Wycoller to Knarrs Hill and Black Lane Ends

Starting point  and OS Grid reference: ‘Atom’ car park, Wycoller Country Park (SD 938394)		Ordnance Survey Map OL21 - South Pennines Buy this map from List of OS Maps     Note: If you use OS Maps on-line, you can download this route via this link.
Distance: 7.7 miles	Date of Walk: 7 November 2025
Ascent: Descent: See Walking Time Calculator	1084ft (m) 1084ft (m)
Traffic light rating:    (For explanation see My Walks page)
For advice on .gpx files see My Walks page	Click the PDF logo above to give a printable version of this walk without the photos.

To view route as a dynamic Ordnance Survey map click here.

Introduction: I guess that the majority of people who walk from Wycoller head South-East along the beck side to see the ancient bridges and the ruin of Wycoller Hall before perhaps climbing Boulsworth Hill and/or Lad Law. Indeed I have done this myself (See my Wycoller to Boulsworth Hill and Lad Law walk).

However it can be interesting to explore the unconventional direction as does this walk to Knarrs Hill and to Black Lane Ends where the pub of the same name offers a tempting interlude!

Wycoller Hall and bridges are mostly covered in my other walk but I will just mention the packhorse bridge you come to not far after the start which is quite famous. It has two uneven arches and is believed to date from somewhere between the 13^th and 15^th Centuries.

Knarrs Hill does not have any particular claim to fame other than having a trig. point and being on the Pennine Bridleway and Pendle Way. However there is a great view from there. It is thought the name Knarrs may come from a Norse merchant and cargo ship, a knarr, though we are a long way from the sea here.

Black Lane Ends, as the name suggests, is at a junction of roads and footpaths and a pub of the same name (previously known as the Hare and Hounds) awaits. I can vouch for the quality of its food and beer! One interesting snippet I came across was that on 4 April 1862, one Walker Moore murdered his estranged wife Betty in the pub, when she was on her knees tending to the fireplace, because she would not return to him. He openly admitted his crime. He was tried at Lancaster on 13 August 1832. He was due to be executed on 30 August but committed suicide on the same morning by going to the toilets and climbing into the cistern which supplied them.

As you descend from the car park at the start, you will see a number of vertical stones along the edge of the field. These are Vaccary Stones. There are various theories as to their age from Bronze age onwards but Medieval seems to have the most ‘votes’! ‘Vaccary’ comes from the same term meaning a place where cattle are kept. You might remember similar ‘Vache’/’Vaca’ from French/Spanish lessons.

The return journey follows High Laith and Wycoller Becks.

The walk is easy going but there are a lot of footpaths and footpath junctions in the area which can be confusing.

The walk starts from the ‘Atom’ car park at Wycoller.

The Panopticon, 'Atom' is an art installation completed in 2006. It is made of ferro-cement with a surface coating of metal-based paint and shows off a spectacular viewpoint.

To get there, take the road off the A6068 at Laneshaw Bridge, opposite the Emmott Arms, between Colne and Cowling, where there is a brown tourist sign for “Wycoller Country Park”. Stay on this road and the car park is on the right after just under a mile.

Start: Take the descending footpath which leaves the car park immediately opposite the entrance. This leads quite steeply downhill arriving at a packhorse bridge.

Do not cross the bridge but turn right following the right hand side of the beck.

After a short distance, the track divides. Fork right.

At a broad grassy track, turn left following a blue bridleway arrow  and bearing left as you enter a field. You arrive at a two way fingerpost but turn left in the direction with no fingerpost!

On joining a broad track, turn right and follow it until you reach a metal kissing gate and once through it, bear right. As you get further across the field, you should spot a walkers’ gate after crossing a shallow valley.

Bear right after the walkers’ gate and follow the path to the road.

Turn left at the road for only a few yards, then right to follow a public footpath fingerpost. You are now on a tarmac farm drive.

As you get to the edge of the enclosure of the farm (Robert Laithe on the OS map), turn left at the corner of the fence following a public bridleway marker, then right through a gate at the next corner.

The path is well trodden and takes you to the A6068 and the route continues immediately across the road, to the right of the white building.

Stay on this main track, passing Monkroyd Barn.

When the track splits, turn right (i.e. avoiding the left to Earl Hall Farm).

When the track bends sharp right heading to Knarrs Farm (SD 933419), turn left through the right hand of two farm gates, then immediately right to follow the farm wall.

Look out for a gate on the right and turn through it, following a blue bridleway arrow. You now need to bear slowly left away from the trees, to the far left hand corner of the field.

You can see a small ‘hump’ of a hill which is the summit of Knarrs hill and your aiming point.

At the far left corner of the field go through a gate, then over a gated stone stile. Follow the wall on the right.

Just beyond a bench, cross a stone stile at which point you are upon the trig. point. Turn left to follow the wall, and join a broad track from the farm. Turn left along it.  

You now follow this clear drive for just over half a mile to the road. Turn left along the road to the Black Lane Ends pub.

The walk continues up the right hand side of the pub, as indicated by a public footpath fingerpost.  

Go through a farm gate into a large field and head uphill at an angle of about 40° to the bottom boundary. Here you will find a gated slit stile marked with a yellow footpath arrow. Through this, follow the obvious path.  

You join the broad track to a farm. Turn left (SD 920431).

As you get to the next farm, (Jerusalem Farm) turn sharply right just after the first barn on the right, through a walkers’ gate. The path runs up the side of the barn.

Cross a stone step stile and continue following the wall on the left.

As you come in sight of another barn, look out for a broad track on the left which goes down to the farm. Follow this for a few yards and take a walkers’ gate on the left marked with a yellow arrow.

Circle to the left of a large round tank to avoid the mud and when you get to the concrete drive to the farm, turn left along it.

At the road, turn left for fifty yards or so then turn right through a slit stile and follow the wall on the left.

When you get to the farm (Shay Gate Farm on the OS Map), continue through the farmyard and keep straight ahead, through a five bar gate.

As the track turns right, carry straight on through another farm gate.

You now follow the course of a stream on the right all the way to the main road (A6068) at Laneshaw Bridge. You cross a footbridge which seems to have replaced the stepping stones marked on the OS map, then right through a gated step stile, after which turn left.  

Turn right at the A6068 then left along School Lane.

Cross the river bridge then turn right along Carriers Row. There are one or two properties then a long terrace of cottages built with Yorkshire Stone. At the end of this row, turn left along a broad track indicated by a public footpath fingerpost.  

After going through a walkers' gate, turn right.

Follow this path until you reach a group of stone houses and join a lane. Turn left following the sign for Pepper Hill Barn.

Look out for a track on the left which you may remember from the outward journey Climb to another track and turn right. After a few yards, go left through a walkers’ gate.

The footpath follows a clockwise arc which may not be clear in this fairly rough field. Aim to reach the right hand boundary of the upright field boundary stones you saw on the outward journey, at the point where the slope increases significantly. Here cross a stile then turn left to return to the car park.

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