Pendle Witches

Last week, I climbed Pendle Hill with five members of my work team. We discussed the story of the Pendle witches and only Jane knew a version of the story. I decided that it was my duty to investigate the story some more and report my new knowledge back to my team. Here goes:

Pendle Hill in Lancashire, is a lump of hill made of millstone grit (I think) that was tougher to erode that the surrounding limestone dales during the last glaciation. Hence it was left. In glaciology terminology, it is like a giant drumlin, with a steep east facing end and a gentler westerly side. Other than moorland grass, not a lot else grows and it is relatively featureless. Hence, it is a good job that it is shrouded in the mysterious story of the witches.

In 1612, twelve people, mainly women, were accused of the murders of ten people by use of witchcraft, put on trial and all but one was found guilty and hung. They all lived in the area around Pendle Hill and most came from two families and included four generations of women. The Lancashire witch trials were unusual due to the number of simultaneous hangings with fewer than 500 executions of witches in England between the 15th and 18th centuries.