By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies (needed to provide our website’s features) and our Terms of Use.
This video shows the Pendle Witches Walk from Barley, and walks you through the story of the Pendle Witches, exploring delightful countryside and all things 'witchy' along the way. The entire walk has been filmed in 4K, allowing walkers to see the entire route, including where to park, eat, and drink.
Today's walk is the Pendle Witches walk from Barley near Pendle Hill in Lancashire, taking in both the East and the West Loops. Before we set off, let's have a look at what we will see today. We cross over a wooden bridge and climb the hill towards Newchurch in Pendle, which affords, after a short climb, a great view down to Lower Ogden Reservoir and Pendle Hill beyond.
We then drop down into Newchurch in Pendle to visit the Witches Galore shop, where you can pick up your spooky souvenirs, and then head down the road to St Mary's Church. At the church, you can see the 'Eye of God' built into the church tower, and then the so-called 'Witches' Grave' with the skull and crossbones inscription on it.
We head out of Newchurch and on past Faughs quarry before climbing Driver Height, which gives us wonderful panoramic views. As we head around the walk, I'll point out some of the places associated with Pendle Witches, but for more detail on who they were and what happened to them, check out our Ultimate Guide to Pendle Hill, the link for which is in the description below.
We then drop down the short distance to Upper Ogden Reservoir with its views up to Ogden Clough itself, and then continue down to and alongside Lower Ogden Reservoir. From here, we head back into the car park at Barley to complete the Western loop of this Pendle Witches walk. We then start the Eastern loop of the Pendle Witches walk by heading alongside Pendle Water before leaving it to head through the wood by White Hough outdoor centre.
We then head along the road towards Hollin Top, which again affords wonderful views down over Roughlee and beyond. From this road, we then follow the Pendle Way down into Roughlee and then pass by Roughlee Old Hall.
Walking through Roughlee, we pass by the Bay Horse and then on by the statue of Alison Nutter, with more on her later, before reaching the waterfall.
From there it's back along Pendle Water and then the walled Heys Lane with its views of Pendle Hill back into Barley. Stay watching until the end to see where you can eat and drink during and after the walk, and to find out more about the story of the Pendle Witches.
Back to the car park, we start this Eastern leg of the Pendle Witches walk by heading out of the car park by the car entrance and then turning right to head along the pavement. The Pendle Witches walk is split into an Eastern and Western loop, both starting from the car park, so you can do either one or join them together into one longer walk of 11.6 kilometres, which is just over seven miles.
Upon reaching the road junction, cross over the road and head down the road opposite, which initially passes by the Barley village hall. Follow the road around past the old waterworks building, which is now residential houses, shortly after which you reach a bridge on the left-hand side. Just by the side of the bridge, you may notice a small plaque on the ground showing that this is part of the Pendle pub walk, which is an annual walk each June, raising money for Pendleside Hospice.
The walk itself is usually just over ten miles and passes by numerous pubs along the way.
Head over the bridge, and then we turn right to head through the gate. From the gate, cross over the small stream and then head uphill, diagonally right, following the wooden way marker. The path then heads up to a stone stile in the wall. Pass over the stone stile built into the wall. On the back of the wall is another sign for the Pendle pub walk.
As you look around, you get a view to the right now of Pendle Hill. Then we continue the walk by heading away from the wall on approximately the same line that you approached it on. As you get over the first rise, you can see a house ahead. You need to head for the right-hand corner of the house.
With this small amount of height gain, you can now see Lower Ogden Reservoir around to the right with its dam, along with Pendle Hill behind it. The Pendle Witches were a group of people accused of witchcraft in 17th-century England. The events all took place in 1612 in the areas around Pendle Hill, with the trial taking place in Lancaster.
The events surrounding the Pendle Witches are some of the most famous witch trials in English history. Continue on now up the field past the next wooden waymarker. Then, at the next wooden waymarker by the corner of a partly fallen down wall, head more diagonally right, initially along the side of the wall towards the next little wooden way marker just ahead. And then on towards the footpath sign on the horizon.
