Magic School: Bewitched - 17th Century Witch Trials

If you live in Kent, there are two opportunities to study the history of witch trials in the 17th century. A course called Bewitched: 17th Century Witch Trials is being run both in Tonbridge and Maidstone this October. The Tonbridge classes are on Thursday mornings for four weeks and the Maidstone classes are on Friday afternoons for three weeks.

Here is the description of the Tonbridge syllabus from the Kent Adult Education website:

Bewitched: 17th Century Witch Trials
This course will examine the witch trial frenzy of the 1600s – in both Britain and the US – with particular focus on the celebrated cases of Pendle Hill in Lancashire and Salem, Massachusetts. We will examine the circumstances that gave rise to the arrests and look at the witness statements and defence evidence offered during the trials. We will also consider the general perception of witchcraft in Britain and the US during the early modern period.

By the end of this course you should be able to:
• Place the C17th witch trials in the wider context of British domestic and colonial history
• Name a number of the prominent persons involved in the witch prosecutions
• Describe a number of cases and/or their outcomes

Here are the details for the two locations:

Venue: St Faiths Adult Education Centre, Maidstone
Price: £42.00
Starts: 06/10/2017; Ends: 20/10/2017
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Tutor: Naomi Louise Dickins
Website: https://www.kentadulteducation.co.uk/products/pid_34656/History—Bewitched—British-and-American-Witch-Trials-of-the-17th-Century.aspx

Venue: Tonbridge Adult Education Centre
Price: £56.00
Starts: 12/10/2017; Ends: 16/11/2017
Time: 10am – 12pm
Tutor: Naomi Louise Dickins
Website: https://www.kentadulteducation.co.uk/products/pid_34633/History—Bewitched—17th-Century-Witch-Trials.aspx

The picture at the top shows a reconstruction of the execution of the Pendle witches for the Lancashire Witches weekend at Lancaster Castle this August.

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