Whitewell

{{see also|Lordship of Bowland}}

From the late 14th century, the Inn anciently housed the forest courts of the Forest of Bowland and provided lodgings for the Master Forester. There is evidence of Master Foresters in Bowland dating back as early as the late 12th century.{{cite web|url=https://www.forestofbowland.com/Lordship-Bowland|title=The Lordship of Bowland - Forest of Bowland AONB|website=Forestofbowland.com|access-date=11 March 2019}}

It is thought that the ancient administrative centre of the forest was at Hall Hill, north-north-east of the current hamlet. It is conjectured that this motte – now merely an earthwork mound surmounted by trees overlooking the old keeper's cottage at Seed Hill Farm – formed the centre of an early medieval hunting laund (enclosure) known as Radholme which is mentioned as a vill in Domesday.MC Higham, "The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria", Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Archaeological & Antiquarian Society, Vol 91: 79–90 (1991)

Sir Walter Urswyk was Master Forester to John of Gaunt, 11th Lord of Bowland and it is Urswyk who seems to have been responsible for the shift to Lower Whitewell sometime between 1372–1403.{{cite web|url=http://www.forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/PORTRAIT%20OF%20A%20MASTER%20FORESTER%20_2_m%20V2.pdf|title=Portrait of a Master Forester|website=Forestofbowland.com|access-date=11 March 2019}} Bowland appears to undergone wholesale manorial reorganisation in the second half of the 14th century, a process that may have been driven by a fall in population resulting from the Black Death (1348–50) and the absorption of Bowland into the Duchy of Lancaster after 1360.

After 1660, the office of Master Forester fell into abeyance. The forest courts at Whitewell – a swainmote and a woodmote – were presided over by a Chief Steward or more often his deputy, one of whose duties was to appoint a bowbearer (or more often two bowbearers) on behalf of the Lord of Bowland. His responsibilities were akin to those of a chief verderer – an unpaid official appointed to protect vert and venison and responsible for supervising and assisting in the enforcement of forest laws.R Cunliffe Shaw, "The Royal Forest of Lancaster" (Guardian Press: Preston 1956)

The Parkers of Browsholme Hall have traditionally claimed the office of bowbearer as an hereditary right{{cite web|url=https://browsholme.com/|title=Browsholme Hall and The Tithe Barn – Historic House and Wedding Venue|website=Browsholme.com|access-date=11 March 2019}} but this claim was an early 19th fabrication and has now been discredited. The family were certainly bowbearers for successive generations between the 17th and 19th centuries but the right of appointment was always a prerogative of their local lord, the Lord of Bowland,M Greenwood & C Bolton, "Bolland Forest and the Hodder Valley" (Landy Publishing: Blackpool 2000; orig. pub. 1955) the so-called Lord of the Fells.{{cite news | work=Rural Life | date= November 2014| url= http://www.forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/pdfs/lord_bowland.pdf |title= Lord of the Fells, Guardian of History}}

Although the forest courts at Whitewell fell into disuse in the first half of the 19th century, the 16th Lord of Bowland chose in April 2010 to appoint Robert Redmayne Parker of Browsholme Hall his bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland, the first Parker to be so appointed in more than 150 years.Official Forest of Bowland AONB website {{cite web |url=http://www.forestofbowland.com/node/1923 |title=Another rabbit out of the feudal hat | Forest of Bowland |access-date=2010-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711021123/http://www.forestofbowland.com/node/1923 |archive-date=11 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}){{cite web|url=https://www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk/news/first-bowbearer-of-the-forest-appointed-for-150-years-1-1857779|title=First 'Bowbearer of the Forest' appointed for 150 years|website=Clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk|access-date=11 March 2019}}

In 1938, the Duchy of Lancaster purchased 6,000 acres from the Bowland Forest Estate, forming the Whitewell Estate.{{cite web |last1=Bowland |first1=William |title=Mapping the Lordship of Bowland |url=https://www.forestofbowland.com/files/uploads/history/Mapping%20the%20Lordship.pdf |access-date=24 November 2021}} The surrounding forest has been the hunting ground of kings since the time of William Rufus. Queen Elizabeth II was said to be fond of the area, visiting the Inn at Whitewell for lunch in 2006.{{cite news |title=Queen to visit East Lancashire |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/739074.queen-visit-east-lancashire/ |access-date=24 November 2021 |work=Lancashire Telegraph |language=en}} Nearby settlements include Dunsop Bridge which claims to be the centre of the United Kingdom, and Clitheroe, the administrative centre of the borough.

