Earby

Earby
Earby
	The Punch Bowl public house, Earby
	Earby Shown within Pendle Borough Earby Location within Lancashire
Population	4,538 (2011)
OS grid reference	SD905464
Civil parish	Earby;
District	Pendle;
Shire county	Lancashire;
Region	North West;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BARNOLDSWICK
Postcode district	BB18
Dialling code	01282
Police	Lancashire
Fire	Lancashire
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Pendle;
	List of places UK England Lancashire 53°54′50″N 2°08′38″W / 53.914°N 2.144°W

Earby is a town and civil parish within the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, Earby has been administered by Lancashire County Council since 1974 and regularly celebrates its Yorkshire roots. It is 5 miles (8 km) north of Colne, 7 miles (11.3 km) south-west of Skipton, and 11 miles (17.7 km) north-east of Burnley. The parish had a population of 4,538 recorded in the 2011 census,^[1]

History

From 1909 to 1974, Earby formed an urban district. Since 1974, Earby has been in the West Craven area of Pendle,^[2] has a town council and is part of the West Craven Area Committee on Pendle Borough Council.^[3]^[4]

The Yorkshire Dales Lead Mining Museum was based in the old Grade II* listed Grammar School building;^[5] it closed in January 2016. The Robert Windle's Foundation, a charity established in the 1600s and original owners of the building, have now taken back control and are working to establish a community hub and café for the benefit of the residents of the locality.

Transport

The town has a daily bus service (280) between Preston and Skipton, operated by Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire, together with a daily bus service (M5) from Barnoldswick to Burnley provided by the Burnley Bus Company.^[6]

Earby railway station once served the town on a route between Colne and Skipton, but it was closed in 1970. The station was an interchange with a small branch to Barnoldswick, which closed five years earlier. Passengers must now travel via Skipton for trains serving North and West Yorkshire or via Colne/Clitheroe for trains serving Lancashire; services are operated by Northern Trains.^[7]

Local media

Earby is served by television from both Leeds and Manchester; ITV (Yorkshire Television) and BBC Yorkshire are both transmitted from the television mast at East Marton, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Earby.^[8] BBC North West and ITV (Granada Television) are both received directly from the main Winter Hill transmitter.^[9] The BBC has a relay that overlooks Earby and has the four main BBC national FM radio stations (Radio 1 to 4).^[10] Fresh Radio^[11] in Skipton covers the area on MW 1413 kHz.

The local press is published weekly; the Barnoldswick and Earby Times^[12] is published on Fridays and is covered at Pendle Today. Some of the Yorkshire press is circulated in the area – due to the geographical proximity. The Craven Herald & Pioneer^[13] and Yorkshire Post^[14] are prominent.

In 2012, a local radio station was broadcast for the first time: West Craven Community Radio, an online based station serving the community of West Craven area of Pendle and beyond, including listeners afar as San Francisco and Malaysia. The station, run by non-paid volunteers, was originally broadcast three days a week. In December 2012, it was broadcasting on four days a week including Friday evenings.^[15] In 2013, it was hoping to raise enough money for an FM licence from Ofcom.^[16] However, there is no current radio station on analogue radio licensed specifically for Earby as a commercial radio station and no community radio station for the same area with a licence from Ofcom.^[17]^[18]