The Walk
Scarlett’s Stride is a 12 mile or 8 mile [slightly less challenging] circular walk taking in the beauty of the Cliviger countryside starting and finishing at St John the Divine Church House.
A charge is made to enter the walk and the entrants are given a route description they can follow either in booklet form on their phones.
Everyone sets off together in a mass start from Church house.
Refreshments are available for the walkers/ runners at each of the three checkpoints, and they are rewarded with a warm meal at the finish in Church House.
Care is taken to see that every competitor is accounted for at each of the checkpoints and a sweep team with radio contact follows the last walkers in.
A new woven badge and a certificate are also given to every competitor on completion of the walk.
Can you rise to the 5 year challenge, starting in 2019, collect a different badge for every Scarlett Stride completed.
The Name
Scarlett’s Stride is named after General James Yorke Scarlett who is buried in St John the Divine churchyard near to the starting point of the walk
Born in London in 1799 he went to Eton and Trinity College Cambridge and served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Guilford.
He settled in Burnley on his marriage in 1835 to Anne, daughter of the Hargreaves family, a local coal mining family.
Scarlett is best known for his role as commander of the Heavy Brigade during the Crimean war.
The Light Brigade’s defeat in the battle of Balaclava has been immortalised in Alfred Tennyson’s poem, but their defeat was to overshadow Scarlett’s earlier success in the battle.
His lesser known Heavy Brigade, even though heavily outnumbered overpowered the Russians, forcing their retreat.
He won promotion and continued to serve in the army until his retirement when he went back into politics for a while standing in the 1868 General Election for Burnley where he was narrowly defeated.
Scarlett died at his Bank Hall estate in December 1871 aged 72. On the day of his funeral an estimated 60,000 people lined a 4 mile stretch of road to pay their respects, all the way from his home to his resting place in St John’s Cliviger churchyard.