Gathering clouds..

... over Pendle Hill from Hapton in Lancashire.

Just over 400 years ago, in the summer of 1612, twelve people from the area around Pendle Hill were accused of witchcraft. Some of them appear to have genuinely believed in their own guilt, and probably did indeed consider themselves to be witches, in the sense of being village healers who practised magic, probably in return for payment.

The twelve were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft, and ten of the twelve were tried at Lancaster Assizes in August 1612 and one a York the previous month; a twelfth died in prison awaiting trial. Of the 9 women and 2 men who went to trial, only one was found not guilty. The rest were found guilty and executed by hanging a couple of days later.