The Confession of Alison Device recorded by Thomas Pott's in Discovery of Witches, 1613.
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Alice Nutter of Roughlee, One of twelve marched in chains from the pendle area to Lancaster. One of eleven tried at Lancaster Casle and one of ten hanged. The crime "witchcraft"
Walk with the Pendle Witches. In a stark Lancashire landscape, popular with walkers and cyclists, the spirits of Britain's most famous witches live on.
The Pendle Witches, famous in witch lore, are in the news this week because a partially intact seventeenth-century cottage was found under a pile of rubble in the village of Barley near Pendle Hill. A cat had been entombed in one of the brick walls, and its intact skeleton -- not "mummy" as some news accounts have it -- was found when the ruin was investigated by archaeologists. This has led to all sorts of mad speculation that this house was the home of some of the witches, perhaps even the mysterious Malkin Tower where the accused witches met shortly before their trial. The cat is indeed related to witchcraft but it would have put in the wall as a protective measure, and any superstitious 17th-century person might have done this; archaeologists find these all the time. But let me tell the story. In 1612 ten women and two men from villages near Pendle Hill in Lancashire were put on trial, accused by their neighbors of murdering ten people by witchcraft. Ten were convicted, one died in prison, and one was acquitted. The guilty were hanged in a makeshift gallows on the moors. This was part of one of the biggest "witch scares" in British history, the trial of 17 witches at the 1612 Lancaster Assizes. The clerk, knowing he had a story in his hands that people would pay to hear, published the record of the court proceedings as The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster. Thanks to this record and a few other sources, we know a lot about the case. The background to the scare involves King James I's moves against Catholicism, which was still strong in Lancashire (the first complaint against the Pendle Witches was made to an official who was searching for Catholics), and his personal interest in witchcraft, which may have led some local officials to seek his favor by looking for witches to prosecute. Six of the Pendle Witches came from two families, each headed by a female in her eighties at the time of the trials: Elizabeth Southerns (aka Demdike), her daughter Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren James and Alizon Device; Anne Whittle (aka Chattox), and her daughter Anne Redferne. . . . Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made against each other. The chief witnesses against Elizabeth Device were actually her own children, whom she cursed in front of the court with such vehemence that she was removed from the courtroom by the bailiff. She was the classic witch, with a deformed face, one eye lower than the other, and a nasty streak, given to publicly cursing people who would not give her what she thought was her due. Sixteenth-century English skeptic Reginald Scott described the lives of these people in The Discoverie of Witchcraft: These go from house to house and from door to door for a pot of milk, yeast, drink, pottage, or some such relief, without which they could hardly live. . . . It falleth out many times that neither their necesities nor their expectation is answered or served in those places where they beg or borrow, but rather their lewdness (i.e. rudeness) is by their neighbors reproved. And further, in tract of time the witch waxeth odious and tedious to her neighbors, and they again are despised of her, so as sometimes she curseth one, and sometimes another, and that from the master of the house, his wife, children, cattle, etc., to the little pig that lieth in the stye. Thus in process of time they have all displeased her, and she hath wished evil luck unto them all, perhaps with curses and imprecations made in form. Doubtless at length some of her neighbors die or fall sick, or some of their children are visited with diseases that vex them strangley, as apoplexies, epilepsies, convulsions, hot fevers, worms, etc., which by ignorant parents are supposed to be the vengeance of witches. . . . The witch on the other side expecting her neighbors' mischances, and seeing things sometimes come to pass according to her wishes, curses, and incantations being called before a Justice, by due examination of the circumstances is driven to see her imprecations and desires, and her neighbours harms and losses to concur, and as it were, to take effect; and so confesseth that she, as a goddess, hath brought such things to pass. This behavior is why some accounts of the trial (even the quite good wikipedia entry) say that the accused witches practiced "extortion." They were poor people --Elizabeth Southerns was 80 years old and blind -- and in village society poor people often depend on the charity of their neighbors, which up to a point is an obligation on the better off. Conflicts arose when a poor beggar was seen as demanding too much or acting too obnoxiously toward those who supported her. Calling down divine wrath on those who would not give alms is a very ancient practice, but in the European Renaissance it came to be seen increasingly as witchcraft, and it slowly died out. Much of the testimony at the trial focused on a meeting said to have taken place at the Device family home on Good Friday, 1612. The house was known as Malkin Tower; in the local dialect "malkin" could mean either a cat or a doll made from rags or leaves, both of which might be associated with witchcraft. The house was "in the Forrest of Pendle," and various witnesses described hearing sounds near it like the shrieking of cats or the screaming of children. (That's Pendle Hill above.) When the meeting was held, Elizabeth Southerns and Alice Chattox had already been imprisoned, and a meeting of their friends and relations immediately aroused the suspicion of the authorities. According to court testimony, the lamb they had for dinner had been stolen by James Device. The Devices and their friends insisted that this was innocent get-together, but the courts (and Elizabeth Device's children) said it was to plot the murder those who had jailed the old women. Some modern historians think it was a secret Catholic service. All those who were proved to be at the meeting were eventually executed. Today there is a witch industry around Pendle Hill, with shops and tours and commemorative teacups. The tour guides are going to be all over this witch house story, and now it will never die. But Malkin Tower was in the forest, not the town, and its mysteries remain undiscovered.
