Whitewell | |
---|---|
Village | |
![]() The Inn at Whitewell | |
Location within Lancashire | |
OS grid reference | SD655465 |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | CLITHEROE |
Postcode district | BB7 |
Dialling code | 01200 |
Police | Lancashire |
Fire | Lancashire |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Whitewell is a village within the civil parish of Bowland Forest Low and Ribble Valley borough of Lancashire, England. It is in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Historically, the village fell just within the boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was transferred to Lancashire for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972. It stands above a bend in the River Hodder.
The village comprises Upper and Lower Whitewell. Lower Whitewell is the site of St Michael's, a chapel of ease built in the late medieval period, certainly no later than 1400, which comes under the Lancashire parish of Whalley. The restaurant and hotel, The Inn at Whitewell, is also situated in Lower Whitewell. [1]
From the late 14th century, the Inn anciently housed the forest courts of the Forest of Bowland and provided lodgings for the Master Forester. There is evidence of Master Foresters in Bowland dating back as early as the late 12th century. [2]
It is thought that the ancient administrative centre of the forest was at Hall Hill, north-north-east of the current hamlet. It is conjectured that this motte – now merely an earthwork mound surmounted by trees overlooking the old keeper's cottage at Seed Hill Farm – formed the centre of an early medieval hunting laund (enclosure) known as Radholme which is mentioned as a vill in Domesday. [3]
Sir Walter Urswyk was Master Forester to John of Gaunt, 11th Lord of Bowland and it is Urswyk who seems to have been responsible for the shift to Lower Whitewell sometime between 1372–1403. [4] Bowland appears to undergone wholesale manorial reorganisation in the second half of the 14th century, a process that may have been driven by a fall in population resulting from the Black Death (1348–50) and the absorption of Bowland into the Duchy of Lancaster after 1360.
After 1660, the office of Master Forester fell into abeyance. The forest courts at Whitewell – a swainmote and a woodmote – were presided over by a Chief Steward or more often his deputy, one of whose duties was to appoint a bowbearer (or more often two bowbearers) on behalf of the Lord of Bowland. His responsibilities were akin to those of a chief verderer – an unpaid official appointed to protect vert and venison and responsible for supervising and assisting in the enforcement of forest laws. [5]
The Parkers of Browsholme Hall have traditionally claimed the office of bowbearer as an hereditary right [6] but this claim was an early 19th fabrication and has now been discredited. The family were certainly bowbearers for successive generations between the 17th and 19th centuries but the right of appointment was always a prerogative of their local lord, the Lord of Bowland, [7] the so-called Lord of the Fells. [8]
Although the forest courts at Whitewell fell into disuse in the first half of the 19th century, the 16th Lord of Bowland chose in April 2010 to appoint Robert Redmayne Parker of Browsholme Hall his bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, the first Parker to be so appointed in more than 150 years. [9] [10]
In 1938, the Duchy of Lancaster purchased 6,000 acres from the Bowland Forest Estate, forming the Whitewell Estate. [11] The surrounding forest has been the hunting ground of kings since the time of William Rufus. Queen Elizabeth II was said to be fond of the area, visiting the Inn at Whitewell for lunch in 2006. [12] Nearby settlements include Dunsop Bridge which claims to be the centre of the United Kingdom, and Clitheroe, the administrative centre of the borough.
Whitewell enjoyed brief media attention in 2009 when it was reported that Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan had stepped forward on behalf of the Towneley family to claim the title of 15th Lord of Bowland. Previously, the Lordship of Bowland had been thought lost or in the possession of the Crown having disappeared from the historical record in late 19th century. The Towneleys had owned the Bowland Forest Estate from 1835 and it transpired that the title had been retained by an extinct family trust. [13] Controversially, Lord O'Hagan went on to sell the title. [14] [15] The 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don. [16] [17]
In April 2010, it was announced that the 16th Lord of Bowland had appointed Charles Bowman, landlord of the Inn at Whitewell, as Chief Steward of the Forest of Bowland, the first such appointment since 1922. [18] The appointment was short-lived, however, and in May 2011, chartered surveyor Michael Parkinson of Ingham & Yorke of Clitheroe assumed the role. [19] [20]
The Inn at Whitewell was featured in TV series The Trip directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalised versions of themselves doing a restaurant tour of northern England.
