Pendle Hill is located in the north-east of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England, near the towns of Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Nelson, Colne

Colne

Colne is the second largest town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 20,118. It lies at the eastern end of the M65, 6 miles north-east of Burnley, with Nelson immediately adjacent, in the Aire Gap with two main roads leading into the Yorkshire...

, Clitheroe

Clitheroe

Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is 1½ miles from the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area. It has a population of 14,697...

 and Padiham

Padiham

Padiham is a small town and civil parish on the River Calder, about west of Burnley and south of Pendle Hill, in Lancashire, England. It is part of the Borough of Burnley but also has its own town council with varied powers.-History:...

, an area known as Pendleside. Its summit is 557 metres (1,827 ft) above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle

Pendle

Pendle is a local government district and borough of Lancashire, England. It adjoins the Lancashire boroughs of Burnley and Ribble Valley, the North Yorkshire district of Craven and the West Yorkshire districts of Calderdale and the City of Bradford...

. It is an isolated hill, separated from the Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

 to the east and the Forest of Bowland

Forest of Bowland

The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire...

 to the northwest. It lies to the southwest of the Yorkshire Dales

Yorkshire Dales

The Yorkshire Dales is the name given to an upland area in Northern England.The area lies within the historic county boundaries of Yorkshire, though it spans the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria...

 National Park. It is a detached part of the Forest of Bowland

Forest of Bowland

The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire...

 Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

 (AONB).

Geology

The sloping plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...

 summit of Pendle Hill is formed from the Pendle Grit, a coarse Carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

 age sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 assigned to the Millstone Grit

Millstone Grit

Millstone Grit is the name given to any of a number of coarse-grained sandstones of Carboniferous age which occur in the Northern England. The name derives from its use in earlier times as a source of millstones for use principally in watermills...

 Group. It overlies a thick sequence of Carboniferous Limestone

Carboniferous limestone

Carboniferous Limestone is a term used to describe a variety of different types of limestone occurring widely across Great Britain and Ireland which were deposited during the Dinantian epoch of the Carboniferous period. They were formed between 363 and 325 million years ago...

 beds.

Much of the lower slopes is mantled by thick deposits of glacial till or boulder clay dating from the last Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

. The historic decomposition of sphagnum

Sphagnum

Sphagnum is a genus of between 151 and 350 species of mosses commonly called peat moss, due to its prevalence in peat bogs and mires. A distinction is made between sphagnum moss, the live moss growing on top of a peat bog on one hand, and sphagnum peat moss or sphagnum peat on the other, the...

 moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

 on the hill has led to it being covered in peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

.

The steep slopes of its eastern and southern flanks have given rise to a series of landslips.

History

The name "Pendle Hill" combines the words for hill from three different languages, as does Bredon Hill

Bredon Hill

Bredon Hill is a hill in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Evesham in the Vale of Evesham. The summit of the hill is in the parish of Kemerton and it extends over parts of eight other parishes...

 in Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

. In the 13th century it was called Pennul or Penhul, apparently from the Cumbric

Cumbric language

Cumbric was a variety of the Celtic British language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North", or what is now northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, the area anciently known as Cumbria. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brythonic languages...

 pen and Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 hyll, both meaning "hill". The modern English

Modern English

Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...

 "hill" was appended later, after the original meaning of Pendle had become opaque.

Pendle Hill is famous for its links to three events which took place in the 17th century: the Pendle witch trials

Pendle witch trials

The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft...

 (1612), Richard Towneley

Richard Towneley

Richard Towneley was an English mathematician and astronomer from Towneley near Burnley, Lancashire. He was one of a group of seventeenth century astronomers in the north of England, which included Jeremiah Horrocks, William Crabtree and William Gascoigne, the pioneer astronomers who laid the...

's barometer

Barometer

A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...

 experiment (1661), and the claimed visitation to George Fox

George Fox

George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...

 (1652), which led to the foundation of the Quaker

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 movement. A Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 burial site has also been discovered at the summit of the hill.

The most popular route for ascending the hill begins in the village of Barley

Barley, Lancashire

Barley is a village in the borough of Pendle, in Lancashire, England. It is in the parish of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth. The village lies between Black Moss Reservoirs and Lower Ogden Reservoir....

