Inside the U.K. movement to pardon women executed for witchcraft centuries ago

Key points

• Maidstone councilors are lobbying the UK government and planning to petition King Charles III to pardon convicted witches.
• Records show more than 20 women convicted of witchcraft were hanged in Maidstone.
• Around 5,000 women were executed for witchcraft across England and Scotland, but none in the UK has been exonerated.

In Maidstone, a town in southern England, local councilors are campaigning for an official pardon for women convicted of witchcraft centuries ago. Records show that more than 20 women convicted of witchcraft were hanged in Maidstone, where witch hunts peaked in England in the 1600s.

Across England and Scotland, around 5,000 women convicted of witchcraft were executed, some by hanging and some by burning. Claire Kehily, a member of Maidstone Borough Council, and her fellow councilors are lobbying the UK government and planning to petition King Charles III for a pardon for all of Maidstone's convicted witches.

Reasons for the campaign

Kehily said the convictions were a miscarriage of justice because the women could not have been guilty of the crimes they were accused of and had no way of being found innocent in many cases. She said people are still scapegoated today.

Samantha Harris, collections manager at Maidstone Museum, showed CBS News the official record of a witch trial in the town in 1652. She said natural disasters or illnesses were often blamed on these women, who were frequently vulnerable.

It matters because it was a miscarriage of justice

— Claire Kehily

A personal connection

Harris said the issue is personal for her. She noted that being single and independent would have been seen as threatening at the time, and said she probably would have been targeted as a witch.

She added that there is a lot to learn from history and warned that without learning from the past, things could recur in the future.