GC3AY6X Witch 400 – Alice Nutter, Crowtrees Farm, Roughlee (Traditional Cache) in North West England, United Kingdom created by belbincolne

This cache has been archived.

belbincolne: Probably gone and its had a good run so bye bye time!

GC3AY6X ▼

A cache by belbincolne Message this owner

Hidden : 1/15/2012

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Witch 400 – Alice Nutter – Crowtrees Farm, Roughlee

2012 is the 400th anniversary of the execution of the Pendle Witches so I thought it appropriate to place a series of caches as close as possible to the places with which they are associated. You would need to be a very hard walker (and driver) to do them all in one trip! Many can be done as near drive-bys but you will need to study the footpaths on the South Pennines map OL21 very carefully.

The full facts are related over thousands of pages in a dozen books so you’ll appreciate that what appears here is incredibly abbreviated. Possibly witches were basically the herbal practioners, midwives and abortionists of their day who found it convenient to cast spells and claim results to enhance their reputation. We know little about most witches but the Pendle ones have become particularly famous because the clerk to the court wrote a book factually setting out the details of the case. A tiny bit of potted history is put in for each cache. On occasion it is not entirely reverent I’m afraid!

The witches (and their victims) all seem to have lived on farms most of which remain although in nothing like the form they were in 1612. Mostly they have changed out of all recognition and none have been kept as a tourist haven such as, say, the Bronte Parsonage. What little I know is recorded here.

By today’s standards the trial was a farce. Uncorroborated evidence from a child of 9 and a boy of weak intellect was accepted but the witches were their own worst enemy condemning themselves and the others with abandon so it is hardly surprising that they were found guilty in the climate of that particular time in history. For more details I can recommend the website (visit link)

Alice was not a witch but a widowed gentlewoman who probably took pity on them and her silence at the trial may have been because she attended Catholic mass which would have been enough to condemn her anyway. This was possibly the reason for being included in the trial for, apart from a claim that she was at the Malkin Tower meeting, nothing seems to have been suggested to connect her to witchcraft in any way.

Popularly she lived not far away at the still rather impressive Roughlee Old Hall but in fact she lived at Crowtrees Farm which is the farm right by the parking on the road to Barley. You will probably walk past it on your way to the cache.

PLEASE REPLACE VERY CAREFULLY or it will be visible to walkers on the footpath.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Irel napvrag cbfg

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)