Not Bloody Gawain

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.