The Lower Buck in Waddington, built in 1760, is said to be haunted by a past landlord, William Southworth.
The sad story of William Southworth
The story of William Southworth and his demise is quite curious, he became the landlord in 1820 and quickly gained a reputation for being quick-tempered, picking arguments with all and sundry in the village.
One night he was seen by villagers having a row with the local butcher Thomas Crowther, nobody seems to be sure exactly what they were arguing about though, some accounts have it that Thomas had insulted William’s wife and this was reportedly not the first instance this behaviour had been observed. This time however the argument became heated and matters descended into brawling, at some point in the fight the butcher stabbed the landlord with his butchers knife, killing him outright.
He was buried in Clitheroe at St Mary Magdalenes parish church where his gravestone has the inscription ‘William Southworth of Waddington, Innkeeper, who suddenly expired having been stabb’d by a Neighbour in a Moment of ungovernable Passion, leaving a Wife and Eight Children to lament his untimely Death, on the 16th Day of May 1833’
A benign presence
However he didn’t let his death keep him from watching over his pub, for the next 40 years until her death at 78 his wife managed the inn, her and the regulars became used to his benign presence, some of the older regulars would even place a drink on the end of the bar for him on New Year’s Eve.
Over the decades various staff and customers at the old country inn have seen or felt something or someone in the rooms with them, ghost hunters have captured spectral images of a figure standing in a doorway, footsteps have been heard above in empty rooms and things have been glimpsed out of the corners of eyes…
This has given the Lower Buck a reputation as one of the most haunted inns in Lancashire , leading up to Halloween I’ll write about some of the other haunted places around the Northwest, don’t get too spooked out though, they are mostly friendly spirits, although some, like the water spirit Peg o’ nell, which I’ll write about too, are not.
A B-H
Northwest Nature and History 
please get your facts right
william southworth was the Landlord of the Sun Inn and was killed by Thomas Chatburn
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I’ve always bern told it was the lower buck, one of the old landlords himself, Mick Maudsley, originally told me this story, then Simon Entwistle and others, i read his account of the tale when writing it, it’s the story I’ve read in newspapers and magazines too but if it’s wrong I’ll gladly correct it
https://www.lep.co.uk/retro/here-are-6-ghostly-pubs-in-lancashire-that-go-bump-in-the-night-928239
https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/lancashire/22618429.4-haunted-pubs-ribble-valley/
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Back in 1801 the Waddington Arms was called The Sun Inn.It was owned by the Clark family and was let to a Mary Tomlinson. To the left of the inn was at the time a barn were hay was kept that went with the small farm that went with the inn.To make some extra money butter and cheese use to be made in there.After Mary Tomlinson there were afew short tenancies.A John Sanderson was only there for a year when he was threatend with creditors.He owed £25 to Thomas Clark and £1 3s 6d to ‘the overseer of the poor’.Most of his belongings were sold to pay this including his household goods,farming equipment and his animals.They were sold in Febuary 1808.The sale raised £137 12s 9d.After this there was another two short tenacies, then William Southworth became the landlord back in 1820.He was killed in a local brawl,but his wife ran The Sun Inn for another forty years.The Sun Inn became The Waddington Arms around the early 1990’s.This photograph was taken around the late 1950’s to the early 1960’s.To this day the pub is said to haunted by of all things a cow.
http://www.oldclitheroe.co.uk/page173.htm
William is listed as the landlord of the Sun in 1822 in the Brewster Calendars & Baines Directory.
If you look at the 1851 & 1861 Census for Wadding Elizabeth Southworth (nee Oddie) is the Inn Keeper at the Sun Inn.
I also have several newspaper reports from 1833 concerning the murder & the trial at York which
name the murderer as Robert (not Thomas – my mistake ! ) Chatburn.
He was found guilty of manslaughter & sentenced to transportation for life
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This is really interesting, thank-you, the weight of history behind old pubs like this fascinates me, you can definitely feel it in the Waddington arms, I’ll have to pop in there next time I’m over that way, I used to go into the Lower Buck quite often when it was ran by Mick Maudsley, he was an interesting gentleman!
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