Higherford Bridge

Higherford old bridge, close by the village of Barrowford, must be one of the most picturesque places to boast a Nelson postcode. Spanning Pendle Water, this sixteenth or seventeenth-century bridge was used by pack horses carrying coal from Gisburn and Pendle Forest to Colne.

A number of websites and historical notes, including Dr Tom Robertson’s, whose I usually find accurate, repeats the claim that John Wesley preached from the bridge in 1774 before being hustled away by the mob. I cannot find evidence that this happened, thinking that an event in 1748 is being misdated, or two separate visits conflated. Still, Wesley often returned to the places he had preached at, even ones in which he was abused, and it would not surprise me if he came to give those Lancastrian thugs a second dose of truth. The bridge would be a natural location to render his pulpit, commanding views of the area with crowds able to gather about the river banks. Still, parapets may only have been added in 1815, so he would have needed a keen sense of balance and a windless day if he was not to fall into the river.

So, a makeshift pulpit bearing the good news of Christ’s gospel, or just another pretty pile of stones and postcard-worthy vista? Higherford still needs God’s light- if only the stones would cry out. Those of us sitting in old houses may wonder what gospel light shone therein, down the centuries and decades. Sometimes, places of grace and light become dead and dark, while homes, towns and countries which are dark may sometimes suddenly jolted to life in salvation’s bright dawn:

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Lord God, shine again in our parts. Send us a Wesley.