After taking early retirement in 2023, I joined the wonderful band of Brockholes volunteers as a Guided Walk leader.

I’d always had a passion for wildlife, but I ended up spending a 35-year working career, not only indoors but often in windowless rooms. Being able to spend my days outside was something that really attracted me to Brockholes.

It’s fair to say that I didn’t really know what to expect but I quickly learned about the reserve and rapidly increased my knowledge about wildlife.

To start with I assisted on walks led by Jim Beattie, and I was learning so much each time I came. I was so fascinated by the reserve and keen to pass on that knowledge that I very soon also started volunteering at the Brockholes Welcome Centre on one morning a week.

As well as having a passion for wildlife I’d always had a passion for history and as I became more familiar with the reserve, I began to realise that there were some close relationships with historical events that took place in the area.

Connections with local history and wildlife aren’t the most obvious but, as a way of engaging more visitors, I put forward a suggestion that I could do a Lancashire History walk around the reserve and thankfully the response was favourable. Great, now all I had to do was research and write a 2-hour historical walk tied into various points around the reserve!

The two stories that had immediately sprung to my mind were the Lancashire Witch trials of 1612 and the English Civil War Battle of Preston in 1648.

The Lancashire Witch trials are more commonly associated with the Pendle Witches, but I remembered reading years ago, that the witches on trial weren’t just from Pendle but were also from Samlesbury.

I don’t want to spoil a good story, should people wish to come on the walk, but the Samlesbury Witches story is extremely interesting and some key locations of it can be seen from the reserve.

I am originally from Burnley and went to school in Pendle, so I thought I knew all about the Pendle Witches, but it soon became apparent that some accounts of the story weren’t always historically accurate. For that reason, I base the large part of what I say on the only contemporary report of the trial, “The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancasater” written by Thomas Potts who was the clerk to the court.

Although this tale of witchcraft might be familiar to many, I have the fantastic advantage that I can tell the story on the high path overlooking the Ribble Valley with Pendle Hill as a distant backdrop with some insights from the account of Thomas Potts that might be less well known.

One other area of history that I have always been interested in is the English Civil War. I knew of the Battle of Preston in 1648 and that Oliver Cromwell had advanced with the Parliamentarian army down the Ribble Valley, but I must admit that I didn’t realise that the main part of the battle took place at Ribbleton Moor which is just over a mile north of the reserve.

The Battle effectively ended the second part of the Civil War and resulted in the execution of King Charles I some five months later. The importance of the battle has been understated over the years so that has been interesting to research to tell the story to visitors so close to where it took place.

The walk also covers some Lancashire history as well as the local history of the Brockholes and Samlesbury areas, together with some local stories that visitors might find surprising. The amount of history we have very close to the reserve is fascinating.

We’ve done two walks so far which have proved popular and have had some really good feedback. However, the best feedback possible was at the end of the last walk when we arrived back at the Welcome Centre and a couple said that they would like to join the Wildlife Trust.

To me that is the beauty of doing the History Walks. I get to tell the stories that I love at the same time as introducing visitors to the reserve and showing them what we have to offer. If they find the stories interesting that is great but it’s even better if it causes them to return to Brockholes.

If you are interested in coming on one of the Lancashire History walks, click here to find out more.