Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, &c./Part 4/Ducking Pits at Burnley

DUCKING-PITS, &c., AT BURNLEY.

This mode of punishing female offenders has long beenndisused in Burnley and the neighbourhood. The places, however, can still be identified. The pit for Burnley was formed on what is now termed Brown Hill. When the present genteel residences were erected there, the pond was filled up. The ducking-pits for the Pendle district were formed by the side of the northern branch of the river Calder, here locally termed "Pendle Water." The ford across the river at that point is well known as the "Duck-Pit Hippings."