Locations
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Locations |
| Wycoller
Village Pendle - Lancashire |
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As
one approaches the village of wycoller there is nothing to suggest the
mystery and beauty that awaits the visitor. One almost seems to step back
in time the moment the village comes into view.The word Wycoller originates
from the Anglo Saxon Wic-Alr, meaning dairy farm among the alder trees.Passing
through the village an old pack horse bridge spans Wycoller Beck from
beyond which the first site of wycoller hall comes into view.Interestingly
the twin arched bridge is also known as Sally's Bridge named after Sally
Owen, mother of the last squire Henry Owen Cunliffe. In her walks across the moors from Haworth,Charlotte Bronte was a regular visitor to the area and it is considered by many that wycoller hall was the inspiration for Ferndean Manor in the famous novel Jane Eyre.Once an imposing structure wycoller hall is now a ruin said to be haunted by two ghosts,one a headless horse man said to ascend the now missing stairs on full moon lit nights and the other a lady dressed in black seen at a window. |
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| Click any image to view a larger photograph | ||
| The
pack horse bridge approaching Wycoller Hall It is also known as Sally's Bridge, after Sally Owen, mother of the last squire - Henry Owen Cunliffe |
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 pack horse bridge |
 sallys bridge |
 twin arched bridge |
Wycoller Hall |
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| In
Chapter XXXVII of the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë wrote "The manor-house of Ferndean was a building of considerable antiquity, moderate size, and no architectural pretensions, deep buried in a wood. Even when within a very short distance of the manor-house, you could see nothing of it, so thick and dark grew the timber of the gloomy wood about it. Iron gates between granite pillars showed me where to enter, and passing through them, I found myself at once in the twilight of close-ranked trees. There was a grass-grown track descending the forest aisle between hoar and knotty shafts and under branched arches." When viewing the hall on an downcast autumn day it is easy to relate to Charlottes description. |
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 ruins at wycoller hall |
 fire place in wycoller hall |
 wycoller hall ruins |
The
original structure is considered to have been constructed by Piers Hartley
around the year 1550.His daughter Elizabeth married Nicholas Cunliffe
in 1611 which saw hte Cunliffe family inhabit Wycoller Hall for six generations
until Henry Owen Cunliffe inherited the hall in 1773. Henry Cunliffe set
about modernising the building in order to attract a wealthy wife but
he mortgaged and borrowed heavily on the estate and on his death in 1818
the debts could not be repaid and the estate was split up among the mortgagees.The
main part of the estate was held by John Oldham,the only son of Hannah
Oldham,sister of Henry Owen Cunliffe's wife Mary. It later passed to the
Reverend John Roberts Oldham who sold the doors,roofing timbers,windows
and some stone to assist the building of a cotton mill in the near by
village of Trawden. |
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 inside the ruins of wycoller hall |
 the ruin buildings of wycoller hall |
 in the fire place at wycoller hall |
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