PENDLE HILL WITCH TRIALS 1618

Pendle Hill Witch Trials of 1618

When King James I of England VI of Scotland came to the throne after Queen Elizabeth I' reign the majority of people in both England and Scotland were wary of what would happen, many Englishmen were aghast that a King of Scotland now held sway over the entirety of England, many Scots too thought their own King James would leave Scotland for England and not return. James needed some cause to bind the people together, a war was unlikely as from Henry VIII's reign both England and Scotland had few men trained to fight, the Presbyterian James was in charge of Protestant England, this caused even more rifts between the two countries. James and his advisors hit upon the plan to persecute certain types of peoples, Puritans were picked on and Jews for instance were once more given a bad time, but the main focus came upon people accused of Witchcraft.

Old women, usually malformed through the rigours of a very hard life, were targeted by local people, most of these women were people who kept to themselves, living in the countryside and only venturing into towns to beg for food or sell things like vegetables and home made remedies, or potions as the Victorians described them. Usually these women would be half deaf which caused them to shout louder when speaking, a lot of "witches" were fishermen's wives who would sell their husbands catch whilst their husband was away fishing, these loud and boisterous women could face various methods of embarrassment, such as wearing a scolding iron, which was a device which fitted around the head and had a piece of iron which protruded into the persons mouth, this was placed under the tongue and had a piece of cord attached which was used by the local keepers of the peace to pull the unfortunate woman through the streets whilst others barracked them with abuse and threw rotten food. Another form of treatment for persistent offenders was the ducking stool, simply a stool attached to a long plank of wood, the loud mouthed woman (or sometimes a man) would be tied to the seat then raised up by a few strong lads from the town or village, then they would let go and the person would drop into the water, usually done in the middle of winter a lot of people died whilst being ducked. The “Ducking” stools are often associated with the witchtrials conducted by self titled Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins who killed dozens of people in the east of England in the mid 1640’s however he used a different form of “swimming” to test for witchcraft and Ducking Stools were only ever used as punishment, not testing.

King James I added to older laws which made witchcraft illegal, by his ruling it was now considered witchcraft "for making a covenant with an evil spirit, using a corpse for magic, hurting life or limb, procuring love, or injuring cattle by means of charms". By these laws many people in the country were accused of witchcraft, at Berwick on the border between England and Scotland there was a large trial for a group of people who James believed had conjured up a storm at sea to sink his ship and kill both he and his new wife, however his ship held firm, another ship close by containing his wife's dowry money was lost in the storm. In 1612 James had another bunch of "witches" to deal with.

At the summer assizes at Lancaster Castle Court there were charges of Witchcraft brought against people of both Pendle Hill and Samlesbury. The Judges in charge of the trials were Judge Edward Bromley presiding, accompanied by Judge Altham, as their assistants were Lord Gerard and Sir Richard Hoghton. As Prosecutor was Roger Nowell (a former High Sheriff of Lancashire) who held Read Hall, near Burnley. The clerk of the courts was Thomas Potts from London. In effect there was no defence, neither a defence counsel nor the allowance of witnesses to speak on their defence. The Pendle Witches are as follows.

Elizabeth Southern (Old Demdike)

Elizabeth Device (Demdikes Daughter, nicknamed Squinting Lizzie)

Alison Device (Lizzie's daughter)

James Device (Lizzie's son)

Anne Whittle (Old Chattox)

Ann Redfern (Chattox's daughter)

Jane Bulcock

John Bulcock (Jane's son)

Alice Nutter

Katherine Hewitt (Mouldheels)

From Samlesbury the following people were tried for Witchcraft:

John Ramsden

Elizabeth Astley

Isabel Southgraves

Lawrence Haye

Jane Southworth

Jennet Brierly

Ellen Brierly

Isobel Robey (From Windle, near St Helens)

Margaret Pearson (the Padiham Witch)

For the most part the prosecution brought forth witnesses whose best evidence was idle gossip, false accusations and was for the best part totally inconsistent, for the Pendle Witches however Jennet Device, another of Lizzie's daughters, grandaughter to Old Demdike and Sister to Alison and James, testified to witnessing her families part in strange practices, wether she had been tortured into giving these confessions is unknown, but would not be un heard of, she was only nine years old at the time and years later confessed to making it all up. King James himself liked to torture witches, something he did during the afore mentioned Berwick Witch trials, in his own palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh. Because of the lack of substantial evidence and a defence based on the fact they were being held only because they were Catholic the Samlesbury Witches all recieved pardons, save for Margaret Pearson who was pilloried (placed in stocks) for four consecutive days in the towns of Padiham, Clitheroe, Whalley and Lancaster, then she served a year in jail.

Old Demdike passed away whilst in custody at Lancaster Castle prison, being aged 80 and forced to walk the floors (being pushed around a room by two men non stop for hours) had taken its toll on the old woman, especially as she only had one leg to begin with. In court the details of how the accused had lived their lives was gained from them, no doubt mostly through torture and so the following accounts must be looked at through tinted glasses to be believed, however for those who do believe or those who do not, it is still fascinating all the same.

