VALLEY SOCIAL


k J


oiner's Arms


Fleet Street Lane as it is today.


■ THIS crossword is just tor fun - no prizes are given. The solution will be in next month's issue of The Valley.


ACROSS all


a go A


mark


I'KONDERFUL evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a Ribble


'"W " “V Members of the NFU Social Section of Wilo-


shire Lady Farmers gathered at the Ribchester Arms for the special anniversary.


Speaker for the evening was Mrs Rose


Domkin, who gave a fascinating and entertain­ ing talk about her experiences in farming and the special guest for the evening was countv president, Mabel Holden.


^


It was a wonderful evening and ebrate the 90th birthdav of fai- everyone enjoyed a two-course


"It was a wnnrti f I


"It was also a good time to cel- low member M ^ s Z f e ^ S ^


By GERALD SEARLE


towards last month's chilling murder theme in even more of our peaceful Ribble Valley


T


- villages. Indeed, the past three centuries have each produced at ieast one grisiy death which achieved nationai notoriety, not only for their sensationai circumstances but also their curious outcomes. Most recent was the unsoived murder


of James Dawson, from Bashall Eaves, on the night of March 18th, 1934. In spite of extensive police investigations at the time, Yorkshire Television's highly controversial 1979 documentary "The village that would not talk" and finally the publication of Jen­ nifer Lee Cobban's exhaustiveiy researched book, "Wall of Silence", in 2005, the killer was never positively identified. Indeed, as even the victim did not realise


that he had been shot - believing it to have been merely a stone thrown in jest - until an egg-sized bullet was found in his armpit the following morning, caked in blood, it proved a most controversial murder! Probably the most celebrated of all such


local mysteries needs little introduction, as the "trial at large of Nicholas Wilkinson, Doc­ tor Herd and Henry Worswick for the wilful murder of George Battersby, at Clitheroe, in the night of March 25th, 1773" has received centuries of coverage, though again with no conclusive outcome. The old butcher from Slaidburn brought


meat to sell in Clitheroe, which allegedly offended the defendants, two of whom were butchers themselves. After a meeting in the Joiners' Arms and a savage attack in the dead of night, the body was thrown in Alleys Pond by the killers after a scuffle witnessed by Jane Cottam, before it was removed the following day, again observed by witnesses, James and Richard Nowell. No further trace was seen until some


Valley page ifl


three years later, when Herd undertook to move a pile of rubbish very cheaply from the foot of Church Bank, where some thought the corpse was buried. Parts of a rotting body, the skull pitted with lime and traces of clothing clearly belonging to Battersby, were suddenly discovered by schoolboys in the nearby churchyard. Not until April 3rd, 1778, were the accused


brought to trial at Lancaster Castle and in spite of another wall of silence lasting more


he after-effects of the savage win­ ter weather? Too many "Touches of Frost" on ITV3?


Who knows - but once again I am drawn


than five years, there were still sufficient eye-witnesses, confessions and material evidence to guarantee conviction. The 16-hour trial hinged on two simple


points - were these men the attackers and was Battersby actually murdered? Public opinion had no doubts - until


Justice Gould intervened by quoting a case in Warwickshire where a gentleman was executed for murdering his niece, only for his victim to return years later from a trip abroad! Battersby was never seen again, but as


the body was never conclusively identified and regular sightings of the farmer's rest­ less ghost were not considered concrete evidence, there could have been no murder - so the defendants were acquitted! Clearly March was not the safest month


for a late-night stroll through Clitheroe, but in Ribchester it was the inconceivable sav­ agery of November 11th, 1862, in a different Joiners' Arms, which focused the eyes of the national press on the historic village. The beerhouse was run by 79-year-old


Ann Walne, a rather eccentric and solitary farmer, who was believed to have a tidy sum hidden away, especially as she had just sold a cow to pay her rent. The morning after she was seen locking up


the inn as usual, Joseph Ward, her cowman, found signs of a burglary and her neighbours were horrified by what confronted them in her bedroom. According to press reports, her battered body, "in a semi-crucified state", was naked from the waist, with her hands tied to the bedposts. One handkerchief was dragged tight round her neck, another stuffed into her mouth and the bones of her face had been mercilessly blackened and shattered, before a single fatal blow prevented her from later identifying her assailants. The house had also been ransacked, with


the clock stopped at 2.17 and no sign of her savings! A flurry of arrests quickly followed, but


local labourer Thomas Davies, who on the day of the murder had been refused work by the victim, emerged as the prime suspect. Though the evidence was circumstantial and the witnesses questionable, he was taken into lengthy custody, but fortunately the government promise of a £100 reward soon produced fresh information. A gamekeeper, "Chorley Tom" Bowling,


claimed to have heard a confession from his friend, Duncan McPhail, who was promptly arrested with three more shady characters from Blackburn - George Woods, Daniel Carr and Benjamin Hartley.


