AN AMATEUR historian today revealed the forgotten story of East Lancashire's first horse racing track -- 166 years after it hosted its last meeting.

Ambitious plans to create a new, multi-million pound racecourse between Altham and Simonstone have left many people toasting the possible arrival of the sport of kings.

But for Dave Mortimer, a retired civil engineer from Edge End Lane, Great Harwood, they are hundreds of years out of date.

Clitheroe Raceground, situated in fields near Chatburn, drew huge crowds for regular meetings before it closed in 1839.

The earliest record of the course features in a 1618 diary entry by a local man called Nicholas Assheton and it regularly attracted up to 5,000 racegoers.

Situated on what is now Bellman Quarry, owned by nearby Castle Cement, the raceground has remained largely forgotten.

But Mr Mortimer began researching the raceground after a stranger told him about it while visiting nearby Clitheroe Hospital, Chatburn Road.

His research took him to Clitheroe Library where records carry some details, as well as flyers and adverts for the races.

The Middle East businessmen behind the new East Lancashire racecourse hope to have it up and running by 2008

But Mr Mortimer said: "I read about this new racecourse and thought, hang on, this isn't new.

"Clitheroe had it's own raceground for years which attracted people for miles around, but we have no idea why it stopped.

"This shows East Lancashire has a great tradition of racing going back at least 400 years.

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It's thought that racing in the Clitheroe area started in the Low Moor area of the town, before moving to the Bellman site.

The raceground appears on 19th century maps as an oval course. It featured on local Ordnance Survey maps until 1847, but disappeared from drawings by the 1880s.

Chatburn councillor Howard Douglas, who has lived in the village for 15 years, said: "This is news to me. I've never heard of this racecourse. It shows what an interesting local history we have."

Colin Wiseman, 94, of Bridge Road, who has lived in the village since 1952, said: "I've heard about it and know where it was, but that's it. The only other person who knew anything is long dead."

Ruth Hargreaves, reference librarian at Clitheroe Library, said: "We don't have many people coming in and asking for it but we have a few snippets of information, mainly from the Borough Record, a short-lived local newspaper."

Castle Cement bosses admit the history of the Bellman racecourse isn't widely known, although one employee, Keith Hall, knew about its past. He said: "They quarried Bellman well into the 1800s, but I'm not sure why the racecourse stopped. Few people know it even existed but it is a fascinating part of our history."