Council leader writes to home secretary asking for general pardon for ‘witches’ convicted in 16th and 17th centuries
On 30 July 1652, seven women were hanged on Penenden Heath in Maidstone, Kent. 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. Several were claimed to have “carnally known” the devil in exchange for their monstrous powers.
In the centuries since, the names of the seven women, like those of the many hundreds of others executed for the same crime in England and Scotland, have slipped from popular memory. Now, however, the town in which they were sentenced wants to right a 373-year-old wrong.
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.
