to him in Dunsop Bridge. This chapel was founded by Richard Eastwood of Thorneyholme, land agent to the Towneley family. Eastwood was the last Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland during the nineteenth century. An acclaimed breeder of racehorses and shorthorn cattle, he died in 1871 and is buried at St Hubert's.