BOWLAND and PENDLE HILL by Dr WR MITCHELL

Phillimore & Co Ltd, published September 2004
Hardback, 150 pp, price £15.99

Reviewed by Michael Nunn

"The geographical centre of England' intelligently and sumptuously described

A venerable and respected Northern writer
Many readers will recognise the name of William Reginald ("Bill') Mitchell of Giggleswick. Born in Skipton, he cut his teeth as a journalist for The Craven Herald. Later he wrote for and served as Editor of The Dalesman, and Cumbria, and can lay claim to the authorship of over 100 books on a variety of subjects from fell walking to folk customs, local history to Lancashire legend.

It comes as no surprise that nearly all his works concern his beloved North of England, and many are about the area's railways. He has long had a particular devotion to and interest in the Settle-Carlisle line – of which he was both a luminous historian with much folk and local anecdotage, and also a tireless champion in the days when the line's future was in doubt.

Despite being almost an octogenarian (he was born in Skipton in 1926) he is still going strong, as the recent issue of this magisterial work shows. He also had a piece only last month, "Glowing in the wind', in the December 2004 edition of Cumbria.

So it was with some confidence that I tackled his latest tome, and was not disappointed one whit. His publishers, Phillimore, have produced a consistently good list of local works, for example Dr Andrew White's Lancaster: A History (2003). (You can read my review of that here.)

"A Royal Forest in which a king never hunted.'
The subject of the book is the fascinating, relatively inaccessible and ‘no-man's-land' district which lies in both Yorkshire and Lancashire. The boundaries of this hilly and sparsely-populated terrain have been moved over the centuries, and not least with the local government boundary changes in 1974.

So what does the book tell us about, then? Like the ‘classical' regional and county history books I read as a child, there is rather more that the bare chronological history, though that is handled in an exemplary manner. More than that, however, there is also scholarly attention given to an overview of the area's geology and topography and natural history, such as flora and fauna.

Furthermore, some of the chapter headings reveal Mitchell's broad interests, knowledge and experience. He looks at a variety of factors which have contributed over the centuries to make the place what is has been in times past and what it is today. The thirteen chapter headings include "A Farming Life', a survey of the region's industries, and a look at the sporting activities of the so-called ‘gentry' from the seventeenth century to Victorian times. There is also a glimpse at a handful of "Men of Property', including the Pudsay and Towneley dynasties.

There are some wonderful linguistic nuggets that add a wry grin to the readability of this work: Tosside (a village), lactage payments (a tax on dairy products payable by farmers to landowners), and knobbers, (or brockets; male deer in their second year), and a glory of other ancient and dialect vocabulary.

A comprehensive index and a useful bibliography are valuable aids to the general reader and those who want to find out more about this fascinating area. This volume well complements Phillimore's range of local histories, and can claim to be a standard text on the history of Bowland and Pendle.

Having been more than intrigued by this delightful book, I know that, when the weather takes up, John and I will be off inland to explore this area, and to learn more about our recently-adopted county.

Copyright © 2 January 2005 Michael Nunn

Bowland and Pendle Hill is available in Waterstones and other local booksellers or from the publisher's website for £14.39

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Other works by Dr WR Mitchell can be found on:
http://www.railwayvideo.com/wrmitchell.htm
Some of Mitchell's railway works

http://books.bankhacker.com/W.+R+Mitchell/
A surprising miscellany!

Bradford University Library - Mitchell
Information on the archive material donated by Mitchell to the JB Priestley Library at the University of Bradford, which is described and catalogued on:
ref 1 (pdf download)
ref 2 (pdf download)

Books by Mitchell and others relating to the Pendle/Bowland area, and its railways. (PDF Download)

Another selection of Mitchell's works

Mitchell and others on the Settle-Carlisle railway

The current Amazon selection of works by Mitchell

Some of Mitchell's despatches for Bradford's daily evening newspaper, The Telegraph & Argus

The Dalesman's website

Details about The Dalesman's sister publication, Cumbria

Only one example of Mitchell's prolific writings on life in the Dales, talking about making a decent cup of tea, Methodism's pioneer John Wesley, and noted Northern historian and antiquary Arthur Raistrick