Hedges As you walk or drive around Britain you may notice that much of our countryside is bisected by undulating, verdant ribbons of lush foliage which stand out from the fields like thin brush strokes in vivid shades of green. These are hedgerows and have been used for stock proofing and marking field boundaries forContinue reading “The Ancient Art of Hedgelaying”
Category Archives: #Lancashire
The Lancashire Witches’ by Carol Ann Duffy
The Lancashire Witches’, by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy One voice for ten dragged this way onceby superstition, ignorance.Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Witch: female, cunning, manless, old,daughter of such, of evil faith;in the murk of Pendle Hill, a crone. Here, heavy storm-clouds, ill-will brewed,over fields, fells, farms, blighted woods.On the wind’sContinue reading “The Lancashire Witches’ by Carol Ann Duffy”
Unnatural Histories, The Witches Way to Lancaster
It is over Four Hundred years since the infamous Pendle Witch Trials at Lancaster where the accused twelve were taken to be sentenced and hanged in 1612. In that fateful year, between the 17th and 19th of August, Eleven people went to trial on suspicion of practising witchcraft, it should have been Twelve but theContinue reading “Unnatural Histories, The Witches Way to Lancaster”
Unnatural Histories, Pudsey’s Leap and the Fairy’s Silver Bit
In St Peter and St Paul’s church in the village of Bolton-by-Bowland in deepest, darkest Lancashire you can find the ornate tomb of the 15th century landowner, Sir Ralph Pudsey, his three wives and twenty-five children. There are many stories about Ralph Pudsey but one stands out more than the others, this story is theContinue reading “Unnatural Histories, Pudsey’s Leap and the Fairy’s Silver Bit”
Unnatural Histories, The Peculier tale of Peg O’ Nell
Peg O’ Nell or ‘peg of the well’ is a name of which nearly everyone in Clitheroe and the surrounding area knows, a character from local folklore whose history is somewhat vague and the nature of which is thought to be malevolent. St Margaret’s well Historians believe that Peg derives from Meg or Margaret, andContinue reading “Unnatural Histories, The Peculier tale of Peg O’ Nell”
Seeing Double – Henry Raeburn and Robert Shuttleworth, by Rachel Pollitt De Duran
Image 1: Robert Shuttleworth by Henry Raeburn, circa 1816. Courtesy of NT Images/Robert Thrift Museum Manager, Rachel Pollitt De Duran, talks about … Seeing Double – Henry Raeburn and Robert Shuttleworth
Unnatural Histories, The Story of William Southworth, Landlord of the Lower Buck, Waddington
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 andContinue reading “Unnatural Histories, The Story of William Southworth, Landlord of the Lower Buck, Waddington”
The time a Dominatrix called Miss Whiplash stood for Ribble Valley MP
Miss Whiplash, otherwise known as Lindi St-Clair, (real name Marian June Akin) is an interesting character, to say that she has led an eventful life would be an understatement, she was internationally infamous as the Madam of a well known London brothel, a Dominatrix and for standing as MP for the Ribble Valley as leaderContinue reading “The time a Dominatrix called Miss Whiplash stood for Ribble Valley MP”
Northwest Nature and History 