Centre of Britain

Centre of Britain In the beginning of time Pendle Hill in Lancashire was the centre of Great Briton. Before coastal corrosion. This is why the area is so steeped in history both good and evil. Today the Centre of Britain is. Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire BB7 - England, UK. Much debate surrounds the exact position of the centre of Great Britain. Dunsop Bridge was officially recognised by the Ordnance Survey in 1992 as the nearest village to the centre of the British Isles and BT marked this by placing its 100,000th telephone box on the village green. However, the actual centre of the British Isles is in fact at SD 64188.3 56541.43, at Whitendale Hanging Stones on the hills seven kilometres north of Dunsop Bridge. Others would argue that the centre is much further north in Haltwhistle. It all depends on how you calculate it. In the beginning of time Pendle Hill in Lancashire was the centre of Great Briton. This is why the area is so steeped in history both good and evil. History of Pendle Mesolithic Man 12,000 - 3,000 BC: The earliest signs of man in Pendle come from the small flints left behind by Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) man at places like Boulsworth Moor, Monkroyd, Wycoller and Catlow. Items including stone axe heads and more advanced tools suggest that Neolithic man was present in Pendle towards the end of this period. Bronze Age 3,000 - 1000 BC: Pendle was part of a trade route between the Yorkshire coast and Ireland. The remains of burial grounds along with various artifacts have been found along the route which ran through areas such ad Brinks Ends, Trawden, and Blacko Hill. Iron Age 1000 - 0 BC: Iron Age man probably arrived in the area in about 750 BC at the Brigantes tribe. The major settlement of this time was the hillfort at Castercliffe dated at 6 BC. Romans 0 BC - 410 AD: During the Iron Age the Romans invaded Britain. There is a great deal of evidence of the Roman presence in areas surrounding Pendle but we're still not sure if Pendle had much in the way of Roman settlements. The nearest we get is a small camp at Elslack near Barnoldswick. Anglo Saxons 410 - 800 AD: At about this time the Romans left Britain and left it open to attack by tribes from North Germany - the Angles. They colonized in areas such as Marsden (Nelson) and Trawden. Vikings 800AD+: The Vikings gave the names to many places that are still in existence (or at least very similar sounding names) today. Earby is good example of this. Pendle was given over to Viking rule by Alfred of Wessex as part of "Danelaw". Eventually Alfred's son and grandson Athelstan recaptured the area after the Battle of Brunanbraugh - thought to be somewhere between Trawden and Thursden Valley. After this battle Athelston crowned himself the first king of England. He made a Treaty of Peace at a place called Eamot which is known today as Emmot in Colne. Pendle became border territory again in the 11th century due to further conflicts with the Vikings. The Pendle Witches. The Pendle Witches lived during the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and James I (1603 - 1625). As a result of King James I's firm belief in the existence of witchcraft, an Act was passed which imposed the death penalty "for making a covenant with an evil spirit, using a corpse for magic, hurting life or limb, procuring love, or injuring cattle by means of charms". Two families were at the centre of the Pendle case. Significantly, both were headed by elderly widows who were known locally by their nicknames: The names in red print signify those defendants from Pendle who were accused of witchcraft, five of whom were tried at Lancaster Castle - "Old Demdike", aged 80, had died in prison at Lancaster whilst awaiting trial. Also accused were: Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock Alice Nutter Katherine Hewitt ("Mouldheels") The trial took place in August 1612, with Judge Bromley presiding, accompanied by Judge Altham. The Judges were assisted by Lord Gerard and Sir Richard Hoghton. The Prosecutor was a former High Sheriff of Lancashire, Roger Nowell of Read Hall, Near Burnley, who had sent the accused for trial, and the Clerk of the Court was Thomas Potts of London. The prisoners were not allowed to have defence counsel to plead for them, nor could they call any witnesses to speak on their behalf. In addition to the ten defendants from the Pendle locality, the so-called Samlesbury Witches - John Ramsden, Elizabeth Astley, Isabel Southgraves, Lawrence Haye, Jane Southworth, Jennet Brierly and Ellen Brierly - along with Isobel Robey from Windle, near St Helens and Margaret Pearson, the Padiham Witch, were