Carol Ann Duffy
Pendle, Lancashire
‘One voice for ten dragged this way once by superstition, ignorance. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’ So begins former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s memorable poem The Lancaster Witches which recalls the notorious 1612 witch trials at Lancaster Assizes. Eight women and two men from the area around Pendle Hill were charged with having brought about the deaths of 10 people by witchcraft. After two days of summary proceedings – and the testimony of the nine-year-old daughter of one of the accused – all but one was found guilty and hanged. In commemoration of this unhappy event, two walking trails have been established. Duffy’s poem appears on ten posts alongside the 51-mile (82 km) Lancashire Witches Walk from Barrowford to Lancaster. If that sounds a little too ambitious, try the Pendle Witches Trail – two loops measuring 4 miles and 3½ miles. Both start in the tiny village of Barley, below Pendle Hill, allowing walkers to take on one or other or both. A map can be downloaded from the Visit Lancaster website (visitlancashire.com/dbimgs/Pendle_Witches_ Trail.pdf ).