On the Lancashire side to the west was Pendle Hill, so long associated with the notorius witch trials of 1612. Then the names of “Demdike” and “Chattox” inspired superstitious terror in the villages at foot of the hill. Their real names, Elizabeth Southern and Anne Whittle, appeared briefly on the offical rolls of Lancaster Castle Assizes and together with six of their families and friends, on the execution list of hangings on 20 August of that year. Demdike and Cahttox were two feeble minded women in their eighties.

Pendle Hill

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