the encyclopedic entry of Clitheroe

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Schools

The three main secondary schools in the town are Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, Ribblesdale High Technology College and Moorland School. There are several primary schools in the town. These are St James's Church of England Primary School, Sts Michael and John's Roman Catholic Primary School, Pendle Primary School, Edisford Primary School and Brookside Primary School.

Industry

Clitheroe enjoys one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the UK. This is largely due to the presence of several companies that each employ hundreds. Most significant are Ultraframe, Castle Cement, Tarmac and Johnson Matthey.

Castle Cement has been criticised for using industrial waste in its kilns, which some local inhabitants claim produces poisonous dioxins. Castle Cement claims that its filters remove these and that government inspectors have approved the plant. However, locals continue to campaign for the use of industrial waste as fuel to cease.

Jet engine development

During World War Two, the Jet Engine was developed by the Rover Company. Rover and Rolls-Royce met engineers from the different companies at Clitheroe's Swan & Royal Hotel.

The castle

Clitheroe Castle is argued to be the smallest Norman keep in the whole of England. It stands atop a 35-metre outcrop of limestone and is one of the oldest buildings in Lancashire. It is also the only remaining castle in the county which had a royalist garrison during the English Civil War.

The castle's most prominent feature is the hole in its side which was made in 1649 as was ordered by the government. It was to be put in "such condition that in might neither be a charge to the Commonwealth to keep it, nor a danger to have it kept against them".

Society

Clitheronians are generally quite traditional. A Conservative member of parliament has represented the town for many years, with the exception of Michael Carr, elected in 1991 for the Liberal Democrats. The current MP is Nigel Evans. Previous to both these was the high profile David Waddington. However, the borough returned one of the first six ever socialist MPs at the 1906 election, due perhaps to the large number of mill workers living locally at that time. Jimmy Clitheroe, a comedian well known for his bawdy radio shows, was also not from Clitheroe but from nearby Colne. However, a cafe in the town is named after him.

Retail

Clitheroe has many small independent shops, as well as some smaller branches of chain stores, such as Clinton Cards, Timpsons, Boots the Chemist & Woolworth's. There are numerous banks and building societies, including Lloyds TSB, ABBEY, HSBC, Natwest & Yorkshire Bank. Clitheroe has a number of supermarkets; Booths, Tesco & Sainsbury's. There are numerous cafes, hairdressers, & charity shops. There is also a little shopping arcade known as the Swan Courtyard, which contains many shops and cafes. There are also 2 petrol stations, run by BP & TOTAL. Future retail developments include the controversial new Homebase store due to open autumn 08. Other prominent stores include; Dawsons Department Store, Sowerbutts, Cowgill's, amongst many others.

Sport

Clitheroe F.C. play in the Northern Premier League Division One North. They play their home games at the Shawbridge Stadium.

Hurst Green is a semi professional football team from Clitheroe, they play in the East Lancashire Division 1, and in 2007 were crowned Champions.

An annual cycle race, the Clitheroe Grand Prix takes place in the town.

Clitheroe is also home to the PESL Futsal Cup, an annual futsal tournament, which takes place every August at Edisford.

Professional UFC fighter Michael Bisping also hails from the town.

Health

Clitheroe has a health centre, accommodating the Pendleside Medical Practice and the Castle Medical Group. There is a community hospital. The areas is served by the East Lancashire NHS Primary Care Trust.

One of the GPs, Dr John Zakrzewski, plays as the goalkeeper for the British Medical Football Team, is a member of the Mad Dogs football team and a member of a local wine society, WINOS.

Clitheroe also has its own Ambulance, Fire & Police stations.

Religion

There are three Anglican churches: St James' Church has recently been refurbished and is home to a lively all-age congregation; the more traditional St Mary's is prominent on Church Brow atop another limestone knoll; St Paul's is in the area of town known as Low Moor. The town also has a large Roman Catholic community. The majority of Roman Catholic children attend St Augustine's RC High School. The Catholic saint, Margaret Clitherow, was not from Clitheroe but lived and was martyred in York. There are also Methodist and URC churches in the town as well as the Clitheroe Community Church and Salvation Army citadel. In nearby Sawley there is a Quaker Meeting House.

There is a sizeable Muslim community in Clitheroe. After years of campaigning for a Mosque in the town, permission was finally granted in 2006 for the conversion of a former church at Lowergate into a multi-faith centre which will have a Muslim prayer room and will be open to all faiths to use the rest of the building.

Transport

Clitheroe is extremely well connected in terms of public transport links via Clitheroe Interchange.

Train services in and out of Clitheroe

There are hourly trains to Blackburn & Manchester from the railway station that are operated by Northern Rail. Usually, services are operated by Class 150 trains, but sometimes Class 156 operate the service. The Ribble Valley Rail group (community rail group) is campaigning for services from Clitheroe to be extended to Hellifield.

Bus services in and around Clitheroe

There are also frequent bus services to the surrounding Lancashire & Yorkshire settlements. Transdev is the most prominent operator, mainly operating interurban services to other towns in Lancashire, Greater Manchester & West Yorkshire. Other operators include Stagecoach in Lancashire and Tyrer Bus. See list below for more details:

Services Operated By Transdev Lancashire United:

Route 225 .... Clitheroe - Whalley - Blackburn - Darwen - Bolton
Route 241 .... Clitheroe - Whalley - Great Harwood - Clayton-le-Moors - Accrington - Oswaldtwistle - Royal Blackburn Hospital
Route 280 .... Skipton - Barnoldswick - Clitheroe - Whalley - Mellor - Preston
Route X80 .... Skipton - West Marton - Clitheroe - Whalley - Mellor - Preston
Route C2 SUN .... Clitheroe - Low Moor - Chatburn - Sawley - Grindleton (circular)
Route C5 SUN .... Clitheroe - West Bradford & Waddington (circular)

Routes Run by Other Operators:

The Mainline 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28 & 29 .... Clitheroe - Whalley - Padiham - Burnley - Nelson - Colne (Transdev Burnley & Pendle)
Route 231 .... Clitheroe - Whalley - Great Harwood - Accrington (M&M Coaches Accrington)
Bowland Transit B10/B11 .... Clitheroe - Slaidburn circulars (Tyrer Bus)
Bowland Transit B12 .... Clitheroe - Chipping - Garstang (Travel For All)
Pendle Witch Hopper 70/71, P70/P71
70/71 .... Nelson - Barley - Clitheroe - Sabden - Burnley (Sundays only, Tyrer Bus)
P70/P71 .... Nelson - Blacko - Barley - Downham - Chatburn - Clitheroe (Mon-Sat, Tyrer Bus)
Route 5 .... Longridge - Ribchester - Clitheroe (Stagecoach in Lancashire)
Route C1 .... Low Moor - Clitheroe - Peel Park (Travel For All / Stagecoach Ribble)
Route C2 .... Clitheroe - Low Moor - Chatburn - Sawley - Grindelton (Mon - Sat circular Tyrer Bus)
Route C4 .... Clitheroe - Peel Park (circular, Tyrer Bus)
Route C5/C15 .... Clitheroe - West Bradford & Waddington Circulars(Mon-Sat circular Tyrer Bus)
Route C25 .... Clitheroe - Whalley - Brockhall - Copster Green -Blackburn Stagecoach in Lancashire)