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Engineers have said they were "stunned" to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a mummified cat, during a construction project in Lancashire.
Historians are now speculating that the well-preserved cottage could have belonged to one of the Pendle witches.
"We are just a few months away from the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials, and here we have an incredibly rare find, right in the heart of witching country. This could well be the famous Malkin Tower - which has been a source of speculation and rumour for centuries.
Wiki Pendle Witch trials
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. All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 18–19 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison. Of the eleven individuals who went to trial—nine women and two men—ten were found guilty and executed by hanging; one was found not guilty.
The committal and subsequent trial of the four women might have been the end of the matter, had it not been for a meeting organised by Elizabeth Device at Malkin Tower, the home of the Demdikes, held on 6 April 1612, Good Friday. To feed the party, James Device stole a neighbour's sheep.[27]
Friends and others sympathetic to the family attended, and when word of it reached Roger Nowell, he decided to investigate. On 27 April 1612, an inquiry was held before Nowell and another magistrate, Nicholas Bannister, to determine the purpose of the meeting at Malkin Tower, who had attended, and what had happened there. As a result of the inquiry, eight more people were accused of witchcraft and committed for trial: Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Alice Gray and Jennet Preston. Preston lived across the border in Yorkshire, so she was sent for trial at York Assizes; the others were sent to Lancaster Gaol, to join the four already imprisoned there.[28]
Malkin Tower is believed to have been near the village of Newchurch in Pendle,[29] on the site of present-day Malkin Tower Farm,[30] and to have been demolished soon after the trials.[29]
In December 2011, Engineers undertaking maintenance work on Lower Black Moss reservoir, near Barley unearthed a mound and found the remains of a 17th-century cottage, which could be Malkin Tower.[31]
Pendle Witches .co.uk
The Meeting at Malkin Tower
The names of the Witches at the Great Assembly and Feast at Malkin Tower, on Good Friday in 1612: 9elf see link for list snipFrom Discovery of Witches, 1613 Thomas Potts (clerk of the court).
Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by MischeviousElf
The cat was embedded alive in the wall then covered over. The mummification was as a result of this, or so I read earlier in another article lol.
Fascinating stuff though. I don't know much about the Pendle Hill witches and this has inspired me to rectify that!
edit on 8/12/2011 by Kryties because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by MischeviousElf
The cat was embedded alive in the wall then covered over. The mummification was as a result of this, or so I read earlier in another article lol.
Fascinating stuff though. I don't know much about the Pendle Hill witches and this has inspired me to rectify that!
edit on 8/12/2011 by Kryties because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by MischeviousElf
Did they indeed Kill anyone? maybe of all the witch trials this had validity if they were offering animal sacrifices etc...
Originally posted by Byrd
Originally posted by MischeviousElf
Did they indeed Kill anyone? maybe of all the witch trials this had validity if they were offering animal sacrifices etc...
Actually, it's more likely that the buried cat was as a reaction to "OMG! WE HAVE A WITCH!" hysteria. The thought then was that the witch would take the soul of the buried cat instead of harming any of the good folk of the household.
...yes... I did say "good folk" with just a trace of irony, there.
Salem was not the only place that a massive injustice against the female members of society was enacted. As a Chrisitian, it galls me utterly that so much harm has been done to people down the years because of a misguided , and over powerful church. Even the women who practiced old medicine, women who kept people well, tended to the sick, treated the injured, and the women who taught good sense to entire villages, were put to death wrongly. My nation lost a lot of its ancient culture, that which remained after being embuggered by the Romans, in the witch trials. Even those who WERE believers in the ancient ways of this nation , should never have been treated so poorly, because even those who WERE involved in what would have been called witchcraft, were merely of a different religion to the one advocated by the Church. No one should ever be killed based on faith. Its a terrible thing to have in my nations history.