However it is the mystical Pendle Hill that is still associated with the witches today, and sees a great number of tourists arriving on Hallowe'en to remember the deceased wise women. Pendle Hill is also the location where George Fox had his vision that founded the Quaker movement in 1652. Truly there are many objects of memorabilia present in the town today. A life size mannequin of one of the hanged, Alice Nutter, can be visited in a glass case in the local pub, as well as the 'witches grave' on the south side of the church in Newchurch-in-Pendle, carved with skull and crossbones. This church also has a distinguishing feature on it's west side, named the 'eye of god' which is said to watch over the village and protect it from the likes of witches.

There are regular scheduled walks that are said to cover the same route the elusive witches did as they were marched through Pendle Forest, a hunting ground once the home to wild boar and wolves. It is described as not being a forest in the modern sense, as there are very few trees, and much of it is wild, hilly moorland. It is irregular in shape and measures 6 miles across. One walking group summarises the walk as thus;

"The 'Witches Trail' follows the route taken by the witches from their Pendleside villages, through the wild beauty of the Trough Of Bowland in Ribble Valley, to their trial at Lancaster Castle. The forty-five mile route passes through some of the most spectacular countryside in the country, which has changed little since the witches' fateful journey. The route is suitable for cars or bicycles."

There is also a small shop in honour of the infamous witches, situated in Newchurch-in-Pendle, named Witches Galore (pictured); "A lovely traditional souvenir shop in the heart of Pendle Witch Country. Hundreds of souvenirs, maps, models, posters, t-shirts, pottery, pictures, and a large selection of books on the local history of the Pendle Witches."

The word Pendle, spelt Penhille in 1296, is derived from the Celtic word for 'hill'; to which the English, perhaps not realising the meaning of Pen, added their own word hill. It was during the reign of James I (1603 - 1625) that the Pendle witch trails occurred. The resident monarch is of importance, as before James' rule, witchcraft was not abhorred as he thought it should be, and it was James himself who wrote a book entitled 'Daemonologie' that detailed techniques to find evidence of witchcraft. It was this book that inspired Matthew Hopkins, alias the Witchfinder General, to make his living uncovering witches and having them arrested. The first suspicious incident occurred on the 18th March 1612, when it was said that Alison Device was begging on the road to Colne, and a peddler refused her some pins. The peddler was then said to have become paralysed, some accounts say he walked a few paces and subsequently dropped dead. Alison was thus accused of witchcraft.

She was brought to trial on the 30th March 1612. Alison was tortured into admitting to witchcraft, and she also incriminated her grandmother, as the family tree (pictured) indicates, Elizabeth Southern, known as Old Mother Demdike, her rival Anne Whittle, or Old Mother Chattox, and Chattox's daughter Anne Redfern. Some witnesses also described some episodes at Higham Inn, were the women were blamed for turning the ale there sour, and for bewitching the landlord's son with a clay doll causing his death. A search of the Demdike home uncovered human teeth and a clay image.

The terms Demdike and Chattox, it would seem, are entirely derogatory towards the two old women. It has been suggested that Chattox is taken from the word 'chatter' or is a version of the name 'Chattock' while Demdike is a fusion of the two latin words 'dementio dico' meaning, essentially, 'demented witch'. It was inevitable that two crones bearing such similar wisdom in such a small district were going to be in competition with each other, and indeed it became so that the once friends and accomplices became bitter enemies. There are also hints of an ongoing family rivalry, as it has been said that Anne Redfern once broke into Malkin Tower, the forest home of the Demdike family, and stole oatmeal and some clothes, including a hat. Elizabeth Device, Demdike's daughter, later saw Anne wearing the hat, and sent her husband to the Chattox's home to offer a yearly amount of grain if they ceased causing trouble. However, the grain was never paid and Elizabeth's husband ended up dead, swearing all the way that it was the fault of the Chattoxs.

During the case it emerged that it was Old Mother Demdike that first introduced Mother Chattox into the world of witchery, and both women gave accounts of fraternising with the devil. Demdike described in detail to Roger Nowell, the local magistrate, of her encounters with the devil, stating he came before her originally in the form of a boy and was named 'Tibb'. Furthermore to his first visitation in the midst of Pendle Forest, Tibb supposedly appeared to her in many forms, including a black cat, a brown dog, and a hare. Mother Chattox also claimed to have seen the devil, but this time in the form of a Christian man named 'Fancy'. Fancy almost always appeared in the form of a man, but was also seen by Chattox as a bear. Both accounts of the confrontations with the devil, as did many others at the time, included details of the entity requesting to suck blood from the women, in exchange for acting out their every whim.

These surprisingly abstract and completely unrelated to witchcraft as I understand it accounts of meetings with a so-called devil can only be explained as being delusions. Both crones were described as being blind - Chattox pronounced her sight was taken by Fancy - and Demdike was lame also. Thomas Potts, a man commenting and reporting throughout the trial, described Demdike as, 'a very old woman, about the age of four score years and had been a witch for 50 years', and Chattox as 'a very old withered spent and decrepit creature'. Obviously of poor physical and mental health, it is clear by today's standards that these old women, who without a doubt were once powerful and wise, were now suffering from senile dementia.

