Hark to Start

Croasdale Tour Our Farms Grouse Moors Lark Ascending

Meet in Slaidburn car Park, where you can find Tercet 5 dedicated to Alice Nutter, one of the so-called 'Pendle witches'.

A 'tercet' consist of three lines of a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy in 2012 to commemorate the awful goings on 400 years previously. Each tercet can be found on the top of the plinth, with the whole poem down one side. More on the tercets

We are going to walk to Tercet 6, by starting at the Hark to Bounty, then on to Croasdale.

Walk into the village. From here to the start of the Croasdale walk we can get in the habit of looking at the landscape to see what hidden tales there are.

HARK TO BOUNTY

Go into the village and take the road past 'Hark to Bounty' Inn. It was a Courtroom

"Upstairs in "The Bounty" is the Courtroom which was used as the local court from the early 19th century until the mid 1930s. This was originally the Manorial or "Moot" Court which dealt with local matters such as land transfers, disputes over land rights etc., in addition to the punishment of local miscreants."

A hundred yards along..

ROCK HOUSE

King-Wilkinson Family Home History of K-W Book unavailable

'By the late 1790s, Leonard W's grandson, another Leonard Wilkinson, began buying up farms, cottages and lands in and around Slaidburn village,. By 1927, the King-Wilkinson family owned almost 6000 acres in and around Slaidburn, scattered over 40 farms Large parts of the outlying Estate were disposed of in 1927. Procter’s farm, one of many Slaidburn Estate farms until 1927, had been bought for £7000 in 1883. With a reserve of just £2500 at auction in 1927, it and many other estate farms failed to sell. Why? '
I suspect because UK agriculture was in the doldrums. Despite Liberal promises of a 'land fit for heroes'.many farms were in abject poverty. It was only in the thirties wehn the government set up marketing boards and quotas to try and stabilise farms.
Rock House where the Squire of Slaidburn lives , which is 'an inherited role that comes with the ownership of almost every house in this pretty Lancashire village along with 1,600 acres of land'. For the first time ever, the Squire is a woman. This imposing Grade II early 19th century detached property in the heart of the village has been home to the King Wilkinson-Hodson family for generations.

Ellerbeck

Half mile along, you can see Ellerbeck Hall, a Listed Building Gde 2

Date over door

It was built in 1694 by a wealthy landowner named Thomas Clerkson, who named it Woodhouse Hall. The house remained in the Clerkson family until the mid-18th century, when it was sold to the Parker family of Browsholme Hall. The house remained in the Parker family until the 20th century, when it was sold to a series of private owners. In the 1980s, the house was converted into luxury apartments. It has extensive grounds and gardens, including a walled garden and a lake.

After, a few hundred yards, turn right into Woodhouse Lane.

WOODHOUSE LANE

12 images of SD 7053 with interactive map.

What does that name 'woodhouse' tell us? Look out for names, as they can tell us a lot about the past. 'Woodhouse' would have been a hamlet in a wood.

That is according to Prof. Ian Rotherham, when I asked him. He explains more in 'Shadow woods. Search for lost landscapes' about how we can find signs like flowers, fungi, photos, names, soil to where woods may have been (hence 'shadow').

Cross Gates

Cross

Only the base survives of this medieval wayside cross survives. It is on right hand side before sharp left bend. Some of the smashed remains ended up in a dry stone wall.

This is probably a 'Dissenter's cross'. People who did not believe in the church but still believed in god, would take a cross and plant it here, so they could worship away from prying eyes, Local dissenters Well

Dissenters were Protestants who separated from the Church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1] included the Diggers, the Levellers and the Grindletonians, all the way from nearby Grindleton, less than 20 miles away

CONTRACTOR

Forage harvesters lined up at contractors at Lanshaw.

They will all be out there cutting grass (forage) for silage - to feed cattle.

Silage has replaced hay making round here.

OUR FARMS

A few hundred yards on, there is a turning on right to Simfield and Ramsclough farms where we lived. See Our farms for more about 'Woodhouse Enclosure' and what we did.

We planted the block of trees there over 40 years ago, just visible from the road.

BIG BARNS

As road bends to left, look up to the moors, to try to see these barns - hidden by mounds

Now big new barns house cattle all year round. This is 'intensive' cattle rearing, often hidden. The cattle are fed silage, usually grown locally, maize from elsewhere and soy. The government (2023) has reduced the tariffs on imported maize from USA.

Past last farmhouse, after sharp right, look across to the right. Only few years ago, there were no barns.

Go through the gate on the road and park up carefully. Look across the land behind you. Count how many barns you can see.

Take the Croasdale Tour

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