A MURDERED woman who was killed 246 years ago on the hills surrounding East Lancashire has been remembered at the site of the world’s oldest memorial to a domestic violence victim.

Campaigners trekked to a remote spot on Holcombe Moor, where Ellen Strange is said to have been strangled and bludgeoned by her husband, John Broadley, as part of an event to mark Domestic Violence Awareness Fortnight.

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Ever since Ellen Strange was killed on her way to Helmshore, people passing by the windswept site have left stones in her memory, leaving a cairn to be formed. This was followed in 1978, during Rossendale Carnival Day festivities, by a memorial stone.

Several speakers assembled just above Robin Hood’s Well, including chaplain Jane Fletcher, Sharon Hutchinson, the Unite union’s regional equalities officer and Linda Charnock, director of the PAWS for Kids charity, after a march from Emmanuel CE Church in Holcombe village.

Bolton and District Trades Union Council, with the backing of the Unite, was behind the commemoration.

Linda Birchall, a union member, said: “It would be good if a noticeboard could be erected nearby, as many more people could then add a stone and remember Ellen.”

Martin McMulkin, a union shop floor convenor, said: “I didn’t know anything about this until very recently. I’m sure the trades union council will now want to organise a proper commemoration visit and help make people aware of this important site.”

An extensive investigation into the murder was conducted by John Simpson, of Helmshore Local History Society, after the death became shrouded in rumour and misinformation.

His research established that while John Broadley was found to have carried out the murder by an inquest jury, he was later acquitted of the crime at the Lancaster Assizes, despite the testimony of several witnesses.

The couple had lived in both Clayton-le-Moors and Huncoat, and Ellen’s family came from Ash Farm, near Edgworth. Broadley is buried in Hyndburn.