Nick Ravenscroft visited the derelict house near the mysterious Pendle Hill
Posted on 12/12/2011 3:54:14 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Engineers have said they were "stunned" to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a cat skeleton, during a construction project in Lancashire.
The cottage was discovered near Lower Black Moss reservoir in the village of Barley, in the shadow of Pendle Hill.
Archaeologists brought in by United Utilities to survey the area found the building under a grass mound.
Historians are now speculating that the well-preserved cottage could have belonged to one of the Pendle witches.
The building contained a sealed room, with the bones of a cat bricked into the wall.
It is believed the cat was buried alive to protect the cottage's inhabitants from evil spirits...
Simon Entwistle, an expert on the Pendle witches, said: "In terms of significance, it's like discovering Tutankhamen's tomb.
"We are just a few months away from the 400th anniversary of the Pendle witch trials, and here we have an incredibly rare find, right in the heart of witching country. This could well be the famous Malkin Tower - which has been a source of speculation and rumour for centuries.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Nick Ravenscroft visited the derelict house near the mysterious Pendle Hill
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks Renfield. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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I'd like to know how it got covered up so recently, while leaving it in relatively good condition, with no local knowledge that it was there. It would have had to have been covered no earlier than the 19th Century, and I'd think there would have been some memory of the event passed down.
"Cos she looks like one!... BURN HER!!!"
You educate me every day, SunkenCiv! Fascinating story!
My Nutter ancestors came from Lancashire, but poor Alice seems to be an unwanted addition to family trees as it is hard to find her connections. The reason may be that records from that area during the time period are sketchy. Many of the people who lived there were recusants, the Nutters among them, so church records (baptisms, marriages, deaths) are hard to come by. Purportedly some of the people who died by spells cast by the witches were also Nutters.
Alice was the most affluent of the group charged. Most likely she was innocent, accused by someone who wanted her property.
You are overthinking this. Chill. Whats 300 years give or take?
Nada.
no question that she could cast a spell!
Modern witch you know.....
“Whats 300 years give or take?”
Well, the Witch’s Cottage aside, I’ve met and spoken with people who were born in the 19th Century, starting with the 1860’s (but not lately). However, as far as I am aware, I have not had the acquaintance of anyone born 300 years ago.
:)
***The building contained a sealed room, with the bones of a cat bricked into the wall. ***
This is nothing new. Ancient buildings used to have children walled up alive in them for the same purpose.
A book written well over 100 years ago (THE EVIL EYE) explained much of these ancient superstitions.
Now look for a pig heart stuck with nails in the chimney.
I wonder if this guy Entwistle is related to the British guy Neil Entwistle who killed his wife and daughter in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and then fled back to Merry Old England a few years ago. See http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Neil_Entwistle,_suspect_in_murder_of_wife_and_child,_arrested_in_England
Ping to my favorite coven.
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