Malkin Tower

rolling unwooded landscape
Lower Black Moss Reservoir (on the left), one of the suggested sites for the location of Malkin Tower

Malkin Tower (or the Malking Tower or Mocking Tower) was the home of Elizabeth Southerns, also known as Demdike, and her granddaughter Alizon Device, two of the chief protagonists in the Lancashire witch trials of 1612.

Perhaps the best-known alleged witches' coven in English legal history took place in Malkin Tower on 10 April 1612.[a] Eight of those attending were subsequently arrested and tried for causing harm by witchcraft, seven of whom were found guilty and executed. The house may have been demolished shortly after the trials. The only firm evidence for its location comes from the official account by the clerk of the court, Thomas Potts, who places it somewhere in the Forest of Pendle. Archaeological excavations in the area have failed to discover any confirmed remains of the building.

Several explanations have been suggested for the origins of the word Malkin. Despite its name, Malkin Tower is likely to have been a simple cottage.
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