Pendle witches: Pardon petition reaches over 12,000 signatures

The Pendle witch trials led to 10 people being executed at Gallows Hill in Lancaster after they were found guilty of the maligned practice.

The campaign, led by Barrowford film-maker Emma Swinton and three other activists, was created to help pardon the innocent people convicted of, and executed for, witchcraft in the 17th Century, including those from Pendle. The Government must now provide a written response following the 10K milestone.

Charlotte Meredith, who set up the petition, said The Witchcraft Act of 1735 repealed legislation creating offences for witchcraft and recognised that the belief that people could use demonic magic to harm and murder was not a reality.

She said: “Even though this meant the people convicted and executed under former Acts had been innocent, they were never pardoned.”

What is the story of the Pendle Witches?

A woman named Alizon Device was said to have cursed a pedlar who had refused to give her any pins.

The pedlar collapsed and his son reported it to local magistrate Roger Nowell.

He interviewed Ms Device, who confessed to bewitching the pedlar and also accused her neighbours, who the family were having a feud with, of bewitching and killing four people.

The neighbours are said to have pointed the finger straight back at Alizon's grandmother, accusing her of witchcraft.

It resulted in the execution of 10 people who were given no counsel or legal advice, and the central prosecution witness was nine years old.

They were hanged in August that year in front of large crowds on the moors close to Williamson Park.

Ms Swinton, from Barrowford, who has made a short film about the Pendle witch trials called The Witch's Daughter, told BBC Radio Lancashire those hanged "deserve justice".

She said the saga had been "brushed under the carpet" and urged the government to "set a precedent" by saying sorry.

"By acknowledging what happened in the past it helps us heal in the present," she said.

The government said it was preparing a response.