AN EAST Lancashire MP has lost his fight to have the Pendle Witch dungeons re-opened.

He was told that if the dungeons where the witches were imprisoned almost 400 years ago were opened to the public then prisoners could escape.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice had sought to get the cells where they were held in 1612 opened to tourists.

But prisons minister Joyce Quin told him it was impossible without undermining the security of Lancaster Prison where they were held 30 feet below ground level.

The jail, at Lancaster Castle, which is owned by the Queen as Duke of Lancaster and sub-let to the Home Office by the county council, is a major historic building.

Last week Mr Prentice launched a campaign to get the dungeons, where 10 women and one of their sons were held before being hanged in front of huge crowds, turned into a visitor attraction.

Mrs Quin said: "There are no plans to allow members of the public to visit these particular dungeons, which are within the perimeter of Lancaster Prison.

"It would not be possible to open the dungeons to visitors without undermining the security of the prison. But members of the public may visit other dungeon cells in the castle which are outside the prison perimeter."

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