Pendle witches landscape gets lottery millions on Halloween

The brooding landscape of Pendle Hill has attracted £2m lottery funding

The brooding landscape which was home to a group of infamous 17th Century witches is receiving a share of £31m Lottery funding.

The Heritage Lottery Fund announced on Halloween it is providing £2m to restore wildlife and the fabric of Pendle Hill.

It is one of 31 projects to receive funding in the latest tranche of projects across the country.

Pendle is where a group of 10 people were convicted of witchcraft in 1612.

Cathryn Harrison played a beggar called Alizon Device in a BBC programme about the Pendle witches

The 400th anniversary, in 2012, was celebrated with a series of events, including a poem by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the unveiling of a statue.

The hill is most closely associated with the county's notorious witch trials, held in an atmosphere of superstition and religious persecution.

A man who alleged he was cursed by a self-confessed witch collapsed just moments after the curse was put on him.

The case, with accusations and counter-accusations involving two families, ended with the conviction of 10 people of witchcraft in a trial whose star witness was Jennet Device, the nine-year-old daughter of one of the accused.

Protecting landscapes

The Pendle Hill project wants to gather and research other stories of the area's heritage, including the founding of the Quaker movement by George Fox.

The story of the Pendle witch trials helps bring in millions of pounds to the local economy each year, according to council figures.

Environment minister Rory Stewart said: "The Heritage Lottery Fund is now playing an absolutely central role in conserving and restoring our landscape.

"This is only the beginning of what we can all do, working together, to really protect and transform nature and beauty across the British Isles."

Pendle Hill in the snow where the witchcraft trials took place 403 years ago

He added that "above all" it will ensure "people are connected to those landscapes".

Drew Bennellick, HLF's head of landscape and natural heritage, said landscapes are "more than just beautiful scenery: they are the backdrop to some of history's most notorious events".

He said Pendle Hill's peat bogs and rugged heather moorland was witness to the trials that spread across the county in the 1600s.

The Landscape Partnership programme is now in its 11th year and has revealed "so many fascinating hidden histories as well as protecting many of our most breathtaking and iconic landmarks."

HLF Landscape Partnership projects

- Elan Links, People, Nature and Water - Mid Wales £1.7m

- Living Levels Partnership, Gwent, South Wales, £2.8m

- North Isles Landscape Partnership Scheme, Orkney Islands, Scotland £3m

- Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland £2.9m

- Lough Erne Landscape Partnership, Fermanagh, Northern Ireland £2.9m

- Nenescape: Revealing the Hidden Stories of the Nene Valley, Northampton £2.8m

- Brightwater Landscape Partnership, County Durham £2.8m

- Revitalising Redesdale, Northumberland £1.8m

- First and Last - Our Living Working Landscape, Penwith, Cornwall £2.7m