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68<br />
Pendle Sculpture<br />
Trail<br />
The other main attraction in the Barley area, on the opposite slopes to Pendle<br />
Hill, is the Pendle Sculpture Trail. Contained within Aitken Wood, this family<br />
tourist attraction brings together art, nature, and the history of the Pendle area.<br />
There are fifteen unique and intriguing sculptures located on the wooded trail<br />
along with ten plaques symbolising the ten witches of Pendle. The sculpture<br />
trail was inspired by Pendle’s infamous association with witchcraft, culminating<br />
in the trial of the Pendle Witches at Lancaster Castle in August 1612.<br />
Nineteen prisoners stood trial – nine from Pendle, eight from Samlesbury,<br />
one from Padiham and one from <strong>St</strong> <strong>Helens</strong>. The prisoners were not allowed<br />
to have defence counsel to plead for them, nor could they call any witnesses<br />
to speak on their behalf.<br />
All nine defendants from the Pendle area, along with Isobel Robey from <strong>St</strong><br />
<strong>Helens</strong>, were sentenced to death and were subsequently hanged on the<br />
moors above the town.<br />
Isobel Robey from Windle was charged with ‘felonious exercising and using<br />
devilish and wicked arts’ at the Pendle Witch Trials. This charge was brought<br />
after accusations from her goddaughter’s husband, Peter Chaddock, which<br />
were backed up by various accounts from Isobel’s neighbours, Margaret Parr,<br />
Jane Wilkinson and Margaret Lyon. Isobel strongly disapproved of her god<br />
daughter’s choice of husband and wasn’t shy in sharing those views with the<br />
family, a trait for outspokenness which led to her tragic and brutal execution.<br />
The Pendle Sculpture Trail is located in Aitken Wood, near the Black Moss<br />
Reservoirs. The nearest parking is about a mile away in the main car park in<br />
Barley – it’s a fairly easy walk to the wood, but the start of the trial is a short,<br />
fairly steep climb.<br />
For more information about the Pendle Sculpture<br />
Trail in Barley, you can visit www.visitpendle.com<br />
and download a trail map.
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