Yorkshire Almanac Jennet Preston, the only Yorkshirewoman among the Pendle witches, is found guilty at York of the murder of Thomas Lister of Westby Hall, Gisburn (Ribble Valley)

27 July 1612: Jennet Preston, the only Yorkshirewoman among the Pendle witches, is found guilty at York of the murder of Thomas Lister of Westby Hall, Gisburn (Ribble Valley)

The ruins of Westby Hall, home of Thomas Lister, alleged victim of Jennet Preston (Griffier 1720ish).

Thomas Potts. 1845. Potts’s Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster. Ed. James Crossley. Manchester: The Chetham Society. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

The Euidence for the Kings Maiestie Against Iennet Preston, Prisoner at the Barre.

Hereupon were diuerse Examinations taken and read openly against her, to induce and satisfie the Gentlemen of the Iurie of Life and Death, to finde she was a Witch; and many other circumstances for the death of M. Lister. In the end Anne Robinson and others were both examined, who vpon their Oathes declared against her, That M. Lister lying in great extremitie, vpon his death bedde, cried out vnto them that stood about him; that Iennet Preston was in the house, looke where shee is, take hold of her: for Gods sake shut the doores, and take her, shee cannot escape away. Looke about for her, and lay hold on her, for shee is in the house: and so cryed very often in his great paines, to them that came to visit him during his sicknesse.

Anne Robinson, and Thomas Lister,

Being examined further, they both gaue this in euidence against her, That when Master Lister lay vpon his death-bedde, hee cryed out in great extremitie; Iennet Preston lyes heauie vpon me, Prestons wife lies heauie vpon me; helpe me, helpe me: and so departed, crying out against her.

These, with many other witnesses, were further examined, and deposed, That Iennet Preston, the Prisoner at the Barre, being brought to M. Lister after hee was dead, & layd out to be wound vp in his winding-sheet, the said Iennet Preston comming to touch the dead corpes, they bled fresh bloud presently,[Y3a] in the presence of all that were there present: Which hath euer beene held a great argument to induce a Iurie to hold him guiltie that shall be accused of Murther, and hath seldome, or neuer, fayled in the Tryall.

But these were not alone: for this wicked and bloud-thirstie Witch was no sooner deliuered at the Assises holden at Yorke in Lent last past, being indicted, arraigned, and by the fauor and mercie of the Iurie found not guiltie, for the murther of a Child by Witch-craft: but vpon the Friday following, beeing Good-Friday, shee rode in hast to the great meeting at Malking-Tower, and there prayed aide for the murther of M. Thomas Lister: as at large shall appeare, by the seuerall Examinations hereafter following; sent to these Assises from Master Nowel and other his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the Countie of Lancaster, to be giuen in euidence against her, vpon her Triall, viz.

The Examination and Euidence of Iames Device, of the Forrest of Pendle, in the Countie of Lancaster, Labourer, taken at the house of Iames Wilsey, of the Forrest of Pendle in the Countie of Lancaster, the seuen and twentieth day of Aprill, Anno Reg. Regis Iacobi Angliæ, &c. Decimo ac Scotiæ quadragesimo quinto. Before Roger Nowel and Nicholas Banester, Esquires, two of his Maiesties Iustices of the Peace within the Countie of Lancaster, viz.

THis Examinate saith, That vpon Good-Friday last about twelue of the clocke in the day-time, there dined in this Examinates said mothers house a number of persons, whereof three were men, with this Examinate, and the rest women: and that they met there for these three causes following (as this Examinates said mother told this Examinate): First was for the naming of the Spirit, which Alizon Deuice, now Prisoner at Lancaster, had, but did not name him, because shee was not there. The second cause was for the deliuery of his said Grand-mother, this Examinates said sister Alizon, the said Anne Chattox, and her daughter Redferne: Killing the Gaoler at Lancaster; and before the next Assizes to blow vp the Castle there; to that end the aforesaid Prisoners might by that meanes make an escape and get away. All which this Examinate then heard them conferre of. And the third cause was, for that there was a woman dwelling in Gilburne Parish, who came into this Examinates said Grand-mothers house, who there came, and craued assistance of the rest of them that were then there, for the killing of Master Lister of Westby: because, as she then said, he had borne malice vnto her, and had thought to haue put her away at the last Assizes at Yorke; but could not. And then this Examinat heard the said woman say, that her power was not strong enough to doe it her selfe, being now lesse then before time it had beene.

And he also further saith, that the said Prestons wife had a Spirit with her like unto a white Foale, with a blacke-spot in the forehead. And further, this Examinat saith, That since the said meeting, as aforesaid, this Examinate hath beene brought to the wife of one Preston in Gisburne Parish aforesaid, by Henry Hargreiues of Goldshey, to see whether shee was the woman that came amongst the said Witches, on the said last Good-Friday, to craue their aide and assistance for the killing of the said Master Lister: and hauing had full view of her; hee this Examinate confesseth, That shee was the selfe-same woman which came amongst the said Witches on the said last Good-Friday, for their aide for the killing of the said Master Lister; and that brought the Spirit with her, in the shape of a White Foale, as aforesaid.

