Pendle Hill - Charles Rawding

A Burnley-based brewery has launched a campaign to pardon the Pendle witches, 400 years after their trial.

David Grant, managing director at the brewery, said the group should be pardoned to coincide with the 400^th anniversary of the witch trial. The campaign has also been backed by Pendle Witches expert Simon Entwistle, who conducts guided walks around Pendle Hill focusing on the history of the witches.

Two poverty stricken families who were led by two old women, Chattox and Demdike, were at the centre of the trial, which begun when Alizon Device, Demdike’s granddaughter, confessed to witchcraft after cursing a pedlar.

The trial was held after 17 people died mysteriously in the villages around Pendle Hill. Mr Grant said he feels the people were made an example of and should be pardoned. He said: “Having read a lot about the trial and the history I think they were made an example of, I think they were just herbalists. They were convicted on the evidence of a young girl. The king at the time was keen to come down on what he perceived as witches.”

The legend of the Pendle Witches has spawned its own tourism industry and attracts many people to the areas including Pendle Hill, Barley, Roughlee and Newchurch-in-Pendle.

If it is launched, an online Government petition would require 100,000 signatures for the issue to be debated in the House of Commons.

Monday January 23^rd 2012
The Onlines