The Witches of Pendle Hill in Lancashire UK

I visited there to do research for a new book I am working on.

Photo by Kayla Maurais on Unsplash

Did witches really exist?

I have been doing some research on witchcraft and witches for my next book that I am writing and I have found a story about the Pendle witch trials that took place in Lancashire UK. I was excited about it, so I decided to go there and see it for myself.

Witch trials in Lancashire in the year 1612

The Pendle witch trials in 1612 were the most famous English witch trials that took place in Lancashire UK, which resulted in ten people being hanged for witchcraft in Pendle Hill, Lancashire. The ten witches lived in the area of Pendle Hill and were charged for witchcraft. One of them was accused of killing a horse and another for causing sickness in the area.

Nine of the accused — Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock and Jane Bulcock — were found guilty during the two-day trial and hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster on 20 August 1612; Elizabeth Southerns died while awaiting trial.

I was shocked by all of this information when I was there and couldn’t understand why they killed these girls just for killing a horse. I mean, what evidence did they have to accuse them of these crimes?

The girls were young when hanged, so it must have been an awful ordeal for anyone to watch. In those days, a gathering of people would watch as if it were a show of some kind. If you had been there would you watch them being hanged?

Pendle Hill

Pendle Hill

Today, the area of Pendle Hill is a very eerie place and many visitors go there to look around. Even the town is spooky.

There is the Witches Galore shop in Newchurch-in-Pendle that many tourists visit from all over the world after they have been on the tour of Pendle. The shop sells witch products, such as, crystals to cards and handmade models of witches that look rather spooky. It’s like a witches’ lair as you go inside the shop. There is, also, a tea room there where delicious cakes and biscuits can be bought.

Take a trip to Pendle Hill

Over 400 years later, you have a chance to see where the trials took place. There is a tour guide by bus service that takes tourists through an area that is quite fascinating to see and hear about or you can drive through the area yourself. On the trail, you start at Pendle Heritage Centre and follow the route the Pendle Witches took through the Ribble Valley to Lancaster Castle where they stood trial. Apparently, from what I have read, it is an eerie feeling once you are at the top of the hill where the witches died.

According to the BBC News website in 2011, it was reported that a witch’s cottage was found. The cottage was discovered near Lower Black Moss reservoir in the village of Barley, in the shadow of Pendle Hill. The BBC news site stated:

"Historians are now speculating that the well-preserved cottage could have belonged to one of the Pendle witches.

The building contained a sealed room, with the bones of a cat bricked into the wall.

It is believed the cat was buried alive to protect the cottage’s inhabitants from evil spirits."

Carl Sanders, United Utilities’ project manager, said told BBC News:

“It’s not often you come across a fairytale cottage complete with witch’s cat.”

He also said:

“Cats feature prominently in folklore about witches. Whoever consigned this cat to such a horrible fate was clearly seeking protection from evil spirits.”

Novels

An author named Joseph Delaney who wrote The Spooks series novels lives in Lancashire. The Spooks series are set in a mythical Lancashire. In his fourth book, he invents his own version of the Pendle Witches. I have not read his books yet, but I am definitely going to now I have been to Pendle Hill.

So, it’s definitely a place for a visit and I shall be going back there again very soon.