Before we pass through the tumbledown wall, if you look around to the right, there is even a better view of Pendle Hill and Lower Ogden Reservoir down below and further around to the right, you can see back down to Barley.
The main figures amongst the Pendle Witches were Elizabeth Southerns, also known as Demdike, and Anne Whittle, also known as Chattox. These women, along with certain members of their families and associates, including Alice Nutter from Roughlee, were accused of practising witchcraft. The accusation stemmed from various local disputes and superstitious beliefs held at the time. Upon reaching the four-way sign, turn left and then continue uphill to soon pass through a tumbledown wall and then head on to the wall stile just to the left of the gate in the wall ahead. Pass over the wall stile where we now meet up with the Pendle Way before we head on to Newchurch.
If you look behind, there is a great view now back over towards Pendle Hill. The Pendle Way footpath is mainly marked by wooden waymarkers with a black witch painted on them. Follow the footpath sign heading diagonally left away from the wall on the line to the right-hand edge of the trees ahead. The Pendle Way is a 45-mile circular route starting and ending in the Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford and passes through Barnoldswick, Thornton in Craven, Wycoller, Reedley, Newchurch and goes over Pendle Hill itself.
Here we are looking over Newchurch in Pendle, which we will drop down to shortly. Back to the story, 12 people were charged with witchcraft, and with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. Amazingly, a key witness for the prosecution was Jennet Device, who was only nine years old at the time. That would not normally have been allowed, but this, after all, was a witch trial. Head down to and then pass through the wooden gate, and then turn right to head down the hill.
We soon pass through another gate. Once through the gate, just head down the steps to reach the road that runs through Newchurch in Pendle. For the onward walk, we are going to turn right here, but first, to the left is an information board about Newchurch in Pendle. And then, if you need them, just past that, there are some toilets and then just past that, if you want to visit, it is the Witches Galore shop. In the Witches Galore shop, you will find lots of souvenirs and gruesome gift ideas.
I chose this Pendle Witches walk because it's Halloween and it's reasonably flat, which I needed as this is my first walk back after six weeks of not hill walking due to a fractured toe! From the Witches Galore shop, we head downhill 100 metres or so to the Church of St Mary. Back to our witches, Elizabeth Southerns died in the cells at Lancaster while awaiting the trial.
Nine of the accused were found guilty during a two-day trial and hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster in August 1612, with Alice Grey found not guilty. Jennet Preston, who lived over in Gisburn, was tried in York and then also hanged in York in July 1612. If you look closely at the church tower, you will see the so-called 'Eye of God' painted on its side, which is there to ward off evil.
The trials and executions of the Pendle witches left an enduring imprint on Pendle history, serving as a reminder of the injustices and superstitions of the past. Many reminders of the witches live on locally today including bus routes with the Pendle Witch way, the Witches Galore shop that we just seen and many beers by local brewers Moorhouses, including the White Witch, Blonde Witch, Broomstick bitter and the Witchfinder General amongst others not forgetting the Ice Witch, which is my favourite of theirs with its citrus and fruity flavour.
If you look down the side of the church, there is a so-called 'Witches' Grave', which is inscribed with the name Nutter. Local folklore suggests that this is the final resting place of Alice Nutter, one of the notorious Pendle witches.
However, this is highly unlikely as executed witches were rarely buried in holy ground, and the skull and crossbones symbol was quite common on graves at the time, making the legend probably more myth than fact. But whenever has that stopped a good story? The faded date is also too late to be Alice Nutter's grave.
Head back out of the churchyard and then, upon meeting the road, turn left. Then we take the road off to the right where the road splits, following the sign for Sabden Fold. Head along the road and after about 200 metres, when you reach a metal gate on the right, if you look over the wall to the left, the buildings in the valley below are Moss End and beyond that Bull Hole.
Back to the witches story, Moss End Farm was home to Jane Bulcock and her son John, who were fellow accused and they were found guilty of murder by witchcraft and executed at Lancaster whilst Bull Hole farm was believed to be the home of John Nutter, who had two of his cows die, supposedly killed by witchcraft, one by Chattox and the other by Demdike.
