For decades women were rounded up and hunted down, as fear took hold in small villages and towns.
Legends of alleged 'witches' have been embedded into the fabric of English folklore with barbaric trials taking place in towns across the country to 'confirm' a woman was, in fact, a 'witch'. Accused women were "tried, drowned and hanged" in brutal trials based on unfounded allegations.
Most would associate 'witches' with the Pendle witch trials but these unfair attacks on women also happened a little closer to home. For generations, residents across St Helens have heard "whispers" of folktales and witchcraft dating back hundreds of years.
But some research argues these cases were more frequent than originally thought, with executions thought to have also taken place in the small village of Rainford.
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Another case tells the tale of a local woman tried alongside the Pendle witches in 1612 and one resident has found around 20 witch cases to inhabit the borough through research. Claire Rigby, founder and owner of community cafe Momo's and Exploring History UK youtuber and podcaster Lewis Atherton recently discussed Crank Caverns and it's folktales.
For years, Claire has run local history tours and lectures, but over the lockdown period, the pair used local books, newspapers, and online sources and spoke to members of the community via social media to offer information to unanswered questions and folktales and also combat loneliness. Here, they share a brief look at their research and interesting stories found of St Helens' 'history of witchcraft.'
Isobel Robey
Isobel Robey is a unique case as despite being from the area, she was tried for witchcraft in 1612 with the Pendle witches. An article in the Blackburn Standard, published June 1894, details part of the case.
In part, it reads: "Robey had bewitched several persons. Peter Chaddock, of Windle, suggested Robey's being jealous of him - marrying his present wife; she so bewitched him that he was pained with "great warch in his bones; he was very thirsty, but could not drink until one James, a glover of Windle, came and prayed with him.
"Jane Wilkinson, of Windle, had once denied Robey a drink of milk, wherein she fell sick and going to Warrington next day she felt a pinch, as she thought, with four fingers and a thumb, twice; whereas she was sick and had to come home on horseback."
Claire and Lewis have looked into Isobel's past in the hope of finding more about her or where the Pendle witches were buried. Claire told the ECHO: "Everybody knows about Isobel Robey - because I made sure of it.
"My obsessions with Isobel Robey started Halloween 2019 when I was doing a talk about her. It was a sell-out and I didn't even know that much so I started delving into it all. From there it kind of expanded."
Claire said research shows Isobel did not have "a fair trial" by Thomas Gerard and is often associated with the Pendle witches as she was hanged on the same day at Lancaster Castle. Lewis said: "The Gerards were influential people in the community. People looked to them for guidance, advice, shelter, and community. They were a prominent family."
The three witches of Rainford
Claire said she previously saw a flyer from the Rainford Heritage Society which had brief details of three "witches" who were allegedly "drowned and hanged" in the town. Due to the pandemic, Claire said she was unable to access archives to find out more information.
But when she opened the heritage centre in Momo's, a newspaper article in the St Helens Reporter 1966 Special 100 year anniversary edition unlocked more of the tale. In part, it reads: "During the Generals stay at Rainford, three hags were denounced as witches, one of whom died undergoing trial by ordeal while being 'swum' in a pond, now built over by anew housing estate.
"The other two elderly ladies were accused of sorcery, insomuch that they caused the killing of cows by placing crossed sticks over their milk and uttering oaths applicable to an underworld religion. One was further accused of causing a young girl to have fits and trances in which she talked in the language of some unknown country. These two hags confessed to witchcraft after a little trial and were hanged on the rise above the hamlet."
Claire has since looked at old maps from the 1840s to the 1970s to try and pinpoint an area with a rise above hamlet to overlook Rainford, with a witches stone on site and a pond where a housing estate was built in the 1960s. She recently made contact with the daughter of the journalist, Tod Sloan, who wrote the referenced article, is helping pinpoint the area mentioned and her dad's original sources.
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Claire said in the future, she'd like to find out who these women were and also see them pardoned. Lewis said: "There’s a misconception that there weren't many witches around here, but from Claire's digging, there’s 20 that we know of."
To find out more on social media click here. To watch local videos from Exploring History UK click here.
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