The leader of Maidstone Borough Council has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, urging the government to grant a general pardon to all women historically convicted of witchcraft in England. The move follows a campaign to clear the names of seven women hanged on Penenden Heath in Maidstone on 30 July 1652.
The women—Anne Ashby, Mary Brown, Anne Martyn, Mildred Wright, Susan Pickenden, Anne Wilson and Mary Reade—were accused by neighbours of bewitching a 10-day-old baby, the child's mother, and a three-year-old. Several were also alleged to have had carnal knowledge of the devil. Witch trials were common in the 16th and 17th centuries, but rarely were so many executed at once.
Stuart Jeffrey, leader of the Liberal Democrat-Green co-led council, described the executions as “historic acts of murder” that cannot be undone but said a general pardon would be a symbolic step. The Home Office has yet to respond. Councillor Claire Kehily, who has led the local campaign, argued that a pardon sends a strong message that injustice will be called out, adding: “At the end of the day, they weren’t witches, they were just women.”
Professor Marion Gibson of the University of Exeter, an expert on historical witchcraft beliefs, noted that similar executions occurred across Britain, often driven by church teachings and community suspicions. A petition to Westminster last year garnered 13,000 signatures, but the previous Conservative government said it had no plans to legislate. In Scotland, campaigners secured a formal apology from then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2022, though a member's bill to pardon the convicted stalled for technical reasons.
The campaign group Witches of Scotland remains hopeful that another MSP will take up the cause. Co-founder Claire Mitchell KC said: “We need to look at what happened at that time when times got tough. What happened was the church and the state picked a scapegoat.”
