THERE were lots of puzzled faces when this road sign appeared on the main A59 road, back in 1979.

Visitors hoping to look round the ancient ruins of Sawley Abbey, may have been forgiven for thinking they had arrived in the wrong location.

And back then, they wouldn't have had the benefit of a modern 'sat nav', to pinpoint the spot.

For though the village of Sawley was only a quarter of a mile away, the ancient monument in the same direction was, according to the new sign, Salley Abbey.

Who had made the spelling mistake and who hadn't noticed it when the sign was put up on the Clitheroe bypass nearly 40 years ago, we aren't sure but, no doubt, it was quickly rectified for the benefit of tourists.

The abbey is the remains of a Cistercian abbey founded in the 1140s, which lay on a busy main road, even then, and the monks faced the expense of providing board and lodging to travellers.

The abbey was plundered during Henry VIII's suppression of the monasteries in 1537 and much of its stone was used in building neighbouring farms and cottages.

The first archaeological investigation into the ruins was undertaken in the 1840s.