The Pendle Witch Trials

In March 1612 Alizon Device asked a pedlar, John Law, for pins. When he refused and moments later collapsed — probably from a stroke — Alizon came to believe, and confessed, that she had harmed him. The local magistrate, Roger Nowell, began questioning her family.

Suspicion fell on two impoverished families led by elderly widows: Elizabeth Southerns, known as 'Old Demdike', and Anne Whittle, known as 'Old Chattox'. A gathering at the Device home, Malkin Tower, on Good Friday was presented as a witches' meeting. Demdike died in Lancaster gaol before she could be tried.

The key witness against her own family was nine-year-old Jennet Device, whose testimony helped condemn her mother, brother and sister.

The accused were hanged at Lancaster on 20 August 1612. Jennet Preston, linked to the group, was tried separately at York and hanged there. In 2012, on the 400th anniversary, memorials and a walking trail were created around Pendle. Today the trials are remembered as a tragedy of poverty, rumour and fear rather than evidence of witchcraft.