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Pendle A - Z
Pendle's towns and villages are steeped in history. Some have associations with Pendle Witches, others bear the stamp of the textile revolution. One thing they all share are the meadows and windswept moorlands of Lancashire's Hill Country - right on their doorsteps. (From "Pendle Street Atlas")
View of Nelson & Barrowford from Kings Causeway
Click Photo to enlarge
- Barley
- A small farming settlement at the foot of Pendle Hill. It's the usual gathering place of people setting off to climb the hill. It's history can be traced back to 1324 when it was known as Barleegh.
- Barnoldswick
- Another town steeped in history. Barnoldswick can trace its history back to the Vikings. An old mill town that is now home to many companies; Rolls Royce and Silentnight being its most famous.
- Barrowford
- A linear village situated to the north of Nelson on the A682. It has 17th and 18th century farmhouses and handloom weavers' cottages alongside the later 19th and 20th century mills. Pendle Water streams through the center of the settlement past historic Park Hill, home of the Pendle Heritage Centre and the beginning of the Pendle Way.
- Blacko
- Famous for Blacko Tower, a folly that overlooks Pendle from the North. Blacko is a small village at the edge of Pendle.
- Bracewell
- A small hamlet at the north of Pendle. Henry VI hid here in his escape from the Yorkists after the Battle of Hexham in 1464. You can still see "King Henry's Parlour" today - it's a barn.
- Brierfield
- Small town between Nelson and Burnley. It is historically connected to the Quaker movement; their meeting house still stands just down the hill from Marsden Cross.
- Colne
- An ancient market town steeped in history (parts of the parish church date back to the 11th century). Birthplace of Wallace Hartley (band master on the Titanic) and home of The Great British R&B Festival. Colne, along with Nelson, were at the heart of the Lancashire cotton industry, there are many signs of this still around. Close to the motorway system (the M65 terminates in Colne), it has many shops, an indoor and an lively outdoor market, and several mill shops to wet your appetite.
- Earby
- Town between Foulridge and the wilds of Yorkshire. It is mentioned in the Doomsday book as Eurebi in the Manor of Thornton.
- Fence
- Small village named after the type of enclosure that the stags were kept after hunting in Pendle Forest. There's a lively and friendly church at St Anne's with a growing reputation for great concerts.
- Foulridge
- Famous in these parts for its artificial lake, Lake Burwain, and the "mile tunnel" on the Leeds-Liverpool canal.
- Higham
- Part of a small cluster of villages between Nelson and Padiham. Its most famous citizen was Jonas Moore, co-founder of the Greenwich Observatory (see also).
- Kelbrook
- Village near Barnoldswick & Earby.
- Laneshawbridge
- Small village on the road from Colne to Keithley. It lies at the cross roads with the old Herder's track to Howarth.
- Nelson
- A Lancashire mill town named after the famous Admiral Lord Nelson. The town has many shops and businesses and is the seat of Pendle Council.
- Newchurch
- Village adjacent to Barley, at the foot of Pendle Hill. Famous for the Pendle Witches who lived there in the 17th century.
- Reedley
- Area between Brierfield and Burnley; location of our local magistrate courts.
- Roughlee
- Delightful little hamlet set alongside the gentle stream of Pendle Water, near Barley. Roughlee Hall was once thought to be the home of Alice Nutter, executed for witchcraft in 1612.
- Salterforth
- Village near Barnoldswick & Earby. The Leeds-Liverpool canal has its highest point here.
- Sough
- A village between Kelbrook and Earby.
- Spen Brook
- A hamlet near Newchurch.
- Trawden
- A small, hilly, mill-village next to Colne.
- Wheatley Lane
- Lying between Barrowford and Fence is Wheatley Lane, a small linear village.
- Winewall
- A steep climb off the road from Colne to Trawden brings you to the hamlet of Winewall. Great views over Pendle to Pendle Hill from here.
- Wycoller
- Picturesque hamlet famous for its the ruins of Wycoller House where Charlotte Bronte set part of Jane Eyre. Here you can walk over a historic bridge that dates back to the Iron Age.