Around the next bend is another gate. That is the entrance to Faughs quarry. Back with the witches' story, Demdike claimed to have met the devil here in Faughs quarry, with the devil at that time taking the shape of a young boy named Tib.
Just continue along the road. On our website, the route of today's Pendle Witches walk from Barley is set out on an Ordnance Survey map along with a GPX download for your phone or GPS device. The link to our Walks4all website is down in the description below.
If you look over the wall just before reaching the trees on your left, you can again see down towards Bull Hole and around to Moss End with Boulsworth on the far horizon. Just a little further on, you pass by the entrance to the Shekinah Christian Centre, which was previously Sadler's farm. Sadler's farm is a possible site for Demdike's home Malkin Tower, but no one knows for sure.
Another site is near the current Malkin Tower Farm at Blacko, or even the remains unearthed in 2011 near Lower Black Moss reservoir of a cottage, complete with a mummified cat. After just over 100 metres further on, just as the road starts to descend, there is a large driveway on the right-hand side.
Immediately after that, we turn right over the stone stile built into the wall. Once over the stile, we start to head up the field, just keeping to the left-hand side of the wall. Take time to stop every so often and look around to admire the ever-expanding views. Pass through the gate in the wall. I think I mentioned before that part of this walk is a little boggy, and just continue straight ahead to head up onto Driver Height.
If you enjoy these videos, please click the Like Button, Subscribe to our Channel and hit the Notification Bell so you know when any new walks have been uploaded. It is free to subscribe, and your likes and comments really do help our channel. As you reach the top of Driver Height, if you look around, there is an excellent 360-degree panorama.
If there has been any recent rain, a few parts of this walk, as you've seen, can get a little boggy, so waterproof walking or hiking boots are recommended or waterproof shoes. If you are new to hiking, though, and just want ideas for walking gear to wear and take on the walk, we've included some kit list recommendations down in the description below.
Just a little further on over to the left, you can see the top of Ogden Clough Valley, and then if you look just to the right of Pendle Hill, you can see the faint outline of the Yorkshire Three Peaks. Continue straight on, and then when you reach the footpath sign next to the partly tumbledown wall.
We again just keep heading straight following the path that heads downhill, but slowly moves away from the wall. Again, some of this section can be a little boggy. The path heads down to the dam end of Upper Ogden Reservoir.
If you look over to the left, you can see up the Ogden Clough Valley and around to the right is Fell Wood. For now, just continue down the path. We are just heading down to the gate visible in the wall ahead.
Pass through the gate and then down to the right, you can see through to the Lower Ogden Reservoir. Head down the steps, and then if you look over to the left, you can see the overflow chute. And again, when you look over to the right, you can see the overflow chute heading down in the direction of Lower Ogden Reservoir, which we will be walking by shortly.
Walk across the head of the dam. Upper Ogden Reservoir was completed in 1906 with a surface area of approximately 28,000 square metres and is 17.9 metres deep at its deepest point. It can hold 54 and a half million gallons of water. Looking down the valley from here, you can see through to Lower Ogden Reservoir that we will be walking past shortly. To continue, head across the dam, at the end of which there is a signpost telling you about the Ogden reservoirs.
From here, we just turn right and start to head downhill towards the gate in the wall at the bottom. Pass through the kissing gate and walk down the track ahead. You can walk down this track now all the way back into Barley, back to the car park. But there is a gate on the right-hand side through which there is a concessionary footpath.
Generally, when it's not too wet, I go back this way. Pass through the gate. From the gate, just head down the path that keeps reasonably parallel to the road with the stream down to the right of us. At one point, there is a bridge on the left that leads back over onto the lane we left to head down this concessionary footpath. We'll just ignore that for now, though, and we'll just walk straight on.
Lower Ogden Reservoir was completed in 1914 and is the larger of the two Ogden Clough reservoirs with a surface area of approximately 85,000 square metres. This deepest point is 18 metres deep and it can hold approximately 158 million gallons of water. Head down to and pass over the wooden footbridge, and then pass through the gate in the wall to turn right along the road.