Whitewell enjoyed brief media attention in 2009 when it was reported that Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan had stepped forward on behalf of the Towneley family to claim the title of 15th Lord of Bowland. Previously, the Lordship of Bowland had been thought lost or in the possession of the Crown having disappeared from the historical record in late 19th century. The Towneleys had owned the Bowland Forest Estate from 1835 and it transpired that the title had been retained by an extinct family trust.{{cite web|url=https://www.forestofbowland.com/node/1864|title=The Lordship of Bowland - Forest of Bowland AONB|website=Forestofbowland.com|access-date=11 March 2019}} Controversially, Lord O'Hagan went on to sell the title.{{cite news|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4713002.lord-of-bowland-title-sold-at-auction/|title=Lord of Bowland title sold at auction|newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph|access-date=11 March 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.lep.co.uk/news/mystery-buyer-snaps-up-ancient-title-1-100774|title=Mystery buyer snaps up ancient title|website=Lep.co.uk|access-date=11 March 2019}} The 16th Lord of Bowland was later revealed to be a Cambridge University don.{{cite web|url=https://www.lep.co.uk/news/buyer-of-aristocratic-title-revealed-1-131576|title=Buyer of aristocratic title revealed|website=Lep.co.uk|access-date=11 March 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4738892.new-lord-of-bowland-is-don-at-top-university/|title=New Lord of Bowland is don at top university|newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph|access-date=11 March 2019}}

In April 2010, it was announced that the 16th Lord of Bowland had appointed Charles Bowman, landlord of the Inn at Whitewell, as Chief Steward of the Forest of Bowland, the first such appointment since 1922.[http://www.garstangcourier.co.uk/73/Ancient-titles-rise-again.6200640.jp] {{dead link|date=March 2019}} The appointment was short-lived, however, and in May 2011, chartered surveyor Michael Parkinson of Ingham & Yorke of Clitheroe assumed the role.{{Cite web|title=Michael Parkinson, Esq Authorised Biography – Debrett's People of Today|url=http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/p/8267/(Robert)%20Michael+PARKINSON.aspx|website=Debretts.com|access-date=5 April 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830132302/http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/p/8267/(Robert)%20Michael+PARKINSON.aspx|archive-date=30 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/9059535.clitheroe-man-is-chief-steward-of-all-he-surveys/|title=Clitheroe man is chief steward of all he surveys|newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph|access-date=11 March 2019}}

The Inn at Whitewell was featured in TV series The Trip directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalised versions of themselves doing a restaurant tour of northern England.

File:The Parish Church of St Michael, Whitewell - geograph.org.uk - 414108.jpg|Parish church of St Michael

File:Pulpit, The Parish Church of St Michael, Whitewell - geograph.org.uk - 414135.jpg|The pulpit in St Michael's church

File:Inn at Whitewell from the North - geograph.org.uk - 885921.jpg|Whitewell from the north

File:River Hodder at Whitewell - geograph.org.uk - 4975.jpg|River Hodder

File:Whitewell Social Hall - geograph.org.uk - 414332.jpg|Whitewell Social Hall

File:Fancy Tent - geograph.org.uk - 175684.jpg|Marquee used during Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Whitewell Estate in 2006

{{portal|Lancashire}}

• Listed buildings in Bowland Forest Low

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Whitewell, Lancashire|Whitewell}}

{{Borough of Ribble Valley}}

{{Duchy of Lancaster}}

Category:Villages in Lancashire

Category:Geography of Ribble Valley

Category:History of Yorkshire

Category:Forest of Bowland