The Pendle Witch Trials

In 1612, in the shadow of Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, twenty people were accused of witchcraft in one of the most famous and well-documented witch trials in English history. Ten were hanged at Lancaster Castle, one died in prison, and the others were acquitted or found not guilty. The trials exposed tensions between Catholicism and Protestantism, revealed the fears of a superstitious age, and created a legacy of folklore and legend that persists more than four hundred years later.

The Setting

Pendle Hill rises from the Lancashire countryside, a dark, brooding presence that dominates the landscape. In the early seventeenth century, the area around the hill was remote, impoverished, and largely Catholic in a Protestant kingdom. The local population lived in scattered farmsteads, scratching a living from difficult land.

Two families—the Demdikes and the Chattoxes—dominated the local reputation for cunning folk practices. These families provided charms, healing, and curses to their neighbors, operating in the gray area between folk medicine and witchcraft. They were rivals, competing for the same clients.

Elizabeth Southerns, known as Old Demdike, was the matriarch of one family. Anne Whittle, known as Old Chattox, led the other. Both were elderly, blind or nearly so, and had reputations that inspired fear throughout the region.

The Accusations Begin

The trouble began on March 18, 1612, when Alizon Device, granddaughter of Old Demdike, encountered John Law, a pedlar, on the road near Colne. Alizon asked him for some pins; he refused. Shortly after, Law suffered what was probably a stroke, collapsing in the road.

Law survived but was partially paralyzed. He and his son accused Alizon Device of bewitching him. Alizon, remarkably, confessed. She seems to have genuinely believed she had somehow caused Law’s affliction.

Roger Nowell, the local justice of the peace, was called to investigate. What he found—two families with established reputations for witchcraft, willing to accuse each other and themselves—must have seemed a remarkable opportunity to demonstrate Protestant justice against Catholic superstition.

The Interrogations

Nowell interrogated the Demdike and Chattox families. Old Demdike and Old Chattox both confessed to being witches. They described meeting with spirits or familiars—Demdike with a creature called Tibb, Chattox with a spirit called Fancy. They admitted to causing illness, death, and misfortune through magic.

Whether these confessions reflected genuine belief in their own powers, mental confusion from age and poverty, or simple terror of authority is impossible to know. The confessions were remarkably detailed, describing witches’ sabbaths, magical murders, and pacts with the devil.

Old Demdike, Chattox, and several family members were committed to Lancaster Castle to await trial. But the story was just beginning.

The Good Friday Meeting

On Good Friday 1612, Alizon Device’s mother Elizabeth Device hosted a gathering at Malkin Tower, the Demdike family home. About twenty people attended, supposedly to discuss how to rescue the imprisoned family members, possibly by blowing up Lancaster Castle.

Word of this meeting reached Roger Nowell. He arrested the attendees and added them to those already held. What had been an investigation of two families became a mass witch trial involving twenty accused.

The Trial

The trial was held at Lancaster Castle in August 1612. The chief evidence came from Jennet Device, nine-year-old daughter of Elizabeth Device and granddaughter of Old Demdike. Jennet testified against her mother, brother, and sister, describing sabbaths, familiars, and magical murders with remarkable consistency.

Her testimony was devastating. She identified the attendees at the Good Friday meeting. She described the clay figures her family supposedly made to curse their enemies. She was articulate, confident, and utterly convincing to the court.

Old Demdike had died in prison before trial. But ten others were convicted and hanged on August 20, 1612: Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Anne Whittle (Chattox), Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Jane Bulcock, John Bulcock, and Isobel Robey.

The Clerk’s Record

Thomas Potts, clerk to the Lancaster Assizes, published “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster” in 1613, providing an unusually detailed record of the trial. His account, while colored by the prejudices of his time, preserves testimony, confessions, and the proceedings in detail rare for witch trials.

Potts presented the trial as a triumph of Protestant justice over Catholic superstition and demonic influence. His account shaped how the Pendle witches would be remembered for centuries.

Analysis

Modern analysis of the Pendle trials reveals multiple factors at work. The rivalry between the Demdike and Chattox families provided ready-made accusations. The poverty of the region meant people like Old Demdike survived by trading on fear and reputation. The religious tensions of the era made Catholic-leaning communities targets for suspicion.

The psychology of the accused is difficult to assess. Did they believe they were witches? The confessions were so detailed and consistent that some form of genuine belief seems possible. Or perhaps isolation, poverty, and age had created a shared delusion within these families.

Jennet Device’s role is particularly troubling. A nine-year-old’s testimony sent her mother and siblings to the gallows. Whatever motivated her—fear, manipulation by authorities, genuine belief, or something darker—her words killed.

Legacy

Pendle Hill remains associated with witchcraft four centuries later. The area attracts visitors interested in the dark history. Halloween events, witch museums, and walking trails commemorate the accused.

Whether any of the Pendle accused actually practiced witchcraft—and what “witchcraft” would even mean in such a context—the trials represent a moment when fear, superstition, poverty, and power combined to destroy lives. The names of those hanged at Lancaster Castle in 1612 are remembered, if not fully understood.

The Pendle Witch Trials stand as a reminder of how easily accusations can spiral, how the vulnerable become targets, and how systems of justice can become instruments of destruction.