Nevertheless, many disputes were occurring in the Pendle district, and there were many uncovered accounts of murder by witchcraft;

In 1590 a farmer named Edward Nutter became ill and had a slow death, blaming it on the Chattox's witchcraft all the way.

Elizabeth Device took a job with a miller, and after a dispute the miller's daughter died of an unknown illness.

Whilst the four women were locked up in the dungeon of Lancaster Castle, said to be one of the vilest prisons in England at the time, Elizabeth Device called a meeting at Malkin Tower on a good Friday. Malkin Tower is actually said to be located on a modern day ordnance survey map (namely no.41 outdoor leisure series, map reference 867422) and is situated just East of Blacko Hill and Lower Aedmergill in Lancashire. In all, 21 people attended and eventually came up with a plan to kill the jailer at, M. Covell, and blow up the castle with gunpowder. Nine of the involved were captured by Roger Nowell, following a confession from Jennet Device, Elizabeth's daughter including Elizabeth and James Device, Anne Redfern, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Jane Bulcock and her son John, Isabel Robey and Margaret Pearson. The place name 'Aedmer' only occurs in the British Isles just north of Blacko village. Several times in fact, namely Lower Aedmergill, Aedmergill Water and High Aedmer. When it is considered that Aedmer was originally the founder of the druids, the significance of Old Mother Demdike living in a location surrounded by places named Aedmer is seen. This fact multiplies the significance of the Pendle witches and their trial.

Jennet Device, aged just 9 years old at the time, subsequently gave a statement against her own mother, regarding the events at Malkin Tower. She claimed Elizabeth had an imp named Ball, who she dispatched to murder anyone who displeased her. Under torture, Elizabeth's son, James Device also gave evidence in saying he had seen Ball appearing as a brown dog and had witnessed his mother making clay images. However, James was incriminated himself by Jennet, who claimed he had his own imp named Dandy who also surfaced in the shape of a dog. Thus certain members of the Demdike family were sentenced to hanging.

Alice Nutter was an established lady who owned a great deal of property in nearby Roughlee. The local justice, Roger Nowell, had previously lost a lawsuit against her regarding the acquisition of this land, and so she was not going to be let of lightly. After providing conclusive proof that she was over 50 miles away at the time of the Malkin Tower meeting, this was dismissed as she could easily have flown there on her broomstick.

Roger Nowell also had links with a very prominent family at that time, the Townleys. In this period there was a law stating that those who retained their Catholic beliefs would face heavy fines and confiscation of their land. This law was passed due to the Roman Catholic plot to assassinate Elizabeth I, the previous sovereign. However, John Townley - a Catholic himself - in 1601 escaped having his land confiscated perquisite to that fact that his half brother, Dean Nowell, was the Protestant Dean of St Paul's. And thus the Nowell and Townley families were allied. Former to this, the Device family became adversaries to the Townleys following an eviction from their home caused by John's father, Sir John Townley's greed for attaining land. In an act of revenge, Elizabeth and James Device stole actual turf from Carre Hall, the home of the Townleys, and therefore Roger Nowell was going to be unrelenting on the Device family also.

Alice Nutter was not the only member of her family to be involved with the Pendle witches. 18 years previously, Robert Nutter made an improper reference to Anne Redfern and consequently was 'bewitched to death'. His brother, John Nutter, gave evidence regarding his death and that of his father, Christopher Nutter. Both men believed they were bewitched, and Robert named the culprits as the Chattoxs before he passed away, says John. However, Alice was still hung as no member of her family made any attempt to save her, perhaps due to the fear of Roger Nowell's hatred of the family.

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It was a confession by Mother Demdike that rebuked Mother Chattox and her daughter, after declaring she saw the two with three clay figures, including one of Christopher Nutter and one of Robert. James Device also professed to have seen the Chattoxs with clay figures, and that Anne Redfern was crumbling one in her hand. Although Chattox denied the involvement of her daughter, both were sentenced to hanging for the murder of Robert Nutter by the means of witchcraft.

On 20th August 1612, Anne Whittle (Old Mother Chattox), Anne Redfern, Alice Nutter, James Device, Alison Device, Elizabeth Device, Jane Bulcock, John Bulcock, and Isabel Robey were hanged. Elizabeth Southern (Old Mother Demdike) died in prison before her trial, and Margaret Pearson was sentenced to a year in jail. Jennet Device surprisingly found herself brought back to Lancaster Castle 21 years later, and was herself accused of witchcraft and condemned to death, yet not executed, along with a Mother Dickenson.

There are in fact another set of Pendle witches, of whom several were condemned to death but never hanged, as they were eventually pardoned by Charles I. These events centred around the accusations of a 10 year old boy in the years 1633 and 1634, who managed to convict around 20 people, of which Jennet Device and Mother Dickenson were probably some.

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