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Manchester Times
Friday 23 June 1893
Pendle and its Romantic Associations.
By Our Special Commissioner.
III
A weird interest attaches to Rough Lee Hall from the circumstance that, as already stated, it was the home of an English gentlewoman - no aged Beldame with wrinkled face and gobber tooth, squint eye, and squeaking voice - but a lady of rank and fortune, well conducted and well connected, who, in the reign of the earliest of our Stuart Kings, was made the victim of a foul conspiracy, and sentenced to suffer the punishment of death upon the gallows. In those days there were few, if any, among even the best eductaed and most highly cultured, who did not place implicit faith in the popular superstition - witchcraft and demonical, possession; no county was more notorious for its witches than Lancashire, and no part of Lancashire was so infested with them as that wild and secluded district known as Pendle Forest, where nearly every ancient building was believed to be the resort of unhallowed beings who had sold themselves to and were bound to do the devil's service.
It has been said that witchcraft came in with the Stuarts and went out with them, but this is not strictly accurate, for the belief in sorcery and enchantment was widely prevalent in the Tudor reigns, and the belief was not confined to any one form of faith, for Churchmen, Romanists, and Puritans were alike the dupes of the imposters who roamed the country. Bishop Jewell preached before Queen Elizabeth on the terrible power and "marvellous increase" of witches; his episcopal brethren gave license and authority to the clergy to cast out devils; the priests of the Roman Church claimed a monopoly of the power to bind or loose evil spirits; and the Puritan preachers, not to be outdone by rival teachers, affirmed that their prayers and incantations were equally effacious. If storms arose and destroyed crops on land or wrecked vessels at sea; or if any one fell sick, suffered unusual pains in any part of the body or limbs; or if a neighbours horse or cow died from unknown causes; or the milk failed in the churning, each and all were attributed to the diabolical agency of some witch or other, and various means were had recourse to by the simple-minded believers in this horrible creed to protect their dwellings and farms and herds from the dreaded malevolence of these supposed dabblers in the black art, such as horse-shoes, sickles, triple pieces of iron and naturally formed or "self-holed" stones, which were affixed to the doors of buildings in the belief that their being so placed would be an effectual preventive against the evils so much feared, and serve to
Chase the evil spirits away by dint
Of sickle, horse-shoe, and hollow flint.
Though the belief in witchcraft is, in these modern days, rapidly dying out, it still lingers in some of the more secluded parts of the Forest, and it is no uncommon thing even now to fnd a horse-shoe nailed to the door of a dwelling, or fastened to a beam of the shippon to "keep out the witches" and protect the family and live stock, or to see a "lucky stone" - a stone with a natural formed hole in it tied to the key of the stable, to preserve the horse from being ridden by witches during the night. Though it should be said that, in response to our inquiries, a good woman we spoke to when passing through Barley assured us she had not heard of a witch having been seen in Pendle for many years past.
That sapient monarch James I. wrote a teatise on witchcraft under the ttle "Doemonology," not less remarkable for its vulgar credulity than for its sanguinary denunciations of the imaginary crime, and when he ascended the English throne he proclaimed witchcraft an act of treason against the Sovereign, and to be beyond all hope of royal clemency, and thus was opened the door for the most groundless accusations and unjust convictions; witch-finding became a profitable occupation, and witch-finders pursued their vocation with unflagging zeal, while they fed and fattened on the price of blood. It was while this execrable statute was in force that the scenes were enacted which made Pendle so notorious, and which Ainsworth, in his romance, has so graphically described. The wild glens in the Forest furnished a fitting background for these imaginary scenes of dark diablerie, and Malkin Tower, within easy distance of Rough Lee, was the place where, it was confidently affirmed, the witches held their midnight revelries.
At the autumn assizes at Lancaster in 1612 no less than twenty persons, of whom sixteen were women of various ages, were committed for trial on the charge of witchcraft, of whom twelve were styled the "Pendle Witches," the remaining eight being known as the "Samlesbury Witches," twelve of them being sentenced to death and hanged on Lancaster Moor, near where the workhouse now stands, on charges of the most revolting nature, and on evidence of the most absurd and preposterous character. Of the miserable victims thus offered on the altar of ignorance and superstition, the chief interest gathers round Alice Nutter, of Rough Lee. As we have said, she was a gentlewoman of fortune and on terms of social equality with the best families in the neighbourhood, as well as with the magistrate, Roger Nowell, of Read, before whom she was brought and by whom she was committed. It is commonly stated that James Device, on whose evidence mainly she was convicted, was instructed to accuse her by her own nearest relations in order that they might come into the possession of certain estates from which they were kept during the term of her life; and that the committing magistrate, Roger Nowell, of Read - an ancient mansion on the southern side of Pendle, on the high side of the road between Padiham and Whalley, and separated from the latter place by the deep gulley formed by the Sabden Brook - entered actively as a confederate into the conspiracy from a grudge he entertained against her on account of a long-disputed boundary of lands. But the truth or falsehood of these allegations which tradition has preserved, it would be difficult, if not impossible, at this distance of time to satisfactorily determine. It is well understood that the most prominent victim of these preposterous accusations, Mistress Nutter, was the original of the story of which Heywood availed himself in his "Late Lancashire Witches (1634)," frequently noticed by writers of the seventeenth century - that the wife of a Lancashire country gentleman had been detected in practising witchcraft and other unlawful acts, for which she was tried, condemned, and executed. He makes his chief character say -
I knew her a good woman and well bred
Of an unquestioned carriage, well reputed
Amongst her neighbours, reckoned with the best.