If you had not gone down the concessionary footpath, this is the road that you'd be walking down. On the right, there is another sign about the Ogden reservoirs, and then behind that, you can see the head of the dam and another overflow chute.
Just keep on walking now down the road back into barley.
At one point, we pass by the wooden footbridge that we walked over near the start of the walk. This time we just ignore that and carry straight on along the road. Upon meeting the road, we cross back over the road, and you can see, just by Pendle Water, there are a couple of benches there if you want a little rest.
We then cross over to the other side of the road. If you look over the wall here, you can see some more benches by Pendle Water. Then we just continue along the pavement to turn left back into the car park where we started the walk. That's the Western loop of the Witches walk completed, so if you need the toilets or fancy a drink or something to eat from the Cabin Cafe, now is the time as you pass them. For the Eastern loop of the Pendle Witches walk, we need to head away from the toilets towards the bottom end of the car park.
At the bottom end of the car park, follow the Whitehough 1/2 mile footpath sign along the narrow gravel track. The track bends around to the left and then meets up with a wider track. Continue straight ahead on the wider track. Over to the left, you can see a chimney that used to be part of the Narrowgates mill, and then just a few yards further on, you can see the old weavers' cottages.
If you want to know more about Pendle Hill and its industrial past, check out our Ultimate Guide to Pendle Hill, the link for which is down in the description below. Continue straight on and then pass through the next gate. We then just follow this path for just under half a mile. Just keep to the left of Pendle Water. Just before reaching the houses, pass around the gate and then just continue straight on. With the bridge over Pendle Water just ahead, we meet this road.
We turn left up this road following the sign for Whitehough Outdoor Education Centre. After a short distance, the road bends around to the right and we again follow the Whitehough Education Centre sign. Keep on along the road as it slowly climbs for about 150 metres until you meet a small red brick building on the right-hand side.
A couple of yards past the building, you can see another Pendle Way footpath sign pointing to the right, and we will follow this and pass through the gate that is attached to the red brick building. From the gate, head away from the red brick building, following the path that goes up through the woods. The path is reasonably easy to follow.
Most of the time, we just keep the outdoor education centre over to the left and a small stream over to the right. The path is intermittently marked by these wooden waymarker signs, and we pass over a few wooden footbridges along the way. At each of the footbridges, just walk over them and then continue straight ahead.
At one point, you meet another Pendle Way sign close to a fence. Just follow the sign and continue walking through the woods. Follow the next footpath sign over the footbridge and just continue walking straight ahead.
Just after that, we walk across a short clearing to the gate in the fence ahead. Pass through the gate again following the Pendle Way sign. Once through the gate, follow the Pendle Way sign along the fenced track at the end of which, again, following the Pendle Way sign, head down to the right through the wooden gate down the fenced track, which is just a little overgrown in places. After a short distance, you enter onto a road. Turn left and head along it. After a few yards, you reach a T-junction meeting the road that's coming out of Roughlee. Turn left to head a short distance around the bend of the road.
As the road bends around to the left, we leave the road here to head off to the right, following a footpath sign and passing by the sign that says Hollin Top private. Head along the road that provides wonderful views to the right over Roughlee. At the end of this field, you'll see some trees ahead. I couldn't see the Pendle Way footpath sign, but just behind the trees, there is a gate.
You pass through this gate off the lane to head down the Pendle Way. If you have any thoughts about this walk or find any issues with any of the footpaths used, please share that with us down in the comments below. Head straight on down this path, then keep on the same line. After about 75 metres or so, you meet the gate in the fence ahead. Pass through this next gate and head alongside the fence to the next fence.
Just before reaching this next fence, we turn left to head alongside it. The path previously used to go straight on here, so it may look different on your map, but the path has been changed. So we just head now alongside the left-hand side of the fence. Towards the end of the fence, head down the enclosed path towards the wooden gate ahead and then pass through the wooden kissing gate.
