Thursday - December 08, 2011

A & R Thursday: Bewitching

Engineers have said they were “stunned” to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a mummified cat, 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 a mummified 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: “Cats feature prominently in folklore about witches. Whoever consigned this cat to such a horrible fate was clearly seeking protection from evil spirits.

“We’re just a few months away from the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch trials, and here we have an incredibly rare find, which could well be the famous Malkin Tower.”

The tower was said to be the site of a notorious meeting between the witches on Good Friday in 1612.

Frank Giecco, from NP Archaeology, who unearthed the building, said: “It’s like discovering your own little Pompeii. We rarely get the opportunity to work with something so well preserved.
The remains of the building The engineering project has been put on hold while archaeologists investigate the site

“As soon as we started digging, we found the tops of doors, and knew we were on to something special.

“The building is a microcosm for the rise and fall of this area, from the time of the Pendle witches to the industrial age. There are layers of local history right before your eyes.”

The engineering project has been put on hold while the archaeologists complete their investigation of the site.

For us Yanks unedumacated in English history, the Pendle Witches outdid our Salem witches by about 5 to 1. Not only were there lots more of them, they were put on trial a good 2 decades before the Salem trials, and at least as many were put to death. And the evidence against them was even flimsier; you can’t even blame hallucinogenic moldy bread.

Pratchett fans, follow the Pendle Witches link and look at the names. I did not realize that the book old Terry wrote with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, was sort of a tribute to these folks, but then I don’t spend my life looking up every last little thing. But the names from history sure set bells a-ringing. Agnes Nutter, Anathema Device ... I don’t know who the WitchFinder, General or otherwise, was during the Pendle affair. And T.P. wins “most wretched joke ever” for the “I call my junky old car Dick Turpin” routine in that book.

Whatever. Very interesting that the cottage and/or the tower is still standing. I would have thought they would’ve been burned.




Speaking of things bewitching ...

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 12/08/2011 at 01:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • Eye-Candy •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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