These trials, as may be imagined, produced an immense sensation throughout the country; Thomas Potts, the clerk of the court, was directed by the Judges of Assize, Sir Edward Bromley, Knt., and Sir James Altham, Knt., to collect and publish the whole of the evidence, with copies of the several documents connected with the trial, and this, after being revised by the Judges themselves, was published in the succeeding year, and in later times it has been reprinted by the Chetham Society under the able editorship of its learned president, the late Mr. James Crossley. Happily with the spread of knowledge and the increase of civilisation, the belief in witchcraft has almost entirely disappeared; with the relaxation of the laws against it witch-finding became less reputable and less profitable. The term has long lost its opprobrium in Lancashire, and is now transferred to a gentler species of fascination which is exercised by the fairer sex without the fear of judge or jury - a fascination so potent that few are able to escape the spell and still fewer desire to do so.
While we have meditated on Rough Lee and its tragic memories, the shadows have lengthened, evening is creeping on apace, and the westering sun reminds us that we must quit the quaint old gabled and legend-haunted mansion and "jog on, jog on the footpath way." Barrowfors is our next point, and to reach it we have a choice of ways; we may either cross the little bridge, mount the steep ridge in front, and then descend by Lower Fold; or we may follow the course of Pendle Water to the foot of Blacko Black How - Bleak How some people call it, and continue thence to the Water Meetings, where a junction is formed with the Wycoller Brook. The latter route, though a little longer, is less toilsome, and moreover affords some pleasant bits of scenery. The sparkling stream keeps us in cheerful compionship, and we listen to its merry prattle as it tumbles over the stony ledges and the moss grown boulders that strive to bar its way, making little cascades of the clearest crystal. As we approach Black How, we seem shut in within an ampitheatre of hill and valley; there are green acclivities, and low-lying woods, with scattered patches of copse; and here and there an antiquated homestead, moss-grown and grey and weather-worn, that must have been in existence when Alice nutter was supposed to be pronouncing her incantations and working her mischevious spells. Herebaouts the artist may find many an exquisite vignette with which to store his portfolio. Keeping along the water-side patrh and taking mental photographs as we journey on, we arrive, at a distance of half a mile or so from the Water Meetings at the Crowtrees, a pleasant residence belonging to a branch of the Grimshaw family; a little beyond a picturesque bridge of a single arch, bestrides the stream, and presently we are in Barrowford, the "little Manchester of the forest," as someone has styled it, on account of the number of cotton mills that have been set up, the largest of them belonging to Messrs. Barrowclough, finding employment for a large number of hands. In its earlier and more primitive days, ere the rattle of the loom and the busy hum of the spindle had been heard in the vale, the people devoted themselves to pastoral pursuits, for what is now called Barrowford comprised the vaccaries of Over and Nether Barrowford Booths. As we ented the village, the eye is attracted by the fine old gable building - the White Bear, which reminds us of the Bear's Paw we saw at Frodsham a few weeks ago, though its architectural effect is somewhat marred by the tall factory which rises in rear. It is of Jacobean character, and the date, 1607, on a projecting gable seems to fix the time of its erection. The church of Barrowford has no great antiquity to boast of, for it was built so recently as 1838, consecrated three years later, and enlarged in 1855. Previous to its erection, the scattered inhabitants would have to resort to their parochial chapel at Colne, or to one of the Nonconformist chapels, and there are a goodly number of them, Congregationalist, Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Free Gospellers, to say nothing of the Inghamites, who have their tabernacle at Wheatley Carr Booth, a little hamlet in the immediate vicinity. Nonconformity found its way into this out-of-the-way district at a very early date; as we have already seen, John Wesley made several visits to Rough Lee, and was followed by the famous Yorkshire preacher "Billy Dawson," and by certain Inghamite preachers, who came into the neighbourhood about the middle of the last century. The Congregationalists or Independents, as they were styled, commenced their services at the beginning of the present century in Mr. Grimshaw's house at Crowtrees; almost simultaneously services were held at Barrowford, and later on a school was opened in a barn at Blaco. Barrowford consists for the most part of one long village street, with its church and snug parsonage standing a little way back, and a pretty villa residence or two dotting the grassy slopes. The new Congregationalists Chapel is a prominent feature, its spired tower overtopping almost every other building.
Did time permit we might extend our ramble to Carr Hall, an ancient mansion pleasantly situated, and containing many artistic treasures, that formerly belonged to a branch of the Townleys, from whom it was conveyed in marriage by an heiress to the Claytons. On the death of Colonel Thomas Clayton in 1835 his son-in-law, Colonel Edward Every, who succeeded, took the additional name of Clayton by letters patent; he died in 1885, his eldest son, Thomas Edward, succeeding to the property.
