Council leader writes to home secretary asking for general pardon for ‘witches’ convicted in 16th and 17th centuries Council leader writes to home secretary asking for general pardon for ‘witches’ convicted in 16th and 17th centuries On 30 July 1652, seven women were hanged on Penenden Heath in Maidstone, Kent . Witch trials and executions were far from unusual at the time, in the town or elsewhere, but rarely were so many convicted at once. The women – Anne Ashby, Mary Brown, Anne Martyn,