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The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest

William Harrison Ainsworth · Public domain text

231,002 words · about 16 h 11 min to read

Period artwork: Ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, 1748

Text only · 12 illustrations omitted. Illustrated source.

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About this edition

The text of The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest comes from Project Gutenberg e-text #15493. It is in English and public domain in the United States. Project Gutenberg credits John Gilbert as illustrator. Project Gutenberg’s header and license text are removed, and RedLectern sets the text out for reading on screen; no words of the book are rewritten or summarized. More formats (EPUB, Kindle) · How RedLectern is built

This text-only edition leaves out 12 illustrations. See the illustrated edition at Project Gutenberg.

This book is long enough to be split into 7 parts, so each one loads quickly on its own.

Contents (55)
  1. Opening under 1 min
  2. Introduction about 1 min
  3. Introduction under 1 min
  4. I. THE BEACON ON PENDLE HILL about 24 min
  5. II. THE ERUPTION about 9 min
  6. III. WHALLEY ABBEY about 18 min
  7. IV. THE MALEDICTION about 10 min
  8. V. THE MIDNIGHT MASS about 10 min
  9. VI. TETER ET FORTIS CARCER about 11 min
  10. VII. THE ABBEY MILL about 18 min
  11. VIII. THE EXECUTIONER about 8 min
  12. IX. WISWALL HALL about 6 min
  13. X. THE HOLEHOUSES about 6 min
  14. I. THE MAY QUEEN about 19 min
  15. II. THE BLACK CAT AND THE WHITE DOVE about 10 min
  16. III. THE ASSHETONS about 28 min
  17. IV. ALICE NUTTER about 21 min
  18. V. MOTHER CHATTOX about 33 min
  19. VI. THE ORDEAL BY SWIMMING about 19 min
  20. VII. THE RUINED CONVENTUAL CHURCH about 40 min
  21. VIII. THE REVELATION about 18 min
  22. IX. THE TWO PORTRAITS IN THE BANQUETING-HALL about 1 h 2 min
  23. X. THE NOCTURNAL MEETING about 32 min
  24. I. FLINT about 21 min
  25. II. READ HALL about 12 min
  26. III. THE BOGGART'S GLEN about 13 min
  27. IV. THE REEVE OF THE FOREST about 14 min
  28. V. BESS'S O' TH' BOOTH about 21 min
  29. VI. THE TEMPTATION about 20 min
  30. VII. THE PERAMBULATION OF THE BOUNDARIES about 32 min
  31. VIII. ROUGH LEE about 18 min
  32. IX. HOW ROUGH LEE WAS DEFENDED BY NICHOLAS about 18 min
  33. X. ROGER NOWELL AND HIS DOUBLE about 12 min
  34. XI. MOTHER DEMDIKE about 19 min
  35. XII. THE MYSTERIES OF MALKIN TOWER about 16 min
  36. XIII. THE TWO FAMILIARS about 30 min
  37. XIV. HOW ROUGH LEE WAS AGAIN BESIEGED about 17 min
  38. XV. THE PHANTOM MONK about 10 min
  39. XVI. ONE O'CLOCK! about 19 min
  40. XVII. HOW THE BEACON FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED about 16 min
  41. I. DOWNHAM MANOR-HOUSE about 45 min
  42. II. THE PENITENT'S RETREAT about 8 min
  43. III. MIDDLETON HALL about 19 min
  44. IV. THE GORGE OF CLIVIGER about 17 min
  45. V. THE END OF MALKIN TOWER about 21 min
  46. VI. HOGHTON TOWER about 38 min
  47. VII. THE ROYAL DECLARATION CONCERNING LAWFUL SPORTS ON THE SUNDAY about 19 min
  48. VIII. HOW KING JAMES HUNTED THE HART AND THE WILD-BOAR IN HOGHTON PARK about 25 min
  49. IX. THE BANQUET about 17 min
  50. X. EVENING ENTERTAINMENTS about 17 min
  51. XI. FATALITY about 8 min
  52. XII. THE LAST HOUR about 9 min
  53. XIII. THE MASQUE OF DEATH about 7 min
  54. XIV. "ONE GRAVE." about 3 min
  55. XV. LANCASTER CASTLE about 6 min

The opening of I. THE BEACON ON PENDLE HILL

There were eight watchers by the beacon on Pendle Hill in Lancashire. Two were stationed on either side of the north-eastern extremity of the mountain. One looked over the castled heights of Clithero; the woody eminences of Bowland; the bleak ridges of Thornley; the broad moors of Bleasdale; the Trough of Bolland, and Wolf Crag; and even brought within his ken the black fells overhanging Lancaster. The other tracked the stream called Pendle Water, almost from its source amid the neighbouring hills, and followed its windings through the leafless forest, until it united its waters to those of the Calder, and swept on in swifter and clearer current, to wash the base of Whalley Abbey. But the watcher's survey did not stop here. Noting the sharp spire of Burnley Church, relieved against the rounded masses of timber constituting Townley Park; as well as the entrance of the gloomy mountain gorge, known as the Grange of Cliviger; his far-reaching gaze passed over Todmorden, and settled upon the distant summits of Blackstone Edge.

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