Wiswell is a small village and

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 the

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. ...

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, close to 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 ...

at the foot of Wiswell Moor. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 967. The parish adjoins the other Ribble Valley parishes of Pendleton,

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 ...

, Whalley and Barrow. Higher areas of the parish, east 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).

Toponymy

The name Wiswell is commonly spoken as wizel. The true pronunciation is more like 'wize-well' consistent with the original spellings of "''Wyswell''" or "''Wiswall''". There are several theories about the origins of the name. It is said to take its name from Old Molly's Well, a local landmark, later to become known as Wise Woman's Well (Wise Well). Alternatively, 'Wis' could have been part of the name of an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

personal name.

History

Governance

Wiswell 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

in 1866, forming part of the Clitheroe Rural District from 1894 to 1974. Parts of the parish transferred to

on its creation in 1904. It has since become part of the borough of

. In 2015 Barrow was split from Wiswell to form a separate parish council. Along with Barrow (since 2015), Pendleton, Mearley and

Worston Worston is a small linear village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. The village is north-west of Pendle Hill, east of Clitheroe, and is in the Ribble Valley district. As it is only a small village, with a population of 76 at the 2001 cen ...

, the parish forms the Wiswell and Pendleton

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. The ward had a population of 1,289 in 2001, rising to 1,316 in 2011. The ward elects a single councillor, who currently is Robert Thompson of the Conservative Party.

Amenities

Wiswell village pub-restaurant - geograph

Today the village only boasts a pub/restaurant (Freemasons Arms) located on Vicarage Fold a pretty unadopted highway. However, there used to be a small corner shop, school and church; the names of each still stand on the original buildings but they are now prominent houses in the village. The property in which the current pub operates was not originally designed as a public house. It was formerly three small cottages one of which was a freemasons' lodge, which is how it acquired its name. The original village pub, the Lamb Inn, was located adjacent to the public phone box, but no longer exists and is now known as Clegg House, a residence on the corner of Coronation Gardens. The Lamb Inn closed over 150 years ago and Wiswell was without a pub for some time as the Freemasons did not open until considerably later on.

Population

Towards the end of the 19th century about forty percent of the people who lived in Wiswell left to live elsewhere. This was probably related to job losses (through the temporary closure of the Barrow mill) and significant employment opportunities elsewhere. The British census figures taken every ten years from 1801 to 1871 show the population changes. The census uses the highway from Whalley to Pendleton to divide Wiswell into 'West' and 'East': ;West: :Wiswell township (part of) in the parish of Whalley. All that part of the township of Wiswell which lies on the Western side of the highway leading from the town of Whalley to the village of Pendleton and which passes through the town of Wiswell Barrow.html" ;"title="nd includes Barrow">nd includes Barrow ;East: :All that part of the township of Wiswell which lies on the Eastern side of the Highway leading from Whalley to Pendleton including Briggs farm, Busskens Hill, Wiswell Hall, Wiswell Eaves and the remaining cottages on the Eastern side of the Highway. In the censuses from 1801 to 1841, the population rose sharply and stabilised between 1841 and 1851 at about 750 people. Following this the population declined sharply to about 420 in 1871. The change in population in the 1850s was dramatic. It seems likely that the Barrow Print Works closed for a time after 1851 or at least significantly reduced its workforce. Notes in the 1861 census highlight "a decrease in the population of the Townships of Wiswell and Whalley which is attributed to the discontinuance of employment in the Printworks."

References

Notes Citations

External links

Wiswell Conservation Area AppraisalLight Clough SSSI
{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of Ribble Valley