And this Examinate further saith, That all the said Witches went out of the said house in their owne shapes and likenesses, and they all, by that they were forth of the doores, were gotten on horse-backe like vnto Foales, some of one colour, some of another, and Prestons wife was the last; and when she got on horse-backe, they all presently vanished out of this Examinats sight: and before their said parting away, they all appointed to meete at the said Prestons wifes house that day twelue-month; at which time the said Prestons wife promised to make them a great feast; and if they had occasion to meet in the meane time, then should warning bee giuen that they all should meete vpon Romles-Moore. And this Examinate further saith, That at the said feast at Malking-Tower, this Examinat heard them all giue their consents to put the said Master Thomas Lister of Westby to death: and after Master Lister should be made away by Witchcraft, then al the said Witches gaue their consents to ioyne altogether to hancke Master Leonard Lister,[Za] when he should come to dwell at the Sowgill, and so put him to death.

The Examination of Henrie Hargreives of Goldshey-booth, in the Forrest of Pendle, in the Countie of Lancaster Yeoman, taken the fifth day of May, Anno Reg. Regis Iacobi Angliæ, &c. Decimo, ac Scociæ quadragesimo quinto. Before Roger Nowel, Nicholas Bannester, and Robert Holden, Esquires; three of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace within the said Countie.

THis Examinat vpon his oath saith, That Anne Whittle, alias Chattox, confessed vnto him, that she knoweth one Prestons wife neere Gisburne, and that the said Prestons wife should haue beene at the said feast, vpon the said Good-Friday, and that shee was an ill woman, and had done Master Lister of Westby great hurt.

The Examination of Elizabeth Device, mother of Iames Device, taken before Roger Nowel and Nicholas Banester, Esquires, the day and yeare aforesaid, viz.

THe said Elizabeth Deuice vpon her Examination confesseth, That vpon Good-Friday last, there dined at this Examinats house, which she hath said are Witches, and doth verily thinke them to be Witches; and their names are those whom Iames Deuice hath formerly spoken of to be there.

She also confesseth in all things touching the killing of Master Lister of Westby, as the said Iames Deuice hath before confessed.

And the said Elizabeth Deuice also further saith, That at the said meeting at Malking-Tower, as aforesaid, the said Katherine Hewyt and Iohn Bulcock, with all the rest then there, gaue their consents, with the said Prestons wife, for the killing of the said Master Lister. And for the killing of the said Master Leonard Lister, she this Examinate saith in all things, as the said Iames Deuice hath before confessed in his Examination.

The Examination of Iennet Device, daughter of Elizabeth late wife of Iohn Device, of the Forrest of Pendle, in the Countie of Lancaster, about the age of nine yeares or thereabouts, taken the day and yeare aboue-said: Before Roger Nowel and Nicholas Banester, Esquires, two of his Maiesties Iustices of Peace in the Countie of Lancaster.

THe said Examinate vpon her Examination saith, that vpon Good-friday last there was about twenty persons, whereof only two were men, to this Examinats remembrance, at her said Grand-mothers house, called Malking-Tower aforesaid, about twelue of the clocke: all which persons, this Examinates said mother told her were Witches, and that she knoweth the names of diuers of the said Witches.

AFter all these Examinations, Confessions, and Euidence, deliuered in open Court against her, His Lordship commanded the Iurie to obserue the particular circumstances;[Z2a] first, Master Lister in his great extremitie, to complaine hee saw her, and requested them that were by him to lay hold on her.

After he cried out shee lay heauie vpon him, euen at the time of his death.

But the Conclusion is of more consequence then all the rest, that Iennet Preston being brought to the dead corps, they bled freshly. And after her deliuerance in Lent, it is proued shee rode vpon a white Foale, and was present in the great assembly at Malkin Tower with the Witches, to intreat and pray for aide of them, to kill Master Lister, now liuing, for that he had prosequuted against her.

And against these people you may not expect such direct euidence, since all their workes are the workes of darkenesse, no witnesses are present to accuse them, therefore I pray God direct your consciences.

After the Gentlemen of the Iurie of Life and Death had
spent the most part of the day, in consideration of
the euidence against her, they returned into the
Court and deliuered vp their Verdict of
Life and Death.
⁂

The Verdict of Life and Death.

WHo found Iennet Preston guiltie of the fellonie and murder by Witch-craft of Thomas Lister, Esquire; conteyned in the Indictment against her, &c.

Afterwards, according to the course and order of the Lawes, his Lordship pronounced Iudgement against her to bee hanged for her offence. And so the Court arose.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Editor James Crossley has some good notes.