also tried. Much of the evidence given by prosecution witnesses was inconsistent, based on rumours, idle gossip and false confessions. The chief prosecution witness was Jennet Device, granddaughter of "Old Demdike". At the end of the three-day Assize, a total of 10 people were found guilty of witchcraft, sentenced to death and hanged on the moor above the town. They were: Anne Whittle ("Old Chattox") Ann Redfearn Elizabeth Device ("Squinting Lizzie") Alice Nutter Alison Device James Device Katherine Hewitt Jane Bulcock John Bulcock Isobel Robey Margaret Pearson was not executed. Instead, she was sentenced to be pilloried on four consecutive market days in Padiham, Clitheroe, Whalley and Lancaster, and then to serve one year in prison. All of the Samlesbury Witches were acquitted, as was Alice Grey. Another name, that of Jennet Preston, is often linked with this trial, but she had been hanged in York in July 1612 on the orders of the same Judges who sat in Lancaster a month later. 'The Pendle Witches' On August 20th 1612 ten people convicted of witchcraft at the Summer Assize held in Lancaster Castle went to the gallows on the moors above the town. Among their number were two men and a woman in her eighties. Their crimes included laming, causing madness and what was termed "simple" witchcraft. In addition to this some sixteen unexplained deaths, many stretching back decades, were laid at their door. Lancashire, in the early years of the seventeenth century, was remote, its roads poor, its people ill-educated. Throughout the county there were places where the outside world hardly intruded, and one such area was Pendle Forest. It was here, among stark hillsides, infertile valleys and scattered hamlets, that the story of the Pendle Witches had its beginnings. An Ill-Fated Meeting On March 18th 1612 a young woman by the name of Alison Device was out begging on the road to Colne. She stopped a peddler from Halifax, John Law, and asked him for a pin. He refused her request and walked away. According to Alison's own testimony her 'familiar spirit' in the shape of a dog, appeared to her and asked if she would like him to harm Law. Alison was new to the art of witchcraft, indeed she seems to have resisted being indoctrinated into what was in effect the family business. But now she agreed that Law must be punished and she told the dog to lame the peddler. No doubt to her great surprise, the curse took immediate effect and Law fell to the ground, paralysed down one side (presumably by a stroke) and unable to speak. He was taken to a local inn and later Alison was brought to his bedside. She admitted her part in his illness and begged his forgiveness, which he gave. However, Law's son Abraham had become involved, and he was far from satisfied. He took the matter to Roger Nowell the local magistrate, and from there things snowballed at an alarming rate. After hearing the most awful admissions from those he interviewed, Nowell made many arrests. By the end of April nineteen people (including a group from Samlesbury and Isobel Roby from Windle) were incarcerated in Lancaster Castle, awaiting trial at the August Assize. The Pendle Accused and their Crimes The most famous of the Pendle witches actually died before coming to trial. Elizabeth Southernes ("Old Demdike") had admitted to Nowell that she was a witch. In so doing she also implicated many of her co-accused, as did Anne Whittle ("Old Chattox") who was herself accused of the murder by witchcraft of Robert Nutter. Also implicated were members of both their families: Elizabeth Device, Demdike's daughter, was accused of two murders, as was her son James, while Alison was to stand trial for what she had done to John Law on that fateful spring day five months before. Anne Redfearne, Chattox's daughter, stood accused of the murder of Christopher Nutter eighteen years previously. Others were dragged into the affair: John and Jane Bulcock, a mother and her son, were tried for causing madness, and for being at a so-called Witches Sabbath held at Malkin Tower on Good Friday 1612; Alice Nutter from Roughlee Hall, was accused of killing one Henry Mitton because he refused to give Demdike a penny; Margaret Pearson was accused of bewitching one of her neighbour's horses to death, and Katherine Hewitt was accused of the murder of Ann Foulds. The Trials; Day One Lancaster formed part of the Northern Circuit, and the Assize Court judges visited the town twice a year. The trials commenced on Tuesday 18th August with Sir Edward Bromley presiding. First into the dock was Old Chattox. She was accused of the murder of Robert Nutter some eighteen years previously.

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