Witch Trials in England and Witch Sites to Visit in England. Pendle Witch History, Museum of Witchcraft in England and the Witchfinder General in Norwich
This week, let me begin with a personal digression. For a little over a decade I rented a place my friends and I referred to as the ‘Beach House’. In a few ways it was what one imagines – a r…
Chris Lawrence has long been fascinated by the 17th century tale of the Pendle witches, Lancashire locals who allegedly danced with the devil. Four centuries on, he finds their sinister story still very much alive.
Every year tens of thousands of people visit Pendle to take in the spectacular countryside and spellbinding story of the Pendle Witches, the most famous witches in the land. It is nearly four hundred years since the imprisonment, trial and deaths of the Pendle Witches and people are as fascinated as ever. Click here for the Gallery Tell me the story... The year was 1612, a turbulent time in England’s history, an era of religious persecution and superstition. James I was King, and feared rebellion having survived the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. His fear and anger brought with it harsh penalties for anyone keeping the Catholic faith and his suspicious nature led to an obsession with witchcraft. Local magistrates looking to find favour with King James became zealous in their pursuit of witchcraft. When the Pendle Witches were put on trial, a London clerk Thomas Potts recorded the trial and sent it around the country as a warning and a guide on finding evidence of witchcraft. Despite the trial being one of the best documented in the world, mystery still surrounds how the Lancashire villagers came to be found guilty of witchcraft. A tale of mystery and murder Close to Pendle Hill sits Malkin Tower, home to the family at the centre of the witchcraft allegations: Elizabeth Southerns, alias Demdike and her children Alizon, Elizabeth and James Device. The family was very poor and hunger prevailed. While out walking one day Alizon came across John Law, a peddler of blankets, fine goods and food. Alizon begged for a few morsels of food but John Law slapped her and told her to be on her way. All of a sudden a large black dog appeared to Alizon and asked ‘if he should strike the man down’ Alizon agreed. John Law fell to the ground, paralyzed down his left side. After many hours he was stretchered to Colne and his family summonsed. When his son Abraham arrived Law shouted, “I have been cursed, there is a witch around here you must find her and take her to the magistrate.” Alizon was flattered by the attention and when questioned by the magistrate claimed that her mother, Demdike and Anne Whittle, alias Chattox were also witches. All three were arrested and imprisoned at Lancaster City Gaol. Two days later the remaining so-called ‘witches’ gathered atMalkin Tower. Into the bubbling cauldron style cooking pot they mixed a potion, the intention, to make something to blow off the gaol gates. The meeting came to the attention of the magistrate and within days many of those present were arrested. Further incriminating statements of witchcraft and murder were made by the families involved. Demdike died in Lancaster Gaol awaiting trial, the others were sentenced under the terms of the 1604 Witchcraft Act. All the accused were found guilty of crimes punishable by death. On 20 August 1612 the ten condemned prisoners were taken to the moors above the town and hanged. On the trail of the Pendle Witches In the shadow of Pendle Hill lie pretty villages, which tell a story of intrigue and witchcraft nearly 400 years old. Start your journey at the Pendle Heritage Centre, in Barrowford near Nelson, and follow the route the Pendle Witches took through the Ribble Valley to Lancaster Castle where they stood trial. Drive the narrow and winding road through the Trough of Bowland; the wild and unspoilt landscape you’ll encounter makes this a dramatic and breathtaking experience. Then as you make the descent into the historic city of Lancasterthere are an astonishing array of views from the hills above the River Hodder to the mountains of the Lake District and on towards the sea. Once in Lancaster a guided tour of imposing Lancaster Castle, setting for the imprisonment and the trial, will bring the story to life. See the dungeons, grand Jury Room and Courts to make your own mind up. Were the Pendle Witches malevolent people possessed by supernatural powers, or the innocent victims of a time obsessed with the pursuit and punishment of witchcraft? Follow in the footsteps of the lengendary Pendle witches, download this 7.5 miles walk.
The true story of the Witches of Pendle Forest, the witch's meeting at Malkin Tower and the Witchcraft of Demdike and Chattox.
In 1612, one of England's most famous witchcraft trials took place. Let's look at the accused and the timeline of the Pendle Witch Trial.
Continuing with our Halloween-themed stories, our popular series Stories of the Stuarts plays its hand with the scary story of The Pendle Witches.
Lancashire County Council,reprint 1976 from original of 57
Witches Of Pendle "Abigail" Flying Witch In Burgundy Colour 50 Measures 50 cms Beautifully made with porcelain face and hands The story of the Pendle Witches is one that has been told now for nearly 400 years. The story itself is told in detail in The Witches of Pendle Trial 1612 booklet.
Image Courtesy of: Historic UK Twelve accused of witchcraft. One died in custody. Eleven went on trial. The trial of the Pendle witches in 1612 may be the most notorious witch trial of the 17th cen…
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The gravestone of 'Nutter' in the Newchurch church graveyard. It is believed to be the burial place of Alice Nutter who was a Pendle Witch in the 1500. She was put on trial and hung for being a witch.
