Scenic grandeur can stir the blood, and raise the spirit. Places that cause this reaction are rare treasures, sometimes captured for eternity in the written word, or on film.  Do you remember the dramatic scene, in ‘Wuthering Hieghts’, where Heathcliffe is standing on that moorland fell, in the driving rain, and asked yourself how it would feel to stand on that same spot?You can – for it’s almost certain that the authors took their inspiration from the rocky outcrops at the top of Boulsworth Hill, in the borough of Pendle. This hill, however, has a much more imposing nieghbour.  Standing majestically between the South Pennines and the Bowland Fells, Pendle Hill has inspired many to write moving words.Seven miles long, it is 25 square miles of brooding magnificence, towering 1831 ft above the surrounding countryside, and dominating the scenery for many miles around. The view is panoramic, on a clear day, over the beautiful ‘Trough of Bowland’ with its forest, which was once the home of Wolves!This natural giant is the focal point of an area, which is steeped in a rich history, shared by man for at least 12,000 years.  If you have ever read ‘Lord of the Rings’ by JR Tolkien, you will recall the majesty of ‘Middle Earth’s Misty Mountains’.  There is little doubt that the author took some of his inspiration from Pendle Hill, for he spent many years writing in the Ribble valley village of Stonyhurst, on the other side of the hill from Pendle. 

Stone axe heads found at Boulsworth Moor suggest that Neolithic man lived here towards the end of the Stone Age, as long as 12,000 years ago.  9,000 years later, Pendle was on a trade route between the Yorkshire coast and Ireland.  Burial grounds and various artifacts have been found in  Trawden.

Iron Age man, known as the Brigantes tribe, lived here from about 750 BC, his major settlement the hill fort at Castercliffe, dated at 6 BC. During these times, the Romans also arrived, though Pendle’s only known Roman settlement was a small camp at Elslack.

The Romans left around 500 AD, opening Britain to new settlers from Germany – the Angles (Hence the term Anglo-Saxon) – who colonized places like Marsden, soon to be followed by Vikings, whose place-names are still in existence today,  Earby and Branoldswick  being good examples.

Pendle was given over to Viking rule by Alfred of Wessex, as part of “Danelaw”.  Eventually Alfred’s son and grandson Athelstan recaptured the area after the Battle of Brunanbraugh – somewhere between Trawden and Thursden Valley – when Athelston crowned himself first king of England.  He signed a Peace Treaty at a place called Eamot, known today as Emmot, in Colne.

The area was called Penhille in the 13th century – Penn taken from the Celtic language (Pen was their word for hill) and the confused English added their own version to it, though it quickly became Pendle, in popular use.  . 

Pendle Hill overlooked the famous early 17th century trialsand executions of the ‘Pendle Witches’, notorious figures in history. Nestling below the hill is Newchurch, seat of the controversy which surrounded the witches. Like other small villages here, it seems untouched by the passage of four centuries, and walking around this countryside is a real treat for nature lovers.

Hallowe’en night each year, is when scores of people make their way to the hill, hoping to see local witches celebrating this most sacred festival in their own way, though nowadays they’re liable to be disappointed.

In the days before the industrial revolution, which saw the urbanization of Nelson and Colne, the hill was surrounded by hamlets – Brierfield, Colne and Marsden (which later expanded into the town of Nelson) – and it was these small villages where the Bronte sisters loved to walk, apparent in the wild moorland settings of their famous novels.