Witch! Unpacking Hatred and Promoting Tolerance, Inclusion and Sustainability in Our Modern World

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Broadside Creatives is proud to have secured funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver an ambitious new heritage programme exploring the history of the North East Witch Trials. Thanks to National Lottery players, this project will shine a light on one of the region’s most overlooked and misunderstood chapters. Focusing on Newcastle upon Tyne and the wider North East, Witch! will examine the social, cultural and political conditions that led to accusations and executions, events which remain far less known than the Pendle witch trials despite their scale and significance.

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The project begins with in-depth heritage research and site visits to locations including Newcastle Castle, Tyne & Wear Archives and Discovery Museum, where participants will explore court records, archival documents and historical accounts alongside expert historians. This research phase builds a strong historical foundation, helping participants understand how fear, prejudice and misinformation escalated into persecution.

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The second phase brings history into hands-on creative practice. Through workshops in pottery, textiles, sewing, bookbinding and traditional herbal methods, participants will explore everyday life in the seventeenth century while connecting heritage to contemporary themes of sustainability, repair and reuse. In the final phase, research and creativity come together through community-led re-enactments, a docudrama and a public exhibition, ensuring that these stories are shared widely and thoughtfully.

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Open to people across the North East, Witch! is an inclusive and accessible programme that uses heritage as a catalyst for dialogue and reflection. By examining how hatred was constructed in the past, the project invites communities to consider how we promote tolerance, inclusion and sustainability in our modern world.