The Chained Witches
These are the famous Pendle Witches or Lancashire Witches - the last ‘witches’ to be hanged in England, in 1612.
The sculpture, based on a 17th century woodcut, shows the nine women being marched in chains from Pendle on the way to Lancaster. The sculpture is positioned so that the women are pointing towards Lancaster.
I wanted to convey that these were not of course witches but just nine misunderstood women. Figure sculptures are often considerably larger than life but in this case I want you to feel that they are vulnerable ordinary women, so the piece is life-size. The design is kept almost crude in order to mimic the woodcut style. They half disappear against the trees behind them, giving a ghost like quality, but they also stand out clear against Pendle Hill when seen from the other side.
The Pendle Witches have passed into folklore and it’s easy to see them now as merely something nice for the tourists but it is important to realise that they have significance for today. They were nine ordinary women, in some cases elderly, some with various mental issues, whom society and the authorities chose to persecute and then execute. They were treated abominably in the most horrible of ways by the government of that time. You don’t have to look very far to see several clear parallels to the present and the recent past.
These are the famous Pendle Witches or Lancashire Witches - the last ‘witches’ to be hanged in England, in 1612.
The sculpture, based on a 17th century woodcut, shows the nine women being marched in chains from Pendle on the way to Lancaster. The sculpture is positioned so that the women are pointing towards Lancaster.
I wanted to convey that these were not of course witches but just nine misunderstood women. Figure sculptures are often considerably larger than life but in this case I want you to feel that they are vulnerable ordinary women, so the piece is life-size. The design is kept almost crude in order to mimic the woodcut style. They half disappear against the trees behind them, giving a ghost like quality, but they also stand out clear against Pendle Hill when seen from the other side.
The Pendle Witches have passed into folklore and it’s easy to see them now as merely something nice for the tourists but it is important to realise that they have significance for today. They were nine ordinary women, in some cases elderly, some with various mental issues, whom society and the authorities chose to persecute and then execute. They were treated abominably in the most horrible of ways by the government of that time. You don’t have to look very far to see several clear parallels to the present and the recent past.