They were indeed an unsavoury bunch.


Carr was a violent career criminal who had already only narrowly avoided a death sen­ tence, whilst McPhail was a convicted thief and fraudster, whose main claim to fame was brewing illicit whisky in Clitheroe. Only days after the murder, he even returned to the inn and from the victim's son demanded pay­ ment for bacon and cheese which she had supposedly bought from him! Woods was a former career soldier with


three medals, until he left the army and fell in with bad company, but it was Hartley upon whom the case hinged. Already known as a police "spy" around the beerhouses of Blackburn, he realised that his only hope was to turn "approver", so he revealed the whole story in graphic detail, careful to declare that he played no part in the actual murder, even though he accepted his share of the £18 that was stolen.


At the end of the trial on March 30th,


1863, at Liverpool Assizes, accused-turned- witness Benjamin Hartley was the only one to be released, but so powerful was local contempt that the police had to rescue him from his home when it was beseiged by a vengeful mob. Carr escaped punishment only because he


died in prison on the morning of the trial, but Woods and McPhail were found guilty and condemned to death, though strangely the


jury recommended mercy, possibly because it was never established who actually struck the fatal blow.


However, Judge Baron Martin saw no pos­


sibility and so it proved. On April 28th, 1863, well over 30,000


people, including thousands from Preston and Blackburn who had walked there to wit­ ness the spectacle, gathered at Liverpool's Kirkdale prison to greet executioner William Calcraft, who conducted 69 notable hang­ ings during his 45-year-career. At precisely midday, before a hushed


crowd, McPhail, still protesting his irinocence, ■ and Woods were led to the scaffold where the hoods and leg fasteners were fitted. Having shaken hands with both men, Calcraft stepped back and whilst the chaplain was uttering the words "Hear my prayer, 0 Lord," the bolt was drawn, the drop fell and both men were launched into eternity. As the satisfied crowd slowly dispersed,


the bodies were left to hang for the tradi­ tional hour, before they were removed for burial in the prison grounds. And so the tragedy of the Joiner's Arms,


surely the most brutal incident in Ribches- ter's modern history, finally achieved closure.


.For itnformation'arid news online


24 hours a day,-- seven d a y s ^ |


‘ • d ; y i d t ^ p u r ) W ^ ^ www.clitheroe


advertiser.co.uk : Valley page 19


I. The sort of valve to take the pressure off (6) 4. He retains an employee at the zoo (6) 9. An expert in his own field (13) 10. Series of lectures produced by culinary


experts (7)


II. To put somebody in a grave situation (5) 12. Sounds like no animal noise (5) 14. Jules never changes (5) 18. Steward ever so upset by the end of the


voyage(5) 19. Climbing device to fasten tightly on (7) 21. Fast enables me to get involved in personal


mortification (4-9) 22. Made things go round (6) 23. Didn't make a bid in spades, maybe (6)


DOWN


1. Seize a bit of air (6) 2. He predicts the bank clerk will be after a


large sum of money (7-6) 3. Temporarily secures a levy, we hear (5) 5. Use vile arrangement - that's doSgy (7) 6. Many different types will be employed in


operating this (8-5) 7. Smart answer about something wrong in


law (6) ■ ■ ■ “


8. Forbid access to the cathedral precinct (5) 13. Amended range of French missile (7) 15. Port is used for a toast (6)„


' < the ring (5)


16. It's no longer used for a fight (5) 17. Made into one tune I'd transposed (6) 20. An exceptionally long time coming back for


SOLUTION TO MARCH'S CiTSSSWORD Across: 1 Robe; 3 Warpaint; 9 Clutter; 10 Sepia;


11 infant school; 13 Elicit; 15 Impend; 17 Congratu­ late; 20 Cairo; 21 Tiliage; 22 Bigamist; 23 .w/hat. Down: 1 Receiver; 2 Bluff; 4 Arrest; 5 Posthu­


mously; 6 Improve; 7 Team; 8 Standing-room; 12 Adherent; 14 Ironing; 16 Wastes; 18 Abash; 19 Scab.


*


Fun crossword


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