A STATUE to commemorate one of the best known of the Pendle ‘witches’ has been unveiled.

Hollies drummer Bobby Elliott, from Roughlee, returned to the village to unveil a statue of Alice Nutter in Blacko Bar Road, between Crowtrees and Roughlee The Transdev bus Alice Nutter was also at the unveiling, which was supp-orted by Roughlee Parish Council and Pendle Coun-cil.

Coun James Starkie has led the campaign for the statue and has been working on the scheme for over two years.

He first became inter-ested in the story of Alice Nutter, whose grave is in St Mary's Church, Newch-urch, when he was an art student in Lancaster.

Coun Starkie said: “The aim of the statue is to commemorate the leaving of Alice to Lancaster and to raise awareness of the true story of the witches.

“What the villagers wan-ted was a statue that told the real story of Alice Nutt-er and one that would make people say to themselves as they drove past ‘I thought she was meant to be a wit-ch?’ Instead she will look like a lady of the times, with a dramatic poise.”

The statue was unveiled on Saturday by Bobby Elliott.

The statue itself has been designed and created by local artist and archi-tectural steel engineer, David Palmer, of DP Structures Ltd, also responsible for Nelson’s Shuttle.

Mr Palmer said “As a Roughlee-bred lad I’m del-ighted to have been comm-issioned to create this important sculpture of Alice within the village where I grew up.

“It’s a significant piece of work which is handsome and thought-provoking.

“I carried out much research into her story and studied the costume of the early 1600s era to inform the design. She has been innovatively fabricated out of brass and Corten steel.”