{{Short description|Margaret Pearson convicted of witchcraft}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Margaret Pearson''', also known as the '''Padiham witch''' because she lived in the town of [[Padiham]] in Lancashire, England, was among those tried with the [[Pendle witches]] in the Lancashire witch trials of 1612. This, her third trial for witchcraft, took place on 19 August at [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] [[Assizes]]{{sfnp|Clayton|2007|p=168|ps=none}} in front of Sir [[James Altham]] and Sir Edward Bromley.
One of the Pendle witches, Anne Whittle, also known as Chattox, had accused Pearson of "riding a mare ... to death",{{sfnp|Clayton|2007|p=171|ps=none}} so she was charged with killing a horse.{{sfnp|Hasted|1993|p=2|ps=none}} The only other evidence submitted against her came from a fellow resident of Padiham, Jennet Booth, who said that on a visit to Pearson's husband while Margaret was in prison a toad had jumped out of a pile of firewood.{{sfnp|Clayton|2007|p=171|ps=none}} Found guilty of non-capital witchcraft Pearson escaped execution, and was instead sentenced to be [[pillory|pilloried]] in Lancaster, [[Clitheroe]], [[Whalley, Lancashire|Whalley]] and Padiham on four market days, followed by a year in prison.{{sfnp|Sharpe|2002|p=3|ps=none}}{{efn|Pillorying and imprisonment was the usual punishment for those found guilty of witchcraft but who had not killed anyone.{{sfnp|Gibson|2002|p=53|ps=none}}}}__NOTOC__
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===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *{{citation |last=Clayton |first=John A. |title=The Lancashire Witch Conspiracy |year=2007 |publisher=Barrowford Press |isbn=978-0-9553-8212-3}} *{{citation |last=Gibson |first=Marion |contribution=Thomas Potts's Dusty Memory: Reconstructing Justice in ''The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches'' |editor-last=Poole |editor-first=Robert |title=The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7190-6204-9 |pages=42–57}} *{{citation |last=Hasted |first=Rachel A. C. |title=The Pendle Witch Trial 1612 |publisher=Lancashire County Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-871236-23-1}} *{{citation |last=Sharpe |first=James |contribution=Introduction: The Lancaster witches in historical context |editor-last=Poole |editor-first=Robert |title=The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7190-6204-9 |pages=1–18}} {{refend}}
[[Category:1612 in law]] [[Category:1612 in England]] [[Category:History of Burnley Borough]] [[Category:Lancashire folklore]] [[Category:People convicted of witchcraft]] [[Category:People from Padiham]] [[Category:Witch trials in England]]