Lancashire Museums Service is, I hear, putting on a couple of exhibitions about the witches - one in spring at Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham which will move to Lancaster City Museum later in the year. Another is to examine witchcraft in popular culture and will be staged at the Judges' Lodgings (former home of Lancaster Castle gaoler Thomas Covell)), also in Lancaster. All well and good (I trust) - I really wouldn't know. When I asked about the planned exhibitions at an unsuccessful interview at Gawthorpe Hall last year, I was loftily informed that 'we have experts in Lancaster who are dealing with all that', which certainly put me in my place! Bite me!
All the plans I've seen so far seem a bit on the ephemeral side. I would personally have liked to see something a bit more permanent to mark the witches' 400th anniversary - a plaque at Lancaster Castle with a list of those executed (similar to that erected in Exeter in memory of the Devon witches, or a series of stone benches similar to those dedicated to the witches of Salem) perhaps, or maybe some sort of statue at Newchurch - or somewhere else of relevance to the witches' lives. I haven't seen any plans for a lasting tribute to those who died.
It is almost as if we, in contrast with the inhabitants of Salem and elsewhere, don't really give a monkey's about our witches, and don't feel they are worthy of a more lasting memorial Surely a competition could have been held to come up with good ideas. Perhaps I'm missing something here (I certainly hope so), so if you know of any plaques/statues in preparation, please let me know....
What do YOU think would be a fitting memorial to the Lancashire witches? And if you have heard of any interesting ideas, do share!
An update on 21st January - I have just found this link:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-5733340 which describes how a statue of Alice Nutter is being commissioned for Rough Lee village. Good! (But, of course, I only mean good as long as it isn't a hideous ultra-modern monstrosity!)
Jennie
Entrance to the witches' memorial at Salem, Mass.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissy575/3064029249/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissy575/3064029249/
All the plans I've seen so far seem a bit on the ephemeral side. I would personally have liked to see something a bit more permanent to mark the witches' 400th anniversary - a plaque at Lancaster Castle with a list of those executed (similar to that erected in Exeter in memory of the Devon witches, or a series of stone benches similar to those dedicated to the witches of Salem) perhaps, or maybe some sort of statue at Newchurch - or somewhere else of relevance to the witches' lives. I haven't seen any plans for a lasting tribute to those who died.
It is almost as if we, in contrast with the inhabitants of Salem and elsewhere, don't really give a monkey's about our witches, and don't feel they are worthy of a more lasting memorial Surely a competition could have been held to come up with good ideas. Perhaps I'm missing something here (I certainly hope so), so if you know of any plaques/statues in preparation, please let me know....
Plaque to the Bideford witches on the wall of Rougemont Castle, Exeter
............And I'm not at all sure that people humming along to a harp at Clitheroe Castle in any way captures the mood of the imprisoned witches. Screaming, or crying in terror, perhaps, but humming? Don't think so.What do YOU think would be a fitting memorial to the Lancashire witches? And if you have heard of any interesting ideas, do share!
An update on 21st January - I have just found this link:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-5733340 which describes how a statue of Alice Nutter is being commissioned for Rough Lee village. Good! (But, of course, I only mean good as long as it isn't a hideous ultra-modern monstrosity!)
Jennie
