Pendle Hill from the top of Nogarth. (Picture 'nicked' from Pendle Net site with thanks)

PENDLE HILL (Bliss)

This story was told to Tom as having really happened to a close friend of the teller, when he stayed a night close under the hill en route to the Lake District with three school chums and a teacher, aged about 11. He's never forgotten it!

Recorded on Tom Bliss's solo album Mixed Moss with help from Maggie Boyle (Witch Notes, Grace Notes), Patsy Matheson (Waking the Witch) and Bryony Griffith (Witch Notes, Witches of Elswick, Demon Barbers)

On the last day of October, I woke before the dawn

The hills were calling me, my best boots to put on

And though a dream still rumbled in the belfry of my head

I tumbled out of bed

A slow train to Gargrave, studying the map

A pint in Salterforth, then on up the track

My cares fell to my footprints with every passing mile

And my soul began to smile*

On Pendle Hill, Pendle Hill

The echoes haunt me still

Pendle Hill

How did I loose my bearings as the sun began to set?

I was heading down to Downham, following a beck

But all I found was marshy ground and still more hill to climb

I was running out of time

Then fear came on so quickly as I panted o'or the moor

But whichever way I turned it seemed the hill rose up before

And all that I could think of were the deeds this place had seen

And this was Halloween

The wind got up, the rain came down the moon leered through the cloud

My heart was in my throat, I began to pray aloud

When suddenly beneath me there's a farmhouse in the fold

A refuge from the cold

And when the door flew open I couldn't understand

Why she smiled at me so knowingly and took me by the hand

And with candlelight and scented oils she soothed away my fright

And smoothed away the night

When I woke the bed was empty, she was nowhere to be seen

I thought maybe some flowers - to thank her for the dream

So I headed for the village making certain of my track

I would soon be coming back

But though I traced my footsteps there was no gate in the wall

No pathway, no buildings, there was nothing there at all

And though I've wandered Pendle and rambled every inch

I've never found it since

*It was on Pendle that George Fox had the vision which inspired him to found the Quaker movement