Pendleton is a small village and civil parish in

Ribble Valley Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. ...

, within the county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

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

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, 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 to ...

. The parish lies on the north west side of

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

below the Nick o' Pendle. The village is just off the A59,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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

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 Standen is an Arts and Crafts house located to the south of East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. The house and its surrounding gardens belong to the National Trust and are open to the public. It is a Grade I listed building. House Between 1 ...

area and another to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

which passes Pendleton Hall. Pendleton Brook runs down the centre of Main Street in the village. The village pub, the

Swan with Two Necks The Swan with Two Necks is a pub in Pendleton, Lancashire, Pendleton, near Clitheroe, Lancashire, England. It was CAMRA's National Pub of the Year for 2014. References External links

Pubs in Lancashire Ribble Valley {{pub-stub ...

, won the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

'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 in the United Kingdom, 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 Inter ...

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 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 ce ...

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

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 t ...

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

, 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 one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

(AONB).

History

The brief details of the Blackburnshire Hundred in the

Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

survey, mention Pendleton with

King Edward King Edward may refer to: Monarchs of England and the United Kingdom * Edward the Elder (–924) * Edward the Martyr (–978) * Edward the Confessor (–1066) * Edward I of England (1239–1307) * Edward II of England (1284–1327) * Edward III o ...

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 Ch ...

. 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 Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

celebrations in her youth which included dancing around a

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

, 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 form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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

, 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

* Dick Crawshaw, Baron Crawshaw of Aintree (1917–1986), was born and lived here until 1940 *

Nigel Evans Nigel Martin Evans (born 10 November 1957) is a former British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ribble Valley in Lancashire from 1992 until 2024. He was Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Commit ...

, former Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the constituency which covers the village, live in the village * Alan Fletcher (1917–1984), professional footballer, was born in Pendleton

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,

Pubs in Lancashire Ribble Valley {{pub-stub ...

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