Posted on October 31, 2009 - by Andrew
Gallows Hill – where the Pendle witches died
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Gallows Hill is part of Lancaster, next to the Ashton Memorial and Williamson Park, and was the favoured execution site of the Hanging Judges until 1800.
The infamous Pendle witches were executed on Gallows Hill. They died in the traditional manner of executions on the hill; first made to stand on a cart, wait while a rope was fastened around their neck and then die as the cart was moved away.
A hanging, done well, kills when the drop instantly breaks the neck of the unfortunate. A bad or deliberately slow hanging leaves the victim twisting on the end of the rope while they are slowly strangled. The death sentence “hanged, drawn and quartered” begins with a slow hanging from which the victim is ‘saved’ before they’re next drawn through the streets and finally quartered.
Ten Pendle witches died on Gallows Hill on the 20th August 1612. Members of both the Demdike and Chattox families where hanged on the hill. Owd Demdike (Elizabeth Southerns), leader of the Demdike family, escaped the executioner by dying in her cell in Lancaster.
Therefore, the names of the Pendle witches who were hanged on Gallows Hill are: Anne Chattox (Anne Whittle), Anne Redfern, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Jane Bullock, John Bullock, Katherine Hewitt (Mouldheels), Alice Nutter and Isobel Robey.
Jennet Preston, who lived in Yorkshire, was hanged in York.
There’s no record of what happened to the bodies of the Pendle witches after Gallows Hill.
Is Gallows Hill haunted?
On October 29th in 2009 the TV program Most Haunted Live visited Gallows Hill. While the cameras were recording they gave the impression of the presence of some spiritual entities and perhaps the Pendle witches.
Despite some of the Pendle witches actually admitting to witchcraft it is now widely believed that none of them were. Alice Nutter, in particular, was a soft spoken and well off lady and probably guilty of practising the (at the time) unpopular Catholic faith. The Most Haunted crew, however, have allegedly been harassed by entities claiming to be or giving the impression of the Pendle witches before.
It is rumoured that Most Haunted Live may return to Gallows Hill for a live broadcast on Halloween 2009.
In Pure Spirit
What do you think? Is this site more or likely to be haunted by the ghosts of the witches than Pendle Hill itself?
Did you watch Most Haunted Live? What did you think of the team’s encounter with apparent spirits?
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November 1, 2009
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I watched most haunted live last night but couldn’t understand why the crew were in a wood, (seeing as there is no wood at gallows hill in Lancaster!)
It is an open hill which is stepped as it rises, (presumably to allow spectators to stand on flat ground rather than on a hill).
It is currently a large area of open green recreation land sited on the northern side of Quernmore Road, and can be seen easily on Google Maps using the sattelite view.
I did note that the location of the ‘Gallows Hill’ wood wasn’t mentioned last night, (obviously that would have spoiled things).
I am also amazed that the Most Haunted team didn’t visit the old Lunatic Asylum here in Lancaster.
It’s pretty derelict nowadays but is still in a structurally sound state of repair and dates from the early 1800’s. Perhaps they were worried about finding some real spirits there?
I’ve lived in Lancaster for 40 years now, (having been born here), and can remember the asylum being in use, and how we used to scare ourselves as kids by wandering through the grounds listening to the tormented screams of the in-patients being cared for behind the locked doors.
Obviously the patients have long gone now, but I bet the walls still hold the spirits of the many thousands of patients that died there during the 1800’s and 1900’s.
The asylum even had it’s own mortuary although that was demolished some years ago and executive properties now stand on that side of the site, with some of those properties even being built directly over the old asylum graveyard!
Most Haunted consists of Yvette, her husband Karl and her cousin Stuart winding the rest of the crew up by producing noises and performances to get the other crew members jumping, Karl even finds it hard to keep his face straight half of the time!
Fair play to them though – they’re all very rich now.
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November 2, 2009
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I agree with Sean. There are no woods at Gallows Hill, just a few trees around the edge of the field. When they are the Executive Producers of the show, it is in their interest to line their pockets with money.
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November 3, 2009
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Its like every job, some are better paid then others! That Asylum would have been an excellent place. They would have probably got more paranormal response there than they did at a couple of the locations they used.
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November 16, 2009
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I have been up there today looking for possible clues to the location where most haunted film there mock hanging and the it may possibly have been in williamsons park itself! I have looked on some old maps dating around 1650 and it shows the gallows to be near to the crossroads of quermore rd and moorgate actually in the grammar school grounds!