Pendle Witches
Pendle Hill
Newchurch
It
was early in 1612, just nine years after King James I came to the throne,
that the drama of the Pendle Witches slowly began to unfold. Its main
characters were members of two poor and locally detested families named
Demdike (Southern) and Chattox (Whittle).
Mother
(Owd) Demdike, whose real name was Elizabeth Southern, was the head of her
family. She was about eighty years old, blind, and due to her spiteful
ways, was both feared and resented around Pendle Forest. Her home was
Malkin Tower, which stood near Lower Well Head Farm, close to the village
of Newchurch -in-Pendle. It is believed to have been demolished shortly
after the witch trials, but the foundations of the building were still
visible in 1900. It may have been part of a Norman Pele Tower, built to
protect the local people from the raiding Scots.
With
Owd Demdike lived her widowed daughter, a hideously deformed and depraved
woman named Elizabeth Device (nicknamed Squintin' Lizzie), and her three
children, Allison, James and Jennet. Alison Device was said to be wild and
emotional, James was mentally retarded, and Jennet was a precocious child
of nine. Owd Demdike also had an illegitimate son named Christopher
Holgate who lived locally with his wife, Elizabeth.
The
Chattox family, who were deadly enemies of the Demdikes, lived in a hovel
at Greenhead near the village of Fence, which is about two miles from
Newchurch. Their leader was Anne Whittle who was known as Chattox, a
nickname derived from her maiden name of Chadwick. Like her rival, she,
too, was about eighty, almost blind and of a repulsive appearance. She
lived with her two daughters, Elizabeth (Bessie) Whittle and Anne Redfearn,
and Anne's husband, Thomas Redfearn.
The
rivalry between the two families intensified during the 1600s when Bessie
Whittle broke into Malkin Tower and stole some food and clothing. She was
later seen by Allison Device who recognised the stolen clothing she was
wearing. A complaint was made to the local justice of the Peace, Roger
Nowell of Read Hall, who examined Bessie and then sent her for a period to
Lancaster Castle Gaol. This was probably when the claim and
counter‑claim of witchcraft was first made by the two warring
families
Three
days later, on the 2nd April 1612, Nowell continued his examinations at
Ashlar House in Fence. Here Owd Demdike told how the Devil had first
appeared to her at Newchurch in the guise of a boy named Tibb. He later
changed into a dog who sucked blood from her body. Then with Tibb's
assistance, she had brought about the death of Richard Baldwin's child as
an act of revenge as he owed her daughter some money. Not to be outdone,
Chattox then also confessed, saying how she had been initiated into the
cult by Owd Demdike fourteen years before and had a familiar named Fancie.
Many other witnesses than gave damning evidence which resulted in Owd
Demdike, Chattox, Allison Device and Anne Redfearn being sent to the
dungeons of Lancaster Castle to await trial, charged under the 1604
Witchcraft Act
But
six days later on Good Friday, rumours began to spread that a Witches'
Sabbat had been held at Malkin Tower. It was said that a large number of
witches had gathered to consider freeing their accused colleagues from
Lancaster Gaol. Evidence in the form of clay charms and human teeth were
found, which was sufficient once more to alert the authorities
On
27th April 1612 another examination of alleged witches was made by Roger
Nowell and fellow magistrate Nicholas Bannister. They interrogated Owd
Demdike's daughter, Elizabeth Device, her son James and her daughter
Jennet. Accusations and confessions came fast and furious, these included
tales of ritual murder and the implication of a wealthy gentlewoman, Alice
Nutter of Roughlee Hall The examination ended with Elizabeth and James
Device, John and Jane Bulcock, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Grey and Alice
Nutter being sent to Lancaster to join the others in the dank dungeons
beneath the Well Tower. Another of the accused, Jennet Preston who lived
at Gisburn, was sent to York for trial. But before the Lancaster trial got
underway the main character, Owd Demdike, cheated the executioner by dying
in her cell of natural causes accused of causing the death of Robert
Nutter in 1595, was the first in
the dock. She pleaded not guilty but unfortunately she had previously made
a voluntary confession of guilt to Roger Nowell. The deformed Elizabeth
Device next faced the judges, charged with three murders and facing
damning evidence by her own young daughter, Jennet. One by one the others
followed, telling their weird stories to an astonished court. Alice Nutter
was perhaps the most puzzling of all for being wealthy and of a gentle
nature she seemed to be a most unlikely witch, yet none of her family
spoke in her defense. It now seems likely that she was really involved in
the outlawed Roman Catholic faith, but somehow became wrongly implicated
with witchcraft.
At
the end of the two‑day trials, nine of the Pendle Witches, together
with Isobel Robey, heard the judge speak the terrible words, `You shall go
hence, to the castle from whence you came, from thence you shall be
carried to the place of execution for this county, where your bodies shall
be hanging until dead. And God have mercy upon your souls.'
They
were executed on the 20th August 1612 on Gallows Hill, above Lancaster.
The seven Samlesbury Witches were more fortunate in being acquitted, and
Margaret Pearson for a third time escaped death. She was sentenced to
stand in the pillory on market days, at Clitheroe, Whalley and Lancaster,
then serve a one‑year term in prison.
The
saga of the Pendle Witches was written down in great detail in 1612 by the
clerk, Thomas Potts, in The
Wunderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster. This was
republished in 1845 by the Chetham Society, which gave Victorian writer William
Harrison Ainsworth the idea to write a novel based on the true story.
After spending time at Newchurch and Whalley, where he stayed at Bridge
House, his best‑selling The
LancashireWitches appeared in 1848.
Over a century later, in 1953, Robert Neill wrote a modern version, Mist
OverPendle, which was also well received. Then in recent years a host
of other books have followed, exploring all the facets of this sad episode
in our history.