The Pendle Witch Cottage Mystery: Was Malkin Tower Finally Found?
High on the slopes of Pendle Hill lies one of the most intriguing mysteries left behind by England's infamous witch trials.
More than four centuries ago, a small house known as Malkin Tower became associated with a gathering that would help turn the Pendle witch trials into one of the most notorious episodes in English history.
The house was reportedly connected with Elizabeth Southerns, better known as Old Demdike, and members of her family.
But there is a problem.
Nobody knows exactly where Malkin Tower stood.
The original building has disappeared, and although several possible locations have been suggested, its exact location remains uncertain.
The House at the Centre of the Mystery
Malkin Tower was probably not the grand stone building its name might suggest.
Historical accounts indicate that it was likely a modest rural dwelling somewhere within the Forest of Pendle.
That humble building became important in 1612 when members of the Device family and their associates gathered there while several people accused of witchcraft were being held prisoner.
Authorities interpreted the gathering as evidence of a witches' meeting.
What may have been a desperate family gathering soon became part of the evidence used against those accused during the Pendle witch trials.
Old Demdike and the Device Family
At the heart of the story was Elizabeth Southerns, known locally as Old Demdike.
She was an elderly woman who had developed a reputation in the community for practising folk magic and healing.
Her granddaughter, Alizon Device, became one of the first people caught up in the chain of accusations that swept through Pendle in 1612.
The accusations soon expanded beyond one family.
Members of the rival Chattox family were also accused, while neighbours and other local people were eventually drawn into the proceedings.
The Gathering at Malkin Tower
In April 1612, a group of relatives and neighbours gathered at Malkin Tower.
The purpose of the meeting remains open to interpretation.
According to the accusations made at the time, the gathering was connected to witchcraft and involved plans to help those who had been imprisoned.
The authorities treated it as something far more sinister.
The meeting became one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case, and several people who attended were subsequently arrested.
Then the Tower Disappeared
After the trials, Malkin Tower effectively vanished from the historical record.
There is no surviving building that can be confidently identified as the original house.
Over the centuries, historians, local researchers and archaeologists have searched the Pendle landscape for clues.
Several locations have been proposed.
And one discovery in particular would reignite the mystery.
The Pendle Witch Trials
The events surrounding Malkin Tower cannot be separated from the wider panic that swept through Pendle in 1612.
The accusations began with disputes between local families and quickly developed into something much larger.
People were accused of causing illness, death and misfortune through supernatural means.
As the accusations spread, members of several families found themselves caught up in the investigation.
The authorities began treating the alleged witchcraft as a serious criminal matter.
A Meeting That Changed Everything
The gathering at Malkin Tower became particularly important because of what happened afterwards.
According to the accusations, those present had gathered to discuss ways of helping people who had been imprisoned.
Food was reportedly brought to the meeting, and the gathering was later portrayed as evidence of a secret conspiracy.
The authorities interpreted the meeting through the lens of their existing suspicions.
What may have been a family gathering was transformed into evidence of organised witchcraft.
The Arrests
Several people connected with the gathering were arrested.
Among those eventually tried were members of the Device family and other people from the surrounding area.
The accusations were serious.
Those accused were alleged to have caused deaths and illnesses through witchcraft, and some were accused of having supernatural relationships with other members of the community.
The resulting trials would eventually lead to executions.
The Lost Location
After the trials, there was no reason for Malkin Tower to remain a famous landmark.
The building disappeared, and generations passed without anyone being certain where it had stood.
The surrounding landscape changed, old buildings vanished and memories of the original location became increasingly uncertain.
Over time, the name Malkin Tower became as much a part of local legend as it was a piece of documented history.
The Search Begins Again
Modern researchers became fascinated by the possibility of locating the lost building.
Descriptions from historical records provided clues, but they were not precise enough to settle the question.
The challenge was made harder by the fact that the landscape around Pendle had changed considerably since 1612.
Researchers therefore began looking for physical evidence that might connect a particular location with the story.
Then, in the early twenty-first century, an intriguing discovery was made near Lower Black Moss.
A Mysterious Old Cottage
In 2011, the remains of a previously little-known cottage attracted renewed attention.
The building appeared to have considerable age, and its location generated speculation about whether it could have been connected to the infamous Malkin Tower.
The discovery was exciting because archaeologists and local historians were suddenly able to examine an actual structure rather than relying entirely on written descriptions.
But there was another discovery inside the building that would make the story even stranger.
The Mysterious Cottage at Lower Black Moss
The discovery near Lower Black Moss created fresh excitement among people searching for the lost Malkin Tower.
