Forest of Bowland

Pendle Hill (and sheep)

The Pennine region was not well populated by early man and there is little artifactual evidence of the early presence of man of Bowland, but the landscape we see today bears testament to his activity - the clearance of trees. The felling of trees to provide wood and clearance of the ground for agriculture started in the Bronze Age (c. 2000 BC) but they lacked the tools for widespread clearance. The deterioration of the climate and the continued clearance by Celtic peoples - continuing into the colonisation by the Angles in the sixth century - formed the foundation for the landscape we see today. The native Celts and the Angles formed settlements, cleared ground and set hedges. They gave us words such as Hodder (Celts) and clough (Angles).

Hammerton Hall near Slaidburn; an Elizabethan mansion. The Hammertons owned large tracts of land in Yorkshire and were a long established Bowland family, possibly pre-Norman. Their involvement in the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 - the worst uprising of Henry VIII's reign, against the dissolution of monasteries - led to the hanging and beheading of Sir Stephen Hammerton, and his lands were forfeited to the Crown. The family suffered other tragedies over the ensuing two years.

In the early tenth century, Norse colonisation occurred, principally from their settlements in Ireland. They inhabited small isolated farms in high terrain. Many of the farm names (such as Beatrix near Dunsop Bridge) and topographical features reflect the Norse occupation: fell (hill), moss (bog), laithe (barn), beck (stream) are from old Norse. In the eleventh century, the Norman invader made his mark; Clitheroe Keep was constructed around 1100. Feudal estates flourished and Royal Forests were constituted in the 12th century. The Forests were not necessarily wooded - they were hunting areas for the local lords in which the browse for deer was protected and the activities of the inhabitants were constrained by Forest Laws (see my New Forest website for more information on Royal Forests). The Forest of Bowland extended north to Bolland Knotts and the Cross of Greet.

There were also Forests at Bleasdale, Quernmore, Wyresdale and Pendle. Forest Law was revoked in the 16th century and deer parks were developed to satisfy the desire for the hunt. The landscape in the southern part of the AONB still has a park-like quality in places.

Bowland (Bolland) derives from Old Norse and can be interpreted as "cattle land". Vaccaries are large open areas to graze livestock and were created by feudal landowners to make economic returns on their "wastes", beyond the bounds of the deer parks. Boundaries were constructed and a herdsman may have had around 100 cattle to tend, which were provided by the lord. The tenancies were held by the same families for many years. Vaccaries were used principally in the 13th to 15th centuries. They later were broken up into smaller holdings for rent. Sykes Farm on the Trough road was a vaccary (it is mentioned in a document of 1323 as "Trogh" [Trough] under the tenancy of Adam de Whitlidale). Curiously, there is little mention of sheep in these early documents - it truly was "cattle land". The 18th and 19th centuries brought about the more widespread enclosure of the holdings and of common land with drystone walls, some of which climb to the top of the fells.

The Industrial Revolution had little impact on Bowland, unlike much of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Devoid of coal reserves, and away from the valleys with fast flowing streams to power the industrialisation of the wool and cotton industries, it was largely ignored by the builders of turnpike roads, canals and railways. The old pattern of rural life has been maintained overseen by a small number of landowners, the principal being the Duke of Westminster, the Duchy of Lancaster and United Utilities (for water catchment).

There are some fine houses and estates in Bowland and the Ribble Valley occupied by long-standing families, such as the Parkers at Browsholme (since about 1507), and the Asshetons at Downham (since 1545). Stonyhurst College is probably the most remarkable building in the Ribble Valley. The Roman Catholic college was originally founded in France in 1593 to provide a Catholic education for English families unable to educate children in England. In 1794 it came to the Stonyhurst estate, gifted by a former pupil.

Slaidburn War Memorial, erected in 1923

At the turn of the 16th century, William Camden wrote in his great work "Britannia" that:

"I go into Lancashire tomorrow, that part of the country lying beyond the mountains towards the western ocean. I go with a kind of dread, and trust in Divine providence."

We now rightly treasure quiet, unspoilt and isolated areas. This is the Forest of Bowland and Ribble Valley.

Dunkenshaw Fell below Ward's Stone

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