The Lancashire Witches
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The Lancashire Witches
''The Lancashire Witches'' is the only one of William Harrison Ainsworth's forty novels that has remained continuously in print since its first publication. It was serialised in the ''Sunday Times'' newspaper in 1848; a book edition appeared the following year, published by Henry Colburn. The novel is based on the true story of the Pendle witches, who were executed in 1612 for causing harm by witchcraft. Modern critics such as David Punter consider the book to be Ainsworth's best work. E. F. Bleiler rated the novel as "one of the major English novels about witchcraft". Biographical background and publication The subject of the Pendle witches was suggested to Ainsworth by antiquarian and long-time friend James Crossley, President of the Chetham Society. During 1846 and 1847 Ainsworth visited all of the major sites involved in the story, such as Pendle Hill and Malkin Tower, home of the Demdikes, one of the two families accused of witchcraft. He wrote the story in 1848, when it was ...
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The Lancashire Witches
''The Lancashire Witches'' is the only one of William Harrison Ainsworth's forty novels that has remained continuously in print since its first publication. It was serialised in the ''Sunday Times'' newspaper in 1848; a book edition appeared the following year, published by Henry Colburn. The novel is based on the true story of the Pendle witches, who were executed in 1612 for causing harm by witchcraft. Modern critics such as David Punter consider the book to be Ainsworth's best work. E. F. Bleiler rated the novel as "one of the major English novels about witchcraft". Biographical background and publication The subject of the Pendle witches was suggested to Ainsworth by antiquarian and long-time friend James Crossley, President of the Chetham Society. During 1846 and 1847 Ainsworth visited all of the major sites involved in the story, such as Pendle Hill and Malkin Tower, home of the Demdikes, one of the two families accused of witchcraft. He wrote the story in 1848, when it was ...
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Beacon
A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More modern examples include a variety of radio beacons that can be read on radio direction finders in all weather, and radar transponders that appear on radar displays. Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of pending weather as indicated on a weather beacon mounted at the top of a tall building or similar site. When used in such fashion, beacons can be considered a form of optical telegraphy. For navigation Beacons help guide navigators to their destinations. Types of navigational beacons include radar reflectors, radio beacons, sonic and visual signals. Visual beacons range from sma ...
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River Calder, Lancashire
The River Calder is a major tributary of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England and is around in length. Course Starting in Cliviger, its source is very close to that of the West Yorkshire river with the same name, and that of the River Irwell. It flows northwest through the Cliviger Gorge supplying two fish ponds near Pot Oven Farm, before collecting Green Clough as it passes the Holme and Black Clough near St John's Church at Holme Chapel. As the Valley widens, the Calder is met by Easden Clough near Southward Bottom and continues to Walk Mill. At the Cliviger Bridge it passes under A646 Burnley Road and it collects Dick Clough near Barcroft Hall before entering Towneley Park and being joined by Everage Clough. On the Burnley side of the park it passes Unity College and Fulledge Recreation Ground, and under the Hand Bridge which carries the A671 Todmorden Road. It flows on the northern side of the town's Burnley Wood district and through a culvert in the Burnley Emban ...
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Trial By Ordeal
Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, trial by ordeal, such as cruentation, was sometimes considered a "judgement of God" ( la, jūdicium Deī, ang, Godes dōm): a procedure based on the premise that God would help the innocent by performing a miracle on their behalf. The practice has much earlier roots, attested to as far back as the Code of Hammurabi and the Code of Ur-Nammu. In pre-modern society, the ordeal typically ranked along with the oath and witness accounts as the central means by which to reach a judicial verdict. Indeed, the term ''ordeal'', Old English ''ordǣl'', has the meaning of "judgment, verdict" (German ''Urteil'', Dutch ''oordeel''), from Proto-Germanic ''*uzdailiją'' "that which is dealt out". Priestly cooperation in trials by fire and water was forbidd ...
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James VI And I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death in 1625. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, and thus a potential successor to all three thrones. He succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother was compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1603, he succeeded Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, who died childless. He ...
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Maypole
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer (20–26 June). In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected specifically for the purpose before being taken down again. Primarily found within the nations of Germanic languages, Germanic Europe and the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown. It has often been speculated that the maypole originally had some importance in the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it had. It has been a recorded practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods, although it became less popul ...
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Alice Nutter (witch)
Alice Nutter (died 20 August 1612) was an English woman accused and hanged as a result of the Pendle witch hunt. Her life and death are commemorated by a statue in the village of Roughlee in the Pendle district of Lancashire. Life Unlike many accused of witchcraft, Alice was a member of a wealthy family who owned land in Pendle.Gowing, L. (23 September 2004). Pendle witches Lancashire witches (act. 1612). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 17 February 2018, Selink/ref> She was accused of being present at a witch meeting on Good Friday in 1612 and of later causing the death of Henry Milton. Her principal accuser was a nine-year-old girl. Nutter protested her innocence although others pleaded guilty. Nutter's trial began at Lancaster Castle on 18 August where the accused were denied access to lawyers or the right to call witnesses. She was subsequently hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster on 20 August 1612. The others hanged were Anne Whittle ("Old Chattox"), An ...
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Middleton, Lancashire
Middleton is a village and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, between Heysham and Overton. It had a population of 705 in 2011. Middleton was the location of Middleton Tower Holiday Camp, which opened in 1939. The camp was owned by Pontin's from July 1955 until its closure in October 1994. By 2008, the holiday camp had been redeveloped as a gated community with bungalows and flats. Notable villagers *William Lionel Clause William Lionel Clause (7 May 1887 – 9 September 1946) was an English artist. Early life Born in Middleton, Lancashire, the son of William H. Clause and his wife Minna, Clause was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and at the Slade School ..., landscape artist (born at Middleton, 1887) See also * Listed buildings in Middleton, Lancashire References External links Geography of the City of Lancaster Villages in Lancashire Civil parishes in Lancashire {{Lancashire-geo-stub ...
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Downham, Lancashire
Downham is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is in the Ribble Valley district and at the United Kingdom 2001 census had a population of 156. The 2011 Census includes neighbouring Twiston giving a total for both parishes of 214. The village is on the north side of Pendle Hill off the A59 road about from Clitheroe. Much of the parish, including the village is part of the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It adjoins the Ribble Valley parishes of Rimington, Twiston, Worston, Chatburn and Sawley, and the Pendle parish of Barley-with-Wheatley Booth. History The manor was originally granted to the de Dinelay family in the fourteenth century by Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. It ceased to be a part of the Honour of Clitheroe in 1558 when it was purchased by the Assheton family. It still remains in Assheton ownership today but was reincorporated into the Honour of Clitheroe in 1945 when Ralph Assheton, later 1st Baron Clit ...
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Wakes Week
The Wakes Week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland. Originally a religious celebration or feast, the tradition of the Wakes Week developed into a secular holiday, particularly in North West England during the Industrial Revolution. In Scotland, each city has a "Trades Fortnight"; two weeks in the summer when tradesmen take their holidays. Although a strong tradition during the 19th and 20th centuries, the observance of the holiday has almost disappeared in recent times, due to the decline of the manufacturing industries in the United Kingdom and the standardisation of school holidays across England. History In 601 AD, Pope Gregory I wrote a letter to Mellitus (a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity) which read: When, therefore, Almighty God shall bring you to the most reverend man our brother bishop, St Augustine, tell him what I have, upon mature deliberation on the affair of t ...
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