Tuesday 16th August 2016
Barrowford is lovely but the “towpathers” are mainly joggers or dog walkers so we decided not to trade but to have a day doing something for us & we liked the pretty town so we ventured across the sheep field again, past the pretty flowers , along the river to the Pendle Heritage Centre.
This is the old Toll House at the bridge just before the Heritage centre.
The heritage centre occupies Park Hill, a two-storey former farmhouse which has a 1661 date stone but was developed over an extended period between the 16th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The centre has an 18th-century walled garden and woodland walk, and houses the Pendle Arts Gallery.
Park Hill is an old farmhouse that has been restored using traditional building techniques to provide visitors with an insight on how the house has been developed and adapted from the 15th century.
I found the explanation of the holes in the wall of Park hill fascinating & any of my acquaintances from Golcar & Holmfirth will probably already know about these as they appear in buildings there.
We walked around the walled garden, picked some of the purple pod peas & enjoyed them as we wandered. We looked at the timber framed barn, a massive barn, the main arches made from a suitably bend log, split in half to form the arch. You can see the stables too.
One thing i did notice in the exhibition was the beautiful handwriting in some of the old documents. I wish I could have handwriting like this & that we still taught good handwriting to kids.
The Pendle Witches
The rest of the exhibition is dedicated to the story of The Pendle Witches. The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. It was a time when witchcraft was not only feared but also fascinated those from common village folk to King James I who had been greatly interested in witchcraft even before he took the throne in 1603 The scepticism of the king became reflected in the feelings of unrest about witchcraft among the common people.
It is important to understand the background to the events of these trials. Six of the eleven “witches” on trial came from two rival families, the Demdike family and the Chattox family, both headed by old widows in their 80’s, Elizabeth Southerns known as “Old Demdike”and Anne Whittle “Mother Chattox”.
Old Demdike had been known as a witch for fifty years; it was an accepted part of village life in the 16th century that there were village healers who practised magic and dealt in herbs and medicines. The extent of the spate of witchcraft reported in Pendle at this time perhaps reflected the large amounts of money people could make by posing as witches.
The story began with an altercation between one of the accused, Alizon Device, and a pedlar, John Law. Alizon, either travelling or begging on the road to Trawden Forest, passed John Law and asked him for some pins (it is not known whether her intention was to pay for them or whether she was begging). He refused and Alizon cursed him. It was a short while after this that John Law suffered a stroke, for which he blamed Alizon and her powers. When this incident was brought before Justice Nowell, Alizon confessed that she had told the Devil to lame John Law. It was upon further questioning that Alizon accused her grandmother, Old Demdike, and also members of the Chattox family, of witchcraft. The accusations on the Chattox family seem to have been an act of revenge. The families had been feuding for years, perhaps since one of the Chattox family broke into Malkin Tower (the home of the Demdikes) and stole goods to the value of £1 (approximately the equivalent of £100 now). Furthermore, John Device (father of Alizon) blamed the illness that led to his death on Old Chattox, who had threatened to harm his family if they did not pay annually for their protection.
The deaths of four other villagers that had occurred years before the trial were raised and the blame laid on witchcraft performed by Chattox. James Demdike confessed that Alizon had also cursed a local child some time before and Elizabeth, although more reserved in making accusations, confessed her mother had a mark on her body, supposedly where the Devil had sucked her blood, which left her mad. On further questioning both Old Demdike and Chattox confessed to selling their souls. Also Anne (Chattox’s daughter) was allegedly seen to create clay figures. After hearing this evidence, the judge detained Alizon, Anne, Old Demdike and Old Chattox and waited for trial.
The story would have ended there had it not been for a meeting held at Malkin Tower by James Device (Alizon’s brother), for which he stole a neighbour’s sheep. Those sympathetic to the family attended but word reached the judge who felt compelled to investigate. As a result, a further eight people were summoned for questioning and then trial.
Nine year old Jennet Device was a key supplier of evidence for the Pendle witches’ trial which was allowed under the system from King James; all normal rules of evidence could be suspended for witch trials, someone so young would not have been able to supply key evidence normally. Jennet gave evidence against those who attended the meeting at Malkin Tower but also against her mother, sister and brotherer son John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Gray, and Jennet Preston. Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made against each other, perhaps because they were in competition, both trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion.
The trials were held at Lancaster between 17th and 19th August 1612. Old Demdike never reached trial; the dark, dank dungeon in which they were imprisoned was too much for her to survive & she died there in the arms of her daughter.
After all that we had a coffee in the centre’s coffee shop & wandered back across that sheep field.
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Not in the plan for today but off we went.
nb That's D'riculous 