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Local Information for Barnoldswick

Witches, covens, cotton, Cistercian and Roman Legions, Barnoldswick have seen them all. Situated in the Pendle Area of Lancashire with links to the Leeds Liverpool canal and the traditional cotton towns of Burnley Colne and Nelson close by.

With the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the English throne as King James I, came a new wave of persecution against those who practiced witchcraft. However, James was a great believer in witchcraft, believing all those who practiced it were evil, and he vowed to destroy the practice.

The Roman legions marched this way along the Roman Road from Ribchester to Tadcaster which skirted the town, and vestiges of a Roman look-out can still be seen on a hill-top in the direction of Bracewell. Shortly after the Norman Conquest, Barnoldswick was selected as the site for an important monastery. A Norman nobleman, Henry de Lacy, swore that if he recovered from a serious illness he would build a monastery to the glory of God, and in 1147...More