The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire. It is a western outlier of the Pennines.
Ribble Valley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe, the largest town. The borough also includes the town of Longridge and numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. It is named after the River Ribble. Much of the district lies within the Forest of Bowland, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is 557 metres (1,827 ft) above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pennines, separated from the South Pennines to the east, the Bowland Fells to the northwest, and the West Pennine Moors to the south. It is included in a detached part of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Newton or Newton-in-Bowland is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district, in the county of Lancashire, England, formerly known as Newton-on-Hodder. The civil parish had a population of 237 in 2001, according to the United Kingdom Census, increasing to 315 at the 2011 Census. The township covers almost 6,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland. Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was transferred to Lancashire for administrative purposes on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972.
Dunsop Bridge is a village in the civil parish of Bowland Forest High, in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Clitheroe, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Lancaster and 24.5 miles (39 km) west of Skipton. Historically, the village is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was placed under the administration of Lancashire County Council on 1 April 1974.
Slaidburn is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers just over 5,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland.
Bowland Forest Low is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, covering some 5,500 acres (22 km2) of the Forest of Bowland. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 168, falling to 160 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes the hamlets of Whitewell and Cow Ark. From northwards clockwise, it borders the civil parishes of Newton, Bashall Eaves, Aighton, Bailey and Chaigley, Bowland-with-Leagram and Bowland Forest High. Before 1974, it formed part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Bowland Forest High is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, covering some 20,000 acres (80 km2) of the Forest of Bowland. It fell within the ancient boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 163, falling to 144 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes the settlements of Hareden, Sykes, and Dunsop Bridge. It covers Sykes Fell, Whins Brow, Croasdale Fell and Wolfhole Crag. Before 1974, it formed part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Bowland-with-Leagram is a civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England, covering part of the Forest of Bowland. According to the census, the parish had a population of 181 in 1951, 128 in 2001 and 169 at the Census 2011.
In Old English law, a Bowbearer was an under-officer of the forest who looked after all manner of trespass on vert or venison, and who attached, or caused to be attached, the offenders, in the feudal Court of Attachment.
Downham is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is in the Ribble Valley district and at the United Kingdom 2001 census had a population of 156. The 2011 Census includes neighbouring Twiston giving a total for both parishes of 214. The village is on the north side of Pendle Hill off the A59 road about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Clitheroe. Much of the parish, including the village is part of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of Rimington, Twiston, Worston, Chatburn and Sawley, and the Pendle parish of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth.
Sawley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish was 305 at the 2001 Census, rising to 345 at the 2011 census. It is situated north-east of Clitheroe, on the River Ribble. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan, is a British Conservative party politician.
The Lordship of Bowland is a manorial lordship associated with the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, England. The lordship fell into disuse between 1885 and 2008, during which time it was widely believed to have lapsed; it was revived in 2008.
The Honour of Clitheroe is an ancient grouping of manors and royal forests centred on Clitheroe Castle in Lancashire, England; an honour traditionally being the grant of a large landholding complex, not all of whose parts are contiguous. In the case of Clitheroe, this complex was loosely clustered around the ancient wapentake of Blackburnshire.
Thomas Lister Parker was an English antiquary, landowner, Trumpeter to the Queen and Honorary Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire.
Browsholme Hall is a privately owned Tudor house in the parish of Bowland Forest Low in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It is claimed to be the oldest surviving family home in Lancashire. Since 1954, it has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.
John William Robinson Parker was a British soldier, antiquarian, owner of Browsholme Hall and Honorary Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire.
The Grey Stone of Trough is an historic boundary marker in Bowland Forest High, in the Trough of Bowland, Lancashire, England. A Grade II listed structure, erected in 1897 and standing on Trough Road, it marks the line of the pre-1974 county boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Historically, the Trough marked the westernmost boundary of the ancient Lordship of Bowland.
Robert Redmayne Parker is a British rural business adviser, land manager, and ceremonial officer. He worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, prior to its merger into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and for the Country Land and Business Association. Since 1975, he has been the owner of Browsholme Hall, his family seat in Bowland Forest Low. In 2010, Parker was appointed as Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland by William Bowland, 16th Lord of Bowland, becoming the first bowbearer of Bowland in almost one hundred and fifty years.