Mist Over Pendle

Product Information

Mullett, Stephen (2002), "The Reformation in the Parish of Whalley", in Poole, Robert (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, Manchester University Press, pp.88–104, ISBN 978-0-7190-6204-9 Robert Neill's novel is a classic tale of witchcraft set in a wild inaccessible corner of Lancashire and in a time when the ancient fear of demons and witches was still a part of life... and death. Read more Details The Lancashire Witch trials of 1612 were the basis for this story. We have a young puritan girl, Margery, sent to her cousin Roger Nowell because her family doesn’t know what to do with her (she is distinctly un-puritan) and nobody can provide her with a dowry to marry her off. Roger’s way of life is more to Margery’s taste and, freed of the restrictions her upbringing had imposed on her, we see her blossom into an intelligent young woman. She accompanies her cousin, a Justice of the Peace, on his investigations into increasingly frequent accusations of witchcraft, soon becoming an integral part of the inquiries, her actions leading to at least one incidence of romance and several incidences of execution.

Anne Redferne was not so fortunate the following day, when she faced her second trial, for the murder of Robert Nutter's father, Christopher, to which she pleaded not guilty. Demdike's statement to Nowell, which accused Anne of having made clay figures of the Nutter family, was read out in court. Witnesses were called to testify that Anne was a witch "more dangerous than her Mother". [56] But she refused to admit her guilt to the end, and had given no evidence against any others of the accused. [57] Anne Redferne was found guilty. [58] The only negative aspect I found was that it was getting a little bogged down in the beginning with the descriptions of the area. I found that a little tedious but it was obviously meant to set the scene and introduce the different locations in the story. Sharpe, James (2002), "Introduction: The Lancaster witches in historical context", in Poole, Robert (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, Manchester University Press, pp.1–18, ISBN 978-0-7190-6204-9Altham continued with his judicial career until his death in 1617, and Bromley achieved his desired promotion to the Midlands Circuit in 1616. Potts was given the keepership of Skalme Park by James in 1615, to breed and train the king's hounds. In 1618, he was given responsibility for "collecting the forfeitures on the laws concerning sewers, for twenty-one years". [78] Having played her part in the deaths of her mother, brother, and sister, Jennet Device may eventually have found herself accused of witchcraft. A woman with that name was listed in a group of 20 tried at Lancaster Assizes on 24 March 1634, although it cannot be certain that it was the same Jennet Device. [79] The charge against her was the murder of Isabel Nutter, William Nutter's wife. [80] In that series of trials the chief prosecution witness was a ten-year-old boy, Edmund Robinson. All but one of the accused were found guilty, but the judges refused to pass death sentences, deciding instead to refer the case to the king, Charles I. Under cross-examination in London, Robinson admitted that he had fabricated his evidence, [79] but even though four of the accused were eventually pardoned, [81] they all remained incarcerated in Lancaster Gaol, where it is likely that they died. An official record dated 22 August 1636 lists Jennet Device as one of those still held in the prison. [82] These later Lancashire witchcraft trials were the subject of a contemporary play written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, The Late Lancashire Witches. [83] Cronin, Frances (17 August 2011), "The witch trial that made legal history", BBC Online , retrieved 10 December 2012 The story of the Pendle witches is particularly relevant in 2012 as it is the four hundredth anniversary of the Lancashire witches. This most famous of witch trials took place in the forest and hills of the North Lancashire moors, a place that was as cold, dark and inhospitable as the landscape. Many of the allegations made in the Pendle witch trials resulted from members of the Demdike and Chattox families making accusations against each other. Historian John Swain has said that the outbreaks of witchcraft in and around Pendle demonstrate the extent to which people could make a living either by posing as a witch, or by accusing or threatening to accuse others of being a witch. [18] Although it is implicit in much of the literature on witchcraft that the accused were victims, often mentally or physically abnormal, for some at least, it may have been a trade like any other, albeit one with significant risks. [77] There may have been bad blood between the Demdike and Chattox families because they were in competition with each other, trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion. [24] The Demdikes are believed to have lived close to Newchurch in Pendle, and the Chattox family about 2 miles (3.2km) away, near the village of Fence. [33] Aftermath and legacy [ edit ] A "The Witch Way" Transdev in Burnley & Pendle bus Alice Nutter was unusual among the accused in being comparatively wealthy, the widow of a tenant yeoman farmer. She made no statement either before or during her trial, except to enter her plea of not guilty to the charge of murdering Henry Mitton by witchcraft. The prosecution alleged that she, together with Demdike and Elizabeth Device, had caused Mitton's death after he had refused to give Demdike a penny she had begged from him. The only evidence against Alice seems to have been that James Device claimed Demdike had told him of the murder, and Jennet Device in her statement said that Alice had been present at the Malkin Tower meeting. [61] Alice may have called in on the meeting at Malkin Tower on her way to a secret (and illegal) Good Friday Catholic service, and refused to speak for fear of incriminating her fellow Catholics. Many of the Nutter family were Catholics, and two had been executed as Jesuit priests, John Nutter in 1584 and his brother Robert in 1600. [60] Alice Nutter was found guilty. [62]

Bonzol, Judith (2010). "The Death of the Fifth Earl of Derby: Cunning Folk and Medicine in Early Modern England". Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme. 33 (4): 73–100. doi: 10.33137/rr.v33i4.15972. ISSN 0034-429X. JSTOR 43446683.Born as I was under the shadow of Pendle Hill, landscape has always 'loomed large' in my imagination and spoken to my soul. Inspired by landscape or memories of landscape, my paintings are at the same time 'innerscapes'. The artist in me seeks out connections between the changing moods of the outer world and my inner stirrings of emotion and spirit. Clayton, John A. (2007), The Lancashire Witch Conspiracy (2nded.), Barrowford Press, ISBN 978-0-9553821-2-3 Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth wrote a romanticised account of the Pendle witches: The Lancashire Witches, first published in 1849, is the only one of his 40 novels never to have been out of print. [90] The British writer Robert Neill dramatised the events of 1612 in his novel Mist over Pendle, first published in 1951. The writer and poet Blake Morrison treated the subject in his suite of poems Pendle Witches, published in 1996. Poet Simon Armitage narrated a 2011 documentary on BBC Four, The Pendle Witch Child. [91] I think that Derek Achora is a lying, cheating. He is proved to have lied and I think what he does to people when he is claiming to be talking to their loved ones is disgusting....