Length 51 mi (82 km) Use Hiking | Location Lancashire, England Trailheads Barrowford, Lancaster | |
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Similar Wolfhole Crag, White Hill, Artle Beck, Easington Fell, Green Hill | ||
The Lancashire Witches Walk is a 51-mile (82 km) long-distance footpath opened in 2012, between Barrowford and Lancaster, all in Lancashire, England. It starts at Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford before passing through the Forest of Pendle, the town of Clitheroe and the Forest of Bowland to finish at Lancaster Castle.
Contents
The route was created to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the trials of the Pendle witches. Ten cast iron tercet waymarkers, designed by Stephen Raw, each inscribed with a verse of a poem by the Poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy have been installed at sites along the way.
History
The route was designed by Ian Thornton-Bryar and John Sparshatt, following initial suggestions from Sue Flowers, the artistic director of the Lancashire-based arts organization, Green Close.
Route
The sustainable 51-mile Long-Distance Walk commemorates the 400th Anniversary of the hanging of nine of the Lancashire Witches. Starting in Barrowford and finishing at Lancaster Castle, where the witches were tried, (which itself makes a fascinating visit) the walk follows the most believable route that the witches were taken, on their way to be sentenced and hung. Conveniently, the route also makes the best of a string of some of Lancashire’s best fells, using Slaidburn YHA as an ideal base, almost exactly halfway along. While the start-, finish- and mid-points are accessible by public transport, much of the rest is wonderfully remote, and most parts can afford magnificent views. Green Close, a rural arts organisation based in the village of Melling, organised the installation of 10 ½-tonne cast-iron installations on or near the path, embossed with stanzas of the walk’s poem, written by the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, all funded by Lottery money. The route has already attracted use by seven walking festivals (One by Clitheroe, two by Bowland and four by The Pendle Walking Festival), but remains remote and peaceful. One originally Lancaster-based charity has used it to raise £5,200, by getting 50 youngsters to walk the northern half on midsummer's days.
Tercet waymarkers
The UK Poet Laureate and Professor of Modern Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, Carol Ann Duffy was commissioned to create a poem, The Lancashire Witches to mark the anniversary of those 1612 witch trials. The poem is made up of ten tercet verses, for the ten people hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster. Stephen Raw designed waymarkers, each inscribed with a verse of a poem and featuring the name of one of those executed, which have been placed on the route.