Once through the gate, follow the Pendle Way sign diagonally right across the field to arrive at the wooden footbridge in the corner. Pass over the wooden footbridge and just continue straight ahead. Again, just pass through this next gate and follow the yellow Pendle Way waymarker sign. Just continue to walk straight on. As you cross the field over to the left on the peak of the hill, is the folly of Blacko or Stansfield Tower, built in 1890 by a local grocer, Jonathan Stansfield.
There are many stories as to why he built it, ranging from wanting to see Blackpool Tower, to being able to look over into the Ribble Valley, and just wanting to be able to see his girlfriend's house. Having crossed the field, don't go over the stile in this next fence, but turn left just in front of this waymarker again, following the Pendle Way footpath sign and head along the edge of the field, just keeping to the left of the hedgerow.
And then upon meeting a gate, either pass over the stile to the side of it, or if the gate is open, just pass through and continue down the track. Where the track meets the wall, pass through the metal gate and immediately turn right. We leave the Pendle Way here, then we just head along down this track to the right of the hedge.
On our right-hand side here is Roughlee Old Hall. Roughlee Old Hall was supposedly the home of Alice Nutter, one of the accused witches, but she was actually believed to live at nearby Crowtrees and was the widow of a yeoman farmer.
Records from that time show the daughters of a man called John Smith actually lived at Roughlee Old Hall. Just continue straight on. Pass through the narrow gap in the wall and then just continue ahead on the left-hand side of these houses until you meet the road ahead. On meeting the road, turn left and then turn immediately right to head into Roughlee, where you've got Pendle water on your left-hand side and ahead is the Bay Horse.
The Bay Horse serves food and drink and generally has up to four real ales on the bar, and it's also dog friendly. On the other side of the road, you can see the road sign for Lancaster Castle for the witches to follow. In the bus shelter opposite, you can find some information on Roughlee Booth and on Roughlee itself. To continue the walk, just head along the pavement away from the Bay Horse, where you soon reach the statue of Alice Nutter.
I did think initially it was going to be quiet, but as I was arriving, some of the Peaky Blinders cast arrived who were on a witchy sightseeing trip. They very kindly agreed to have a couple of photos taken next to Alice. This is Alice Nutter looking a little more alone in her chains. The statue of Alice was unveiled in 2012, on the 400th anniversary of her execution.
If you want to find a little bit more about Alice, just behind the statue is an information plaque with a bit more information about Alice and when the statue was erected. From here, just carry on along the road, where sometimes you may be lucky enough just to catch the odd passing horse and cart. You'll probably hear it before you see it, but on the left-hand side of the road is Roughlee waterfall. Carry on, walk along the road past the new section of wall.
Then, just on your left, there is a small parking area, where there is another information sign about Roughlee. From the sign, just continue along the road, where you soon pass some white railings. There is a sign currently on the white railings for the Halloween festival taking place at Roughlee village Hall next weekend on Sunday, 29th October 2023. So if you're watching this and have already missed that one, mark it down for next year.
If you are in Roughlee at this time of year, check out the additional visitors that usually come around for Halloween. At the end of the railings, turn right to follow along the path that follows the side of the stream. Pass over the wooden stile and just continue to walk straight ahead along the path. Pass through the metal kissing gate. Walk on along this flagged section by the water, and then upon meeting a metal gate, pass through it. Head on a few yards and then pass through the next metal gate to continue straight ahead along the path.
After a few more yards, we pass through the next metal gate that we meet and then walk straight on following the path that initially follows down the left-hand side of the fence and the trees. Upon meeting the next wooden gate, just pass through it, then head away from the wall up slightly, and then alongside the fence. The path then meets the bridge over the water at White Hough. Pass through the gap between the wall and the fence.
If you look over the other side of the bridge, you can just about see the road that we turned up at the start of the walk up to White Hough. So if you did want to go back along the river again, you can just continue straight on here. For now, though, we will turn left and head up the hill towards the main road. On meeting the main road, cross it and then pass through the wooden gate.
Once through the wooden gate, head away from it up the hill, past the wooden waymarker. We then arrive at the top of the hill by two benches, by the gates. If you want, just have a little sit and rest on the bench, and turn around and enjoy the view. As we start to head back towards Barley, one last witch fact: Barley and the nearby Barrowford have both held the Guinness World Record for the record number of people dressed as witches in one location.
