"Witch trials and executions were far from unusual at the time, in the town or elsewhere, but rarely were so many convicted at once. The women Anne Ashby, Mary Brown, Anne Martyn, Mildred Wright, Susan Pickenden, Anne Wilson and Mary Reade had been accused by their neighbours of terrible acts including bewitching to death a 10-day-old baby, the child's mother, and another three-year-old."
"The leader of Maidstone borough council has written to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, calling for new laws to pardon the Penenden Heath women and all others historically convicted of witchcraft. These historic acts of murder cannot be undone, wrote Stuart Jeffrey, the leader of the Lib Dem-Green co-led council, but those women could be granted a general pardon. The Home Office is yet to respond."
"For some people, it's completely pointless and achieves nothing, acknowledges Claire Fehilly, a Green councillor who has been central to the local campaign. She disagrees: Yes, those women will never know though maybe they'll rest a little bit more peacefully. But I think it sends a strong message that injustice will be called out and fought against. At the end of the day, they weren't witches, they were just women."
On 30 July 1652 seven women were hanged on Penenden Heath in Maidstone, Kent, after neighbours accused them of bewitching to death infants and a child's mother and of consorting with the devil. The accused were Anne Ashby, Mary Brown, Anne Martyn, Mildred Wright, Susan Pickenden, Anne Wilson and Mary Reade. Such witch trials and executions were common at the time but rarely resulted in so many simultaneous convictions. Over centuries their names faded from popular memory. Maidstone borough council leader Stuart Jeffrey has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood seeking new laws to grant a general pardon to these women and others historically convicted of witchcraft.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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