Whistle Down The Witches
The Age
Saturday August 31, 2002
One of my first jobs as a junior journalist was to go to a remote village in Lancashire and interview Hayley Mills and Alan Bates about their roles in a new film.
At the time I was very impressed by the cars used by the people running the show. Producer Richard Attenborough had a Rolls-Royce and director Brian Forbes dashed around the country lanes in a Bentley. John Mills and his wife visited their daughter on the set and they also had a Rolls-Royce. I made a mental note to get out of journalism and into the movies.
Well, the film Whistle Down The Wind crops up on TV in the small hours every now and then, and I am still writing stories, without a Roller.
The film was set in Downham, frequently referred to as England's prettiest village, and now back in the spotlight as the setting for ABC-TV's new Saturday night soap, Born and Bred.
Downham has one pub, one general store, one village stream and one village squire. Actually the squire is a lord, Lord Clitheroe, and he has quite a bit to say about what happens in the village.
Fair enough, I suppose, as his Assheton family has owned every house since the 16th century and built the school and vicarage. The current squire has a thing about intrusive technology, which is why there are no TV antennae or overhead powerlines in the village.
Downham is a tranquil little spot on the road to nowhere in particular, with one-car lanes spearing off to villages such as Worston, Rimington, Blacko and Barley.
It snuggles alongside its little brook under the bulk of a long plateau called Pendle Hill, the scene of no-good doings four centuries ago. This was where England's most famous witch hunt resulted in 19 women being tried for sorcery in 1612.
Among them was Old Chattox, described in the trials at Lancaster Castle as ``a very old, withered, spent and decrepit creature, her sight almost gone, her lips ever chattering and talking, but no man knew what". Being decrepit didn't save her from the noose.
For years there had been rumours that Pendle women associated with the devil. If a horse went lame, the witches were blamed. If a barn burnt down, they had invoked the devil. So Chattox, Demdike and others were tried and hanged, but it didn't stop horses going lame and barns still burnt down.
Downham, where actor James Bolam has ruled the roost in Born and Bred, is tucked away in an idyllic corner of Lancashire, over the moors from the industrial towns and insulated from race riots and soccer hooligans. The nearest town is Clitheroe, about seven kilometres away, while Manchester is about an hour off.
Downham Hall, the ancestral seat of the Asshetons, has an 1835 facade on an Elizabethan shell. A small stone at the entrance is reputed to mark the last resting place of Roman soldiers who were killed in a skirmish on the nearby road to the fort at Ribchester.
Their bones were transferred to the parish church, St Leonard's, when they were dug up with the excavation of the Roman road in the 18th century.
This quiet little village looks good enough to eat, with ancient stone cottages topped by moss covered slate roofs. Window boxes are bright all year round and the one street runs down to the village green, divided by the Downham Brook. On one side are the village stocks, formerly used to punish minor miscreants - most things below witchcraft.
People come here to feed the ducks and enjoy the hospitality of the Assheton Arms, which has a reputation for good food and real ales. It was originally known as the George and Dragon, but changed its name to honour the family that has done so much for the village. And which also owns it.
On the other side of Pendle Hill is Newchurch-in-Pendle, where the family of hanged witch Alizon Nutter lie buried. The old church here pre-dates the sorcery trials and has an interesting stone carving in its bell tower, said to represent the eye of God.
Today the eye looks across the steep street to Witches Galore, a tourist shop specialising in witchcraft. At nearby Worston an old farmhouse has a peculiar round window with pentagram-shaped lead frames. Naturally, this is a witches' window.
A pleasant peculiarity of these Pendle Forest villages is that they all have fine pubs. A favourite is the Swan with Two Necks at Pendleton, a tiny millstone grit building looking out onto the village stream. The Masons, at Wiswell, is hidden away in a lane off the main street and the Calf's Head at Worston is recommended for pub grub.
This little land is a sharp contrast to the mountains and lochs of Monarch of the Glen, which the new series Born and Bred has replaced. It is well located for a day trip from Manchester or Leeds and seems happy and content with its lush meadows and friendly inns.
© 2002 The Age