The cottage appeared to be an old structure that had been altered and repaired over the centuries.
Its location was particularly interesting because it stood within the wider landscape associated with the Pendle witch trials.
Could this really have been the house where the accused witches gathered in 1612?
The possibility was fascinating, but proving it was another matter.
The Mummified Cat
Inside the old building, investigators discovered something even more unusual.
A mummified cat had been concealed within the structure.
Such discoveries are not completely unknown in historic British buildings.
Dead cats were sometimes deliberately hidden inside houses, possibly as protective charms intended to ward off evil or bring good fortune.
The discovery therefore provided an intriguing connection with the world of folk belief that surrounded the Pendle witchcraft story.
But it did not prove that the building had been Malkin Tower.
A Link to Witchcraft?
The presence of a hidden cat naturally encouraged speculation.
Why had someone deliberately placed it inside the building?
Was it connected to beliefs about witchcraft or supernatural protection?
Or was it simply an example of a folk tradition that existed independently of the Pendle witches?
There is no way to know exactly why the cat was hidden there.
Nevertheless, its discovery added another layer of mystery to an already fascinating location.
Could This Be Malkin Tower?
The idea that the cottage might be Malkin Tower remains controversial.
The historical descriptions of the original building are limited, making it difficult to compare the surviving structure with the house described in records from 1612.
The location also has to be considered carefully.
A building being close to the landscape associated with the trials does not automatically make it the missing tower.
There is currently no definitive archaeological evidence identifying the cottage as Malkin Tower.
The Problem With the Name
Another difficulty is the word tower itself.
The name may give the impression of a substantial fortified building, but historical names were not always used in the way we would interpret them today.
Malkin Tower could have been a relatively ordinary dwelling.
Over centuries of retelling, the name may also have become more dramatic than the original structure actually was.
This makes the search even more difficult.
A Mystery Without a Final Answer
The cottage at Lower Black Moss provides an intriguing possibility, but possibility is not proof.
The building's age, location and unusual discoveries make it worthy of investigation, yet none of those details can conclusively identify it as the lost home of the Pendle witches.
For now, Malkin Tower remains exactly what its name has become synonymous with: a lost place hidden somewhere within one of Britain's most famous witchcraft landscapes.
What Really Happened to Malkin Tower?
The mystery of Malkin Tower has survived for more than four centuries because nobody has been able to establish exactly where the building once stood.
The historical records confirm that the name was associated with the Pendle witch trials, but they provide only limited information about the location and appearance of the house.
That has left modern researchers with a fascinating puzzle.
Some believe the remains of the cottage near Lower Black Moss could hold the answer.
Others remain unconvinced and argue that the evidence is not strong enough to connect the building with the events of 1612.
The Cottage and the Witchcraft Mystery
The discovery of the old cottage and its hidden mummified cat certainly adds to the atmosphere surrounding the site.
It demonstrates that people living in historic rural homes sometimes used unusual protective customs involving animals and hidden objects.
But there is an important distinction between finding evidence of folk beliefs and proving a connection to the Pendle witches.
At present, the two cannot be treated as the same thing.
Why Malkin Tower Still Fascinates Us
The mystery is about more than simply finding an old building.
Malkin Tower was supposedly the setting for a gathering that became part of one of England's most infamous witchcraft cases.
The people associated with the house were ordinary villagers living in a landscape where poverty, illness, superstition and suspicion could have devastating consequences.
Their story was eventually transformed into one of Britain's most enduring witchcraft legends.
A Lost Place in a Famous Landscape
Today, visitors to Pendle Hill can explore the same broad landscape where the events of 1612 unfolded.
The hills, farms and remote valleys help explain why stories of witches and supernatural activity became so strongly connected with the area.
Yet the exact location of Malkin Tower remains hidden.
Perhaps its foundations have disappeared beneath later buildings.
Perhaps the surviving cottage really is connected to the story.
Or perhaps the true location lies somewhere else entirely.
The Mystery Remains
There is no definitive archaeological evidence proving that the cottage discovered near Lower Black Moss was Malkin Tower.
There is also no certainty about exactly what the original building looked like or where it stood.
That uncertainty is what keeps the mystery alive.
More than 400 years after the Pendle witch trials, the search for the lost Malkin Tower continues to blur the boundary between documented history and local legend.
Somewhere beneath the landscape of Pendle may lie the remains of the house where one of England's most infamous witchcraft stories unfolded.
Until those remains are conclusively identified, Malkin Tower remains a lost piece of Pendle's dark history.
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