, which lies to the east. This route also provides the steepest ascent. Other nearby villages include Downham

Downham, Lancashire

Downham is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is in the Ribble Valley district and as of the United Kingdom 2001 census has a population of 156. The village is on the north side of Pendle Hill off the A59 road about from Clitheroe....

, Newchurch-in-Pendle and Sabden

Sabden

Sabden is a village and civil parish in Ribble Valley, and the Forest of Pendle, Lancashire.-Location:Sabden is located south of Pendle Hill, in a valley about north-west of Padiham.-Demographics:In the 2001 census, Sabden had a population of 1,371....

.

A local saying suggests the area around Pendle Hill experiences frequent rainfall

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

: "If you can see Pendle then it's about to rain, if you can't then it's already started." When it's not raining, and there's a usable northwesterly wind, Pendle is a popular hill-launch for paragliders and hang gliders.

Quakers

In 1652, George Fox

George Fox

George Fox was an English Dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.The son of a Leicestershire weaver, Fox lived in a time of great social upheaval and war...

 claimed to have had a vision while on top of Pendle, during the early years of the Religious Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 (Quakers).
Today, the name Pendle remains strongly linked with the Quakers, giving its name to one of their centres

Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation

Pendle Hill is a Quaker study and retreat center located on a campus in suburban Wallingford, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. It was named for the hill in Lancashire, England, that the first Quaker preacher described as the site of his calling to ministry....

 for religious and spiritual study and contemplation in the United States.

Witches and the supernatural

The story of the Pendle witches is one of the best-known and well-documented examples of alleged witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 in 17th-century English history. The hill continues to be associated with witchcraft; large numbers of visitors climb it every Hallowe'en, although in recent years people have been warned away by the authorities.

The area is now popular with ghost hunter

Ghost hunting

Ghost Hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts.Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence claimed to be supportive of paranormal activity...

s after Living channel's show Most Haunted

Most Haunted

Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...

visited the hill for a live investigation on Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

 2004. The show's presenter, Yvette Fielding

Yvette Fielding

Yvette Fielding is a British broadcaster, producer and actress. She is best known for being the presenter of the TV shows Blue Peter, Most Haunted and Ghosthunting With....-Early life and career:...

, said it was the scariest episode they had made to date, and it is still widely considered to have been the scariest of the entire series. On 30 October, the programme visited Clitheroe Castle

Clitheroe Castle

Clitheroe Castle in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England is a motte and bailey castle built in a natural carboniferous limestone outcrop, .It has been suggested that Clitheroe Castle may have been first built before 1086 as there is reference to the "castellatu Rogerii pictaviensis" in the Domesday Book....

, Church Brow and Trinity Youth Centre. On Halloween it visited Lower Well Head Farm, Bull Hole Farm and Tynedale Farm; the investigation ended on 1 November at Waddow Hall

Waddington, Lancashire

Waddington is a small village, 2 miles north-west of Clitheroe, within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It is also a civil parish. Prior to the 1974 county boundary changes, Waddington just fell within the boundary of Bowland Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire...

.

Pendle Hill and the surrounding area are the setting for the fourth book in Joseph Delaney

Joseph Delaney

Joseph Henry Delaney is a British former educator and currently an author of science fiction and fantasy books.-Life and career:On first leaving school, Delaney started work as an apprentice engineer. Upon the completion of his schooling, he went on to become an English instructor, with his initial...

's The Wardstone Chronicles

The Wardstone Chronicles

The Wardstone Chronicles is a dark fantasy series of books written by British author Joseph Delaney and published by Random House Publishing...

, called The Spook's Battle

The Spook's Battle

The Spook's Battle, written by Joseph Delaney, is the fourth story in the series The Wardstone Chronicles. It was released in America in March 2008, and is titled Attack of the Fiend, as the fourth book in The Last Apprentice series.-Plot:...

.

External links

• Walking Pages: Pendle
• A circuit of Pendle Hill from Barley
• Computer generated summit panorama Pendle Hill index
• Images of Pendle hill on Flickr