Walloper well is found about halfway up Easington Fell on the road between Clitheroe and Newton, it is a well known local landmark having been there since before the Norman conquest.
Its name ‘Walloper’ comes from the Norman term for the indigenous people of the British isles ‘Walha’. Although a local, and very misogynistic, folk song famously sung by Alan Lambert of Old Pendle, (“Twixt Burnley and Clitheroe, Whalley and Colne”) equates the name with advice given by a pedlar to a henpecked husband: “I’d tell thee what I’d do if she were my wife, I’d wallop her well”.
Browsholme moor to the south-west of here is where I earned my first ever proper pay-check, the princely sum of £100, for a weeks work helping local gamekeeper, river-bailiff and, some years later, landlord of the Lower Buck in Waddington Mick Maudsley unblock grips (shallow drainage ditches) and mend grouse-butts, so I know it very well.
The stone trough which forms the well sometimes dries up now but until it was damaged in 1944 during military exercises, when a troop wagon reversed into whilst trying to execute a 3-point turn, it was known for being consistent throughout the year.
It is still used by cyclists now to fill up their water bottles and its clear, cold water is perfect for topping up whisky, if you happen to be passing by with your hipflask that is! I’ve used it for both reasons myself many times and also to find bubbles from an inner tube when fixing a bicycle puncture.
photographer or subject unknown
The water can sometimes have a slightly sulphurous smell, this might be something to do with the sulphur springs in the valley down below, where lead mines dating back to Roman times can also be found. The fells around this part of the valley are also known for sightings of ‘willow the wisps’, which is when ‘marsh gas’ (methane) ignites creating eldritch-looking green flames flickering across the ground, overall this whole stretch of moor has a somewhat strange atmosphere about it.
The car park just over the road from the well makes a perfect starting point for walks over Easington fell towards Grindleton fell, the west side of the road being open-access land, the views from the top of this fell, which is a ‘Marilyn’ for those familiar with the term, are panoramic, looking over the Ribble valley, Hodder valley and in clear weather over to Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, it’s usually very empty as its a relatively unknown bit of Lancashire .
A B-H
Northwest Nature and History 
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