Pendleton is a small village and civil parish in

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The total population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 Census was 57,132. Its council is based in Clitheroe. ...

, within the county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It is close to the towns of Whalley and

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

. The parish lies on the north west side of Pendle Hill below the Nick o' Pendle. The village is just off the A59,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

main road, since the construction of the Clitheroe By-Pass. Older roads through the parish include one from Clitheroe to Whalley which passes through the Standen area and another to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

which passes Pendleton Hall. Pendleton Brook runs down the centre of Main Street in the village. The village pub, the Swan with Two Necks, won the Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA) national pub of the year award in 2013. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 203; however, the

United Kingdom Census 2011 A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

grouped the parish with

Mearley Mearley is a civil parish in Lancashire, England. The parish is north-west of Pendle Hill, east of Clitheroe, and is in the Ribble Valley district. It is a small parish with no villages or hamlets and a population of 25, the second smallest in ...

and Worston (2001 pop. 25 and 76), giving a total of 349. The parish adjoins the other Ribble Valley parishes of

Sabden Sabden is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. Sabden is located south of Pendle Hill, in a valley about three miles north west of Padiham. The parish covers , of which is occupied by the village. It lies in the ...

, Wiswell, Barrow and Little Mitton. Higher areas of the parish, west of the village, are part of the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

(AONB).

History

The brief details of the

Blackburnshire Blackburn Hundred (also known as Blackburnshire) is a historic sub-division of the county of Lancashire, in northern England. Its chief town was Blackburn, in the southwest of the hundred. It covered an area similar to modern East Lancashire, in ...

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

in the Domesday survey, mention Pendleton with King Edward holding half a hide of land here. Wymondhouses (an old farm in the south of the parish) was purchased in 1667 by the Nonconformist preacher

Thomas Jollie Thomas Jollie (1629–1703) was an English Dissenter, a minister ejected from the Church of England for his beliefs. Biography Thomas Jollie was born at Droylsden, near Manchester, on 14 September 1629, and baptised on 29 September at Gorton C ...

. He had a meeting-place licensed in 1672, later building a chapel that was still in-use until the 1860s. Pendleton also has an interesting history related to traditional folk customs and the witchcraft persecutions. A book was written on this subject entitled ''The Pendle Witches'' by

William Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...

, published 1849. Doreen McGlashan, born Doreen Wilson, a Pendleton native, stated that as a child in the 1920s there was frequent talk of witches and witchcraft in the village, and that she and her siblings were kept indoors on certain Saturdays because of "witches Sabbaths" happening in the town on those days. She also recounts large

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...

celebrations in her youth which included dancing around a maypole, and states that as a girl she specifically remembers "pretty girls" often being suspected of witchcraft by the villagers.

Governance

Pendleton was once a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in the ancient parish of Whalley. This became a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in 1866, forming part of the Clitheroe Rural District from 1894. Parts of the parish transferred to

on its creation in 1904, however the area around Coldcoats was added in 1935. Since 1974 it has formed part of the Borough of

. Along with Wiswell, Barrow (since 2015), Mearley and Worston, the parish forms the

Wiswell and Pendleton Wiswell is a small village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, close to Whalley and Clitheroe at the foot of Wiswell Moor. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 967. The parish adjoins the other Ribble Valley p ...

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Ribble Valley Borough Council.

Notable people

Richard Crawshaw Richard Crawshaw, Baron Crawshaw of Aintree, OBE (25 September 1917 – 16 July 1986) was elected as a British Labour Party Member of Parliament in 1964 but joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. Early life Crawshaw was born in Sa ...

, Lord Crawshaw of Aintree, was born and lived here until shortly after the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, from 1917 to 1940 *

Nigel Evans Nigel Martin Evans (born 10 November 1957) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ribble Valley (UK Parliament constituency), Ribble Valley constituency in Lancashire si ...

, Conservative Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the constituency which covers the village,

* Alan Fletcher, professional footballer

Media gallery

Image:The Parish Church of All Saints, Pendleton - geograph.org.uk - 476545.jpg, All Saints' Church, built in 1847, consecrated in 1872. Image:The Swan with Two Necks, Pendleton - geograph.org.uk - 778432.jpg, Swan with Two Necks and Pendleton Brook. Image:Standen Hall.jpg, Standen Hall, on the western side of the parish near

. Image:Well Springs Restaurant - geograph.org.uk - 774064.jpg, Well Springs Restaurant and Pendle Ski Club on Clitheroe Road. Image:View across the Ribble Valley - geograph.org.uk - 817693.jpg, View from Pendleton Moor, looking north across the Ribble valley.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography *

External links