For now, though, we will just pass through the gate by the side of the large gates and turn right onto Heys Lane. We now just head along the walled Heys Lane.
If you've enjoyed this video, please click the like button, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell, so you know when any new walks have been uploaded. It is free to subscribe, and your likes and comments really do help promote our channel. After about half a mile, just as the lane starts to descend, there is a wonderful view straight ahead of Pendle Hill.
I first came across this view about 15 years ago when I bought a print by local artist Keith Melling of Pendle Hill and Heys Lane, and it has remained one of my favourite views of Pendle Hill ever since. I think partly because your eyes are drawn to Pendle Hill along the walls in the foreground.
Continue on down the lane as it drops into Barley. It just becomes a little rougher underfoot for a section. When the path reaches the houses, just continue straight ahead, and then upon meeting the road, turn right to head down the pavement. Over to the right, you can see the bridge over Pendle Water. And then as we head around the corner to the right, you can again see the benches that we passed at the end of the previous loop.
So from here we just head across the road and along the pavement to turn left back into the car park. Whilst that ends our walk for today, as promised at the start, let's have a look at where we can eat and drink after the walk. Just over halfway around the Eastern loop, we passed by the Bay Horse at Roughlee.
But if you didn't stop there, there is the Cabin Cafe in the car park at Barley, just on the far side of the toilets, which has seating indoors and out. It offers a wide range of food and drinks. Besides the Cabin Cafe, there are also the Pendle Inn and Barley Mow. To get there, if you just head away from the toilets along the gravelled path, just over the bridge across the road, is the dog-friendly Pendle Inn.
Then, if you look further around to the right, you can see on the side of the building the brown sign for the Barley Mow.
You can eat and drink either inside or outside the Pendle Inn and around the back in the conservatory. There is additional space for eating out to the front. There are plenty of beer tables if you want to have a sit and drink outside at the end of the walk. It would be remiss not to try a pint, so I ordered a Pride of Pendle brewed by the Moorhouses brewery, albeit served in a Thwaites Glass. The Pendle Inn is a Thwaites pub now with a range of Thwaites ales, but they do have local guest ales available as well.
Across the road is the dog-friendly Barley Mow. It has some accommodation, serves food and drink. There is some outside seating where you can get a glimpse of Pendle Hill. Just before ending today's walk, we've put together a short fly-through created using the Ordnance Survey app, the link for which is in the description below, to show you where you've been and give the area a little more perspective.
We left the car park at Barley and passed by the village hall before heading on and crossing the footbridge to climb the hill towards the four-way signpost. At the signpost, we headed left to crest the hill before dropping down into Newchurch in Pendle. Here we visited the Witches Galore shop before heading to the church of St. Mary to visit the 'Eye of God' and the so-called 'witches' grave'.
We headed out along Wellhead Road to pass Faughs quarry, Moss End, and Bull Hole before turning right to climb up over Driver Height. After cresting the hill, we headed down to Upper Ogden Reservoir. We passed over the head of the dam and then turned right to start heading down the track before taking the concessionary footpath, which ran parallel with the road down past Lower Ogden Reservoir and over the wooden bridge and back into Barley.
We then started the Eastern loop of this Pendle Witches walk by walking out of the bottom end of the car park and alongside Pendle Water before turning left upon reaching White Hough. We headed through the wood by the side of Whitehough Education Centre and then along the Pendle Way before dropping down into Roughlee. We passed by Roughlee Old Hall and then the Bay Horse before visiting the Alice Nutter statue and Roughlee waterfall.
We walked on and then turned right through the white railings alongside Pendle Water. Then, before meeting the bridge at Whitehough, we turned left and headed up and then turned right along Heys Lane. We then followed it back into Barley. That ends our walk for today.
In the transcript of the video, when any mention is made of the 'description below', it refers to the description shown beneath the video on YouTube. If you wish to access any of that information, click 'watch on YouTube' on the video above, and the description will be there, on YouTube, just below the video.