On March 18th 1612 Alison Device was out begging on the road to Colne, John Law from Halifax was walking the road, he was a peddler, carrying his goods on him from town to town trading for the best prices he could get. Alison asked him for a pin, to which he told her to get lost and carried on his way. In Alisons testimony she states that her familiar (a spirit being in the form of an animal, in Alisons case a dog) appeared to her and asked if she would like to see some harm come John Laws way, being new to the Witches coven of her Grandmother's Old Demdike she agreed and no sooner had she said yes than the Peddler dropped to the ground, paralysed down one side of his body (most probably by a stroke), he was taken to a nearby Inn and placed in a bed, where Alison came to see him, she felt bad about her part in his illness and asked for his forgiveness, to which he did indeed forgive her. However John Law's son, Abraham, had to care for his sick father and he was embittered that the young woman had gone unpunished and so he contacted the local Magistrate, Roger Nowell, who immediately set off for the vacinity of Pendle Hill to ask witnesses of the Device families witchcraft practises. By the end of hearing every ones accusations, wether false or true, he was convinced that there was a serious problem in the area.

In Lancaster Castle prison the accused were tortured, though no blood was to be spilt according to laws of the land and of holy god. The women were kept awake constantly, food was meagre and often rotten, they were walked for days on end and most probably raped in front of their relatives. They may have even had hot irons run across their skin (a favourite of James I's practices) as their would be no blood loss there either. Elizabeth Demdike gave up the names of Elizabeth Device (her daughter) and James Device (her grandson) before dying. Old Chattox also gave up her offsprings names under duress, Alison stood trial for what she had done to John Law whilst Elizabeth Device and James Device stood trial for two murders, the Chattox family stood trial for the murder of Christopher Nutter some eighteen years previously. Mother and Son Jane and John Bulcock were convicted of causing madness, as well as being at a Witches Sabbath meeting on Good Fridy 1612 at Malkin Tower. Alice Nutter from Roughlee Hall was accused of killing Henry Mitton because he once refused to give Old Demdike a penny when she was begging one day, Katherine Hewitt was accused of killing Anne Foulds with Witchcraft, whilst strangest of all was Margaret Pearson, the Padiham Witch. She allegedly bewitched a neighbours horse, to death!

The Assize courts are courts which tour around certain parts of the country, being on the Northern Circuit meant that the Judges visited Lancaster twice per year, and so on the 18th August 1612 the trials began. On day one of the trials Old Chattox was brought into the court, she was accused of the murder of Christopher Nutter, eighteen years previously. She vehemently refused and pleaded not guilty, however both James Device and Old Demdike had given testimony that she was to blame for his death. Elizabeth Device was next in court, she heard her accusations against her, shaking her head from side to side. Then her nine year old daughter Jennet was brought in to testify against her, at this she lost her mind and tried to escape, it was only after being beaten about the head by a cudgel that it was safe to take her away. The Judges asked Jennet what her family got involved in, wether she was told what to say by the prosecution, possibly by threats of further torture is unknown, but likely. She explained that her family had familiar spirits, they had also made clay images of people they wished to die. She also explaiend how on the Witches Sabbath meeting at Malkin Tower the people there had plotted to blow up Lancaster Castle, thus killing the towns governor Thomas Covell and freeing those imprisoned there at the same time. She also talked of three witches riding ponies into the air before disappearing, all of her family and Anne Whittle were found guilty on her accusations, after his treatment in prison James Device was almost at deaths door anyway.

From the Samlesbury trials three women were accused of performing witchcraft on a young girl by the name of Grace Sowerbutts, however the three women successfully argued that they were merely being accused because they were Catholic, the court agreed and they went free.

On Day two Anne Redfearne was brought up for her part in the death of Christopher Nutter, again it was on evidence given by James Device that Anne was found guilty, Alice Nutter was now in the dock, she was described as a kind and gentle woman, the evidence against her was flimsy at best, however Jennet Device once more gave evidence saying Alice had been involved in the plots to blow up the Castle, Alice was therefore found guilty. Mouldheels Katherine Hewitt was brought in next, again it was Jennet who got the woman convicted and sentenced for her supposed part in the Sabbath meeting. Next in were John and Jane Bulcock, Jennets only confession to their part was that John had turned a spit over a fire with a lamb upon it at the Malkin Tower meeting, this was enough to get him and his mother convicted. Margaret Pearson was next brought in, she was accused of bewitching a horse, then riding it to death (Hag Ridden, where we get the word Haggard from). In all fact she probably stole the horse and tried to escape, but even that was a hanging offence back then too so she would not have got away with it. Last but not least was Alison Device, she was accused of performing witchcraft upon John Law, as he was carried into the court room he stumbled, Alison went to his help and again asked for his forgiveness, which for a second time to gave. However the court asked her if she could bring back John Law's health, to which she replied that she had only been part of the coven for a short period of time and was not up to the task, but, had Old Demdike not died in Prison she could have helped the man. Alison like most of the others was condemned to death. Under the 1604 Witchcraft Act the Judge, Edward Bromley had no option, on the 20th of August 1612 they were to be taken away and hung in public view at Lancaster Castle Gaol.

The reason we have such accurate accounts of what happened in these trials is because of the Clerk of Accounts, Thomas Potts. He was writing, albeit biasedly, for the attention of the King, his records have been kept in Lancaster Castle along with other writings which have helped historians immensely in the past and no doubt will do so in the future. Thomas also wrote a popular book of the time titled "A Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster" because of the recent anti-catholic plots against King James I Potts chose to tribute his book to Lord Knyvet, the man who had captured Guido (Guy) Fawkes beneath the houses of parliament in 1605.