The Samlesbury Witches 1612.....

Greetings from Cornwall at the end of a sunny Sunday, which had been very welcomed after the rain of late.... Yes, I know I have not posted here for a while, sorry about that but for many reasons I have been unable to do so...but I’m here now on this important day in history....


Lancaster Castle

It was on this day 400 years ago that the second day of the Witch Trials at Lancashire Assizes was taking place. There are not many people who do not know about the Pendle Witches and their unfortunate end...but what of the Samlesbury Witches who were being tried here on this day....

Samlesbury Church and the Ribble as it looks today

Samlesbury is a small village in the South Ribble borough of Lancashire, England. A village very similar to many in the rural England of 1612. Many people lived a simple but hard life and lived along side their more affluent neighbours. Educated or not, superstition and fear was felt by all, which was not helped by the witchcraft law enacted in 1604....

King James 1 of England

In 1603 King James 1 from Scotland came to the English Throne and showed a keen interest in witchcraft. However, he was convinced that the Scottish witches were plotting against him. Following his accession to the throne he created the new Witch Law in 1604, "An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and Dealing with Evil and Wicked Spirits". The act imposed the death penalty on anyone ‘causing harm by the use of magic or the exhumation of corpses for magical purposes’....

Lancashire at the end of the 16th century was regarded by the authorities as a wild and lawless region. It was also a time where practising the Catholic faith was banned and the only religion allowed was Church of England. However, in remote areas like Lancashire, priests continued to celebrate mass in secret. And so it was that in 1612 each Justice of the Peace in Lancashire was ordered to compile a list of the recusants in their area.... So it’s not surprising then that the people of Pendle and Samlesbury were accused of witchcraft....

The Lancashire Witches

In Samlesbury eight people were accused of witchcraft by a 14 year old girl named Grace Sowerbutts. They were also accused of child murder and cannibalism. Of the original eight people only three would be sent to trail at Lancashire Assizes on August 19 1612 – Jane Southworth (née Sherburne), Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley. What is even more shocking is that Grace Sowerbutts was related to the Bierley women, Jennet was her grandmother and Ellen her aunt. With the help of her father Thomas, Grace told hysterical and elaborate stories, which included a tale of murder and hints of widespread groups of witches....

Three Witches From Lambs Tales Of Shakespeare

Jane Southworth was the widow of John Southworth, who had only died a few months before the trial. The couple had married in 1598, had seven children and lived in Samlesbury Lower Hall. The Southworth family were staunch Catholics and all but John refused to abandon their faith. When John converted to the Church of England faith Sir John Southworth, John’s father, disinherited him....

Samlesbury Hall

The three women were taken to Lancaster and held in the same dungeon below the Well Tower as the women accused from Pendle. On the day of the trial Jane, Jennet and Ellen were dragged to stand before the same judge, Sir Edward Bromley, that had presided over the previous day’s trail that had condemned the ‘Pendle Witches’. The only evidence produced for the Samlesbury Witch Trial was from Grace Sowerbutts....

Witchcraft Trial at Salem Village. Similar maybe to the one in Lancashire?

After the prosecution had concluded, the three women were allowed to speak, by where they immediately fell to their knees and begged the judge to make Grace tell the truth. Sir Edward had suspected that “a priest or Jesuit” had coached Grace to say these things, so he ordered two other J.P.’s present to interrogate her. On their return they confirmed that Grace had recanted her testimony and admitted that she had been told what to say by one Christopher Southworth, a Jesuit. Following this revelation the three women were acquitted......

What happened to these three innocent women after their lucky escape is not fully known by myself. I would love to do more research about Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley. What is known is that Jane Southworth's eldest son, Thomas, eventually inherited his grandfather's estate of Samlesbury Hall....

Illustration from William Harrison Ainsworth’s novel The Lancashire Witches, published in 1848. Flying was against the laws of nature, and so impossible according to the demonology of King James...

Thankfully in Great Britain witchcraft ceased to be an act punishable by law with the Witchcraft Act of 1735.....

Until next time, take care...Hugs Chrissy xx