ISBN 978-0-9553821-1-6
264 pages
150,000 words
Soft Cover
190 x 245mm
£14.95 retail
If anyone is interested in the above new publication it is available from John Clayton at:
http://www.barrowfordpress.co.uk
There is an introductory offer (for a limited time) of free postage and packing equivalent to an online discount of £2.50.
At present the book is also available from Pendle Heritage (Barrowford) - Badger Books (Burnley) - Colne Book Shop. Not sure about Barlick Tourist Information Centre yet.
The book is the product of years of research into the people and places behind the Pendle/Lancashire Witch Trials of 1612 - this also incorporates the story of Jennet Preston from Gisburn. Although I realise that the subject has received a great deal of coverage over the years I am confident that my findings will be of great interest to anyone who has even the slightest interest in this fascinating period of our history.
The story begins where The Valley of the Drawn Sword (2006 ISBN 0-9553821-0-6), left off, namely at the Norman Invasion of 1066. The majority of the nineteen people indicted for witchcraft in 1612 originated within the ancient Forest of Pendle. In order to provide a sound basis for the Pendle Witch legend the history of the forest and its people is explored in detail. For details of 'Valley of the Drawn Sword', please go to
http://www.barrowfordpress.co.uk
The development of the Pendle Forest hinged largely upon the acquisition of new lands and this in turn led to an increasing cousinhood of higher-status families. New evidence shows that magistrate Roger Nowell was covering up a serious accusation of fraud against his family when he began to instigate what was to become the Pendle Witch legend.The consequences of the dichotomy of wealthy and poor people within the forest came to a head on the 20th of August 1612 when nine poor Pendle Forest folk were hanged on Lancaster's Gallows Hill.
The real characters within the legend are uncovered as never before; as an example the origins of Old Demdike (Elizabeth Southern) are traced to her baptism at the Whalley parish church on the 18th April 1541. Elizabeth married into a Burnley farming family and this brought her into the area of Pendle Forest. Her daughter, Elizabeth married John Denis (Device) at Newchurch in 1600 and her subsequent life, and the lives of her children and their protagonists, are traced in a detail that provides an important breakthrough within the history of the legend.
New research on the other families involved in the story is also offered; Chattox and the Nutters in particular. The site of Malkin Tower is covered in detail.
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