Wycoller is a village in the
civil parish of
Trawden Forest in
Pendle Pendle may refer to:
* Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England
** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency)
* Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England
** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill
* Pendle College of the University of Lancaster
* ...
,
Lancashire, England. It is east of
Colne, near to the junction of the Lancashire,
West Yorkshire and
North Yorkshire borders.
The village may date back to the 10th century BC. Central to the village are the ruins of 16th-century
Wycoller Hall
Wycoller Hall was a late sixteenth-century manor house in the village of Wycoller, Lancashire, England. The hall was the centre of a sizeable estate but subsequently fell into disrepair. The ruins are now listed, and form part of Wycoller Country ...
. The village is a conservation area, and is closed to outside traffic. There is a car park on Trawden Road and another on the east side of the village opposite Height Laithe Farm on the road towards
Haworth in Yorkshire.
The name is probably from the
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 settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''wīc'' "dairy farm" and ''alr'' "alder", so means "dairy farm by the alders".
Bridges
Various ancient bridges cross
Wycoller Beck
Wycoller Beck is a stream in Lancashire, running through Wycoller Country Park and the village of Wycoller in Pendle. It is long and has a catchment area of .
The river joins the River Laneshaw at Covey Bridge near Laneshaw Bridge
Lan ...
, including 'Pack-Horse Bridge', a twin arched bridge in the centre of the village,
'Clapper Bridge' (also known as Hall Bridge)
and 'Clam Bridge' (also known as Bank House Bridge).
The last is believed to be of
neolithic origin (possibly 6000 years old) and is listed as an ancient monument. It consists of just a long stone laid across the river. It was damaged by floods in 1989–90, though has now been repaired. All three bridges are designated as both Grade II* listed buildings and scheduled monuments.
Wycoller Hall
Wycoller Hall
Wycoller Hall was a late sixteenth-century manor house in the village of Wycoller, Lancashire, England. The hall was the centre of a sizeable estate but subsequently fell into disrepair. The ruins are now listed, and form part of Wycoller Country ...
was originally the home of the Hartley family, and passed through marriage to the Cunliffe family in the early 17th century. The hall was built in 1550 by Piers Hartley, and was extended in the late 18th century by its last owner, Squire Cunliffe. The structure was dismantled in 1818, and reused in the construction of a cotton mill, to help repay debts owed by Henry Owen-Cunliffe, who was the last Cunliffe to live at the hall. He was born Henry Owen of Sheffield and was left the Hall by a distant uncle (Cunliffe) if he changed his name to Cunliffe and educated himself. The hall subsequently fell into ruin and is reputed to be haunted by a variety of spectres. Like the bridges, it is both a Grade II* listed building
and a scheduled monument.
'Ferndean Manor' in
Charlotte Brontë's novel ''
Jane Eyre'' is thought to be based on Wycoller Hall.
The
Brontë Way
The Brontë Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in the northern counties of West Yorkshire and Lancashire, England.
Route
The Brontë Way starts at Oakwell Hall in Birstall, West Yorkshire, and finishes at Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, Lan ...
passes through here, leading to the
Brontë sisters' home in nearby
Haworth.
20th–21st centuries
Wycoller was featured in the BBC's ''
Countryfile'' programme when they visited the barn in the village that has been converted to a
tourist information centre.
Wycoller also appears in ''
The Railway Children'' a 1970 British drama film based on
the novel of the same name by
E. Nesbit.
Wycoller was also featured in Episode 2 of the television series ''
Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages'' in 2014.
Notable people from the village include
Tom Emmott
Thomas Clifford Emmott (1907–1964) was a British writer and political activist.
Emmott was born in Burnley, Lancashire, and grew up in Colne. He travelled the world, collecting curiosities such as emu and rhea eggs, a large trilobite, and pie ...
, who founded the Lancastrian Party while living in Wycoller Cottage.
[Peggy Hewitt, ''Bronte Country: Lives & Landscapes'']
See also
*
Listed buildings in Trawden Forest
Trawden Forest is a civil parish in Pendle, Lancashire, England. It contains 39 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, six are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade&nb ...
*
Scheduled monuments in Lancashire
__NOTOC__
This is a list of scheduled monuments in the English county of Lancashire.
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building that has been given protection against unauth ...
References
External links
Pendle Net Wycoller Webpages"Friends" WebsiteTearoom/History website
Towns and villages in the Borough of Pendle
{{Lancashire-geo-stub
