Pendle Heritage Centre

Pendle Heritage Centre stands in Barrowford, Lancashire, on a gentle rise above the River Calder. The building is Park Hill, a two-storey farmhouse whose oldest part dates from the 16th century, with later additions up to the early 18th century. A 1661 stone above the door records one of these enlargements. Outside, an 18th-century walled garden and a woodland walk invite quiet exploration. Inside, the Pendle Arts Gallery shows changing exhibitions of local art. The centre tells three linked stories. One follows Park Hill from medieval farm to 18th-century home, using traditional building techniques to show how rooms were added and adapted. Another traces the Bannister and Swinglehurst families who lived here for centuries, including descendants of the Bannister line such as athlete Sir Roger Bannister. The third story covers the Pendle witches, whose 1612 trials are marked by a new long-distance route. Visitors find the restored farmhouse with period rooms and displays about daily life. The walled garden grows flowers and vegetables as it did two hundred years ago. A woodland path leads through oak and ash to the Calder valley. At the start of the Lancashire Witches Walk, a carved stone by Stephen Raw bears the first verse of a poem by Carol Ann Duffy.