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The Pendle witches, as they are now presented, are little more than a lure for tourism. Demdike and Chattox are alluring names but both were probably no more than village 'wise-women' with some knowledge of herbs and simple cures and almost certainly not 'witches.' Alice Nutter is different. She was a respectable and probably quite wealthy woman, though there is some confusion about both her status and address. But she seems to me to lie at the heart of the matter. She was a Roman Catholic, a woman of the 'old faith' and on the Good Friday of the famed Malkin Tower meeting was probably on her way to Mass.
About the author
Keith Howden was born near Burnley in 1932. He is married, with three children. After National Service and work as a laboratory assistant, he taught English and modern European fiction with a major interest in 'the text as event' at Nottingham Trent University. Among his many poetry pamphlets are Joe Anderson, Daft Jack's Ideal Republics, Pauper Grave, Hanging Alice Nutter and Barlow Agonistes. He has published three full-length collections, Marches of Familiar Landscape (Peterloo 1978), Onkonkay (Peterloo (1984) and Jolly Roger (Smokestack 2012). Recently, with his son, the composer Matthew Howden, he has completed two poetry music collaborations, with accompanying discs: The Matter of Britain (PRE Rome 2009) and Barley Top (Redroom 2013).