I’ve got an annotation here: double jeopardy.

Something to say? Get in touch

Comment

Editor James Crossley has some good notes.

I’ve got an annotation here: double jeopardy.

Something to say? Get in touch

8 February 1745: Pioneering but pennyless philologist Eugene Aram murders a wealthy Knaresborough wastrel

13 August 1821: The laments of the adulterous poisoner Ann Barber on the scaffold at York

29 August 1570: On arriving in Yorkshire, Archbishop Grindal declares war on bloody-minded folk-Catholicism

16 August 1842: Lancastrian plug-drawing rioters invade Skipton in an attempt to halt the mills

7 March 1687: Governor John Reresby recalls a perjurious witch trial at the York assizes, and the absurd tale of the old woman’s guards

14 April 1792: The ballad of Spence Broughton, hung this day at the York Tyburn for robbing the Sheffield and Rotherham mail

10 December 1769: Part of the northern ballad about Bill Brown, a Brightside (Sheffield) steelworker and hare-poacher killed by gamekeepers today near Rotherham

27 March 1634: In commercial Gothic urban legend, John Bartendale, a piper, is hung and buried at York, but awakes, is rescued and pardoned, and returns to the music business

5 August 1605: Debauched and ruined, Walter Calverley is crushed to death today at York for the murder of two sons at Calverley Hall (Bradford), but is revived by 1830s schoolboy ghost-raisers as the Rev. Samuel Redhead (age ca. 55)

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Comment

The first murder was on 23 April 1605. The execution date was 5 August (Lake 1975). It sounds like the author attended the village school at Calverley, like the civil engineer Thomas Rhodes, also from Apperley Bridge, rather than Woodhouse Grove School, also about a mile from Apperley Bridge. I take the apparition to have been the perhaps prematurely aged Rev. Samuel Redhead, born 1778, appointed to Calverley in 1822, renovated its church in 1844, died 1845 (Favell 1846).

Here’s part of A Yorkshire Tragedy, a dramatisation by Thomas Middleton previously attributed to Shakespeare:

HUSBAND.
Oh thou confused man! thy pleasant sins have undone thee, thy damnation has beggerd thee! That heaven should say we must not sin, and yet made women! gives our senses way to find pleasure, which being found confounds us. Why should we know those things so much misuse us?—oh, would virtue had been forbidden! we should then have proved all virtuous, for tis our blood to love that were forbidden. Had not drunkenness been forbidden, what man would have been fool to a beast, and Zany to a swine, to show tricks in the mire? what is there in three dice to make a man draw thrice three thousand acres into the compass of a round little table, and with the gentleman’s palsy in the hand shake out his posterity thieves or beggars? Tis done! I ha dont, yfaith: terrible, horrible misery.— How well was I left! very well, very well. My lands shewed like a full moon about me, but now the moon’s ith last quarter, waning, waning: And I am mad to think that moon was mine; Mine and my fathers, and my forefathers—generations, generations: down goes the house of us, down, down it sinks. Now is the name a beggar, begs in me! that name, which hundreds of years has made this shire famous, in me, and my posterity, runs out. In my seed five are made miserable besides my self: my riot is now my brother’s jailer, my wife’s sighing, my three boys’ penury, and mine own confusion.
[Tears his hair.]
Why sit my hairs upon my cursed head?
Will not this poison scatter them? oh my brother’s
In execution among devils that
Stretch him and make him give. And I in want,
Not able for to live, nor to redeem him.
Divines and dying men may talk of hell,
But in my heart her several torments dwell.
Slavery and misery! Who in this case
Would not take up money upon his soul,
Pawn his salvation, live at interest?
I, that did ever in abundance dwell,
For me to want, exceeds the throws of hell.
[Enter his little son with a top and a scourge.]
SON. What ails you father? are you not well? I cannot scourge my top as long as you stand so: you take up all the room with your wide legs. Puh, you cannot make me afeared with this; I fear no vizards, nor bugbears.
[Husband takes up the child by the skirts of his long coat in one hand and draws his dagger with the other.]
HUSBAND.
Up, sir, for here thou hast no inheritance left.
SON.
Oh, what will you do, father? I am your white boy.
HUSBAND.
Thou shalt be my red boy: take that.
[Strikes him.]
SON.
Oh, you hurt me, father.
HUSBAND.
My eldest beggar! thou shalt not live to ask an usurer bread, to cry at a great man’s gate, or follow, good your honour, by a couch; no, nor your brother; tis charity to brain you.
SON.
How shall I learn now my head’s broke?
HUSBAND.
Bleed, bleed rather than beg, beg!
[Stabs him.]
Be not thy name’s disgrace:
Spurn thou thy fortunes first if they be base:
Come view thy second brother.—Fates,
My children’s blood
Shall spin into your faces, you shall see
How confidently we scorn beggary!
[Exit with his son.]
(Middleton 1608)