Leaving Barrowford, we cross the stream, and continue past Park Hill (rebuilt in 1661), another ancient residence that was at the time the bitter conflict was being waged between the partisans of the Red and White Roses, and for many a generation after, the home of the Banasters, a branch of the ancient family of that name, of Bank and Altham; then we cross the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and continue along a rural road that rises and falls, passing Greenfield, where a number of Roman coins were discovered when digging the foundations of a mill about seventy years ago, and Waterside by the way; then another ascent and we enter Colne, one of the eldest manufacturing and market towns in the county; pleasantly situated on high ground that slopes up from the valley between the hills of Pendle and Boulsworth and from its highest point commands a wide extent of country, including the Forest of Trawden, Emmott Moor, the hill country of Craven, the valley of the Calder and the long tract of Ribblesdale with, more to the west, the wild country of Pendle Forest and Pendle Hill, and towards the south the high grounds about Accrington and Haslingden. The place has a history, and a long one too, for it is said to go back to the first century of the Christian era, and a local historian assures us that between it and Burnley, a distance of less than six miles in a direct line, "there are more objects of antiquarian interest scattered about than may be found in any other part of England." This is saying a good deal, but whether strictly accurate or not, a casual survey will show the richness of the locality in Roman, Saxon, and Danish remains. There is no doubt the place was a Roman settlement, that it was the "Calunio" of the Itinerary composed in the year 139, and was located on the line of the great military way leading to Cambodunum i.e. Slack, near Huddersfield; and that Castercliff, a lofty elevation about a mile and a half south of the town, was another station, placed at the junction of the vicinal way from Ribchester. This opinion is in great measure confirmed by the discovery at different times of Roman coins, pottery, and other articles. But these are matters into which it is not our purpose to now enter.
Passing over the periods of Saxon invasion, of Danish spoliation, and of Norman Conquest, during which so far as this district is concerned but little is known, we come to the foundation of the parochial chapel, now the parish church, which is believed to owe its existence to a Norman baron, Robert de Lacy, son of the Ilbert de Lacy who came over with the Conqueror; the exact date of its foundation has not been ascertained, but it is known to have been in existence in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135). The building, which is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, stands upon the summit of the hill at the upper end of the town, and commands a fine view of the surrounding country; it is a grey, irregular pile, built at different periods, and like many old churches exhibits several styles of architecture; it comprises a nave and chancel with two chantry chapels, a tower and south porch. The oldest portion is Transitional Norman, and the greater part of the remainder is Late Perpendicular. The tower is massive, buttressed, and battlemented, and appears to have been in part rebuilt in the time of Henry VIII., when a commission was issued authorising the rebuilding of several parts of the fabris then dilapidated; after this it remained until 1856, when it was again restored and enlarged. On the north side is an ancient chantry that formerly belonged to the Banastres of Park Hill, of whom mention has already been made, and on the south side is another chantry founded by the Townleys of Barnside, and now the property of the Every-Claytons. The interior contains a goodly number of sepulchral memorials. The parson of Colne had a somewhat rough experience in the stormy times of the Civil War; he was then advanced in years, and being unwilling to acquiesce in the new system of church government incurred the dislike of the dominant party. It is said by Walker that during the time of service in the church he was dragged out of the reading desk by two of the Parliamentarian soldiers, hurried down the aisle, and would have been fired upon, but for the intervention of the congregation. The poor fellow sought refuge among his friends in Yorkshire, and is supposed to have died there. The people of Colne do not appear to have taken any very active part in that great struggle, but in a despatch sent to the Parliament in 1642 they are described as "sturdy churls," who were ready to fight than that their beef and fat bacon should be taken from them."
Colne was one of the ancient seats of the woollen manufacture, for in a rent roll of the last of the Lacys taken in 1311 mention is made of the existence of a fulling mill here, so that the manufacture must have been carried on long before the time when Edward III. invited the Flemish weavers to settle in the country. That ancient fulling mill, after a lapse of five centuries, was transformed into a power-loom cotton manufactory; but the manufacture of woollen for long generations formed the chief industry of the place, and Colne could boast a Piece or Cloth Hall conducted on much the same principles as those of Bradford and Halifax. There are a goodly number of old halls and manor houses in and around the town, among them Colne Hall, once a house of sufficient consequence to afford hospitality to the head of the House of Lancaster - the weak-minded monarch, Henry VI. -before he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies at the neighbouring hall of Waddington, and sent ignominiously to London, to meet a violent death; but the glories of the old mansion have, alas, departed, and the building, which now belongs to the Earl of Derby, is in a decrepit state, with scarcely a trace of its former dignity remaining.
We cannot conclude our notice of Colne without a passing word on its ancient Grammer School, for within its walls that distinguished prelate, Dr. John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, received his early education. The school he was familiar with stood on the site of the present building adjoining the churchyard; it was an antiquated structure of most primitive character, the walls being supported by curved timbers, called crooks. Having become much dilapidated by time, it was taken down in 1812, and the present substantial building erected by public subscription. After spending some little time in the town, we turned our steps towards the railway station, and were soon speeding through the green country on our homeward journey.
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Mel
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