Witchcraft
The Samlesbury Witches
A girl coached to lie.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Ribble valley parish of Samlesbury
- Legend from
- Samlesbury
- Tone
- Dark
The witness who recanted.
In August 1612 three Samlesbury women, Jane Southworth and Jennet and Ellen Bierley, were tried at Lancaster as witches. The chief witness, 14-year-old Grace Sowerbutts, told of a grandmother turning into a dog and of night meetings at Red Bank. In court she admitted a Jesuit priest, Christopher Southworth, had coached her, and all three were acquitted.