Ellen Strange Memorial
No historic inscription found - the current stone pillar is a 1978 addition carved with a representation of Ellen's face; no formal text is recorded in sources located.Context & sources
THIN SOURCING / DIFFERENT CATEGORY - unlike most entries here, the standing stone visible today is modern (erected 1978 during a theatrical 'exorcism' ceremony), not a contemporary 18th-century marker; only a cairn of uncertain age and disputed original location preceded it. Ellen Broadley (maiden name possibly Strange) was beaten to death on Holcombe Moor in January 1761, reportedly by her husband John Broadley after a quarrel, but he was tried at Lancaster Assizes and acquitted for lack of evidence - unlike most entries here, nobody was ever convicted, despite embellished local legend claiming a confession and hanging. Local historians (Helmshore Local History Society, via John Simpson's research) have spent considerable effort separating the folklore from the sparse contemporary record.
- Lancashire Past
- Holcombe Village Society
- National Trust official site, 'Historic sites on Holcombe Moor and Stubbins Estate' (confirms the John Simpson research and the John Broadley acquittal independently)
- National Trust, 'Historic sites on Holcombe Moor and Stubbins Estate' (full text read; corroborates the John Simpson research and John Broadley acquittal independently, no new detail)
- Town
- Ramsbottom (Holcombe Moor)
- County
- Lancashire (Greater Manchester)
- Country
- England
- Coordinates
- 53.6430, -2.3380
- Year
- 1761
- Condition
- Legible
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