Whitewell - Wikipedia 6.09.

2021 13:23

Whitewell
Whitewell is a hamlet within the civil parish of
Bowland Forest Low and Ribble Valley borough of Whitewell
Lancashire, England. It is in the Forest of Bowland Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 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. It stands above a bend in the River Hodder.

The hamlet 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 The Inn at Whitewell
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]

Contents Whitewell

History
Whitewell Estate
Contemporary
Media gallery
See also
Location in Ribble Valley Borough
References Show map of the Borough of Ribble
Valley
Show map of the Forest of Bowland
History Show map of Lancashire
Show all
From the late 14th century, the Inn anciently housed the
forest courts of the Forest of Bowland and provided OS grid reference SD655465
lodgings for the Master Forester. There is evidence of
Civil parish Bowland Forest
Master Foresters in Bowland dating back as early as the
late 12th century.[2] Low

District Ribble Valley

It is thought that the ancient administrative centre of the
forest was at Hall Hill, north-north-east of the current Shire county Lancashire
hamlet. It is conjectured that this motte – now merely an Region North West
earthwork mound surmounted by trees overlooking the
old keeper's cottage at Seed Hill Farm – formed the Country England

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centre of an early medieval hunting laund (enclosure) Sovereign state United Kingdom
known as Radholme which is mentioned as a vill in
Domesday.[3] Post town CLITHEROE

Sir Walter Urswyk was Master Forester to John of Gaunt, Postcode district BB7
11th Lord of Bowland and it is Urswyk who seems to have Dialling code 01200
been responsible for the shift to Lower Whitewell
sometime between 1372–1403.[4] Bowland appears to Police Lancashire
undergone wholesale manorial reorganisation in the Fire Lancashire
second half of the 14th century, a process that may have Ambulance North West
been driven by a fall in population resulting from the
Black Death (1348–50) and the absorption of Bowland UK Parliament Ribble Valley
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. The responsibilities of the bowbearer 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 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]

Whitewell Estate
Since 1938, much of the land and property in the area has formed part of the Duchy of
Lancaster Whitewell Estate, as black plaques throughout the area serve to remind. The
surrounding forest has been the hunting ground of kings since the time of William Rufus. The
present monarch is said to be fond of the area, visiting the Inn at Whitewell for lunch in 2006.
Nearby settlements include Dunsop Bridge which claims to be the centre of the United
Kingdom, and Clitheroe, the administrative centre of the borough.

Contemporary
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

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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.[11] Controversially, Lord O'Hagan went on to sell
the title.[12][13] The 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University
don.[14][15]

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.[16] The appointment was short-lived, however, and in May 2011,
chartered surveyor Michael Parkinson of Ingham & Yorke of Clitheroe assumed the role.[17][18]

The Inn at Whitewell was featured in TV series The Trip directed by Michael Winterbottom,
starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

Media gallery

Parish church of St The pulpit in St Whitewell from the River Hodder

Michael Michael's church north

Whitewell Social Marquee used

Hall during the Queen's
visit to the Whitewell
Estate in 2006

See also
Listed buildings in Bowland Forest Low

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References
1. "Welcome" (https://www.innatwhitewell.com/). Innatwhitewell.com. Retrieved 11 March
2019.
2. "The Lordship of Bowland - Forest of Bowland AONB" (https://www.forestofbowland.com/Lo
rdship-Bowland). Forestofbowland.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
3. MC Higham, "The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria", Transactions
of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Archaeological & Antiquarian Society, Vol 91: 79–90
(1991)
4. "Portrait of a Master Forester" (http://www.forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/PORTRAIT%2
0OF%20A%20MASTER%20FORESTER%20_2_m%20V2.pdf) (PDF).
Forestofbowland.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
5. R Cunliffe Shaw, "The Royal Forest of Lancaster" (Guardian Press: Preston 1956)
6. "Browsholme Hall and The Tithe Barn – Historic House and Wedding Venue" (https://browsh
olme.com/). Browsholme.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
7. M Greenwood & C Bolton, "Bolland Forest and the Hodder Valley" (Landy Publishing:
Blackpool 2000; orig. pub. 1955)
8. "Lord of the Fells, Guardian of History" (http://www.forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/pdfs/l
ord_bowland.pdf) (PDF). Rural Life. November 2014.
9. Official Forest of Bowland AONB website "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/web/2011
0711021123/http://www.forestofbowland.com/node/1923). Archived from the original (http://
www.forestofbowland.com/node/1923) on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2010.)
10. "First 'Bowbearer of the Forest' appointed for 150 years" (https://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.
uk/news/first-bowbearer-of-the-forest-appointed-for-150-years-1-1857779).
Clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
11. "The Lordship of Bowland - Forest of Bowland AONB" (https://www.forestofbowland.com/no
de/1864). Forestofbowland.com. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
12. "Lord of Bowland title sold at auction" (https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4713002
.lord-of-bowland-title-sold-at-auction/). Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
13. "Mystery buyer snaps up ancient title" (https://www.lep.co.uk/news/mystery-buyer-snaps-up-
ancient-title-1-100774). Lep.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
14. "Buyer of aristocratic title revealed" (https://www.lep.co.uk/news/buyer-of-aristocratic-title-re
vealed-1-131576). Lep.co.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
15. "New Lord of Bowland is don at top university" (https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/
4738892.new-lord-of-bowland-is-don-at-top-university/). Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved
11 March 2019.
16. [1] (http://www.garstangcourier.co.uk/73/Ancient-titles-rise-again.6200640.jp)
17. "Michael Parkinson, Esq Authorised Biography – Debrett's People of Today" (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20120830132302/http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/p/8267/
(Robert)%20Michael+PARKINSON.aspx). Debretts.com. Archived from the original (http://w
ww.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/p/8267/(Robert)%20Michael+PARKINSON.asp
x) on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
18. "Clitheroe man is chief steward of all he surveys" (https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne
ws/9059535.clitheroe-man-is-chief-steward-of-all-he-surveys/). Lancashire Telegraph.
Retrieved 11 March 2019.

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