THE sounds of 17th Century Lancashire at the time of the infamous Pendle Witches have been captured on a "time travel" tape launched to boost tourism in the area.

Visitors and local people will be able to travel back almost 400 years thanks to the audio guide to the Pendle Witches tourism trail, launched yesterday during a ceremony boasting period music, costume and food.

Pendle Council and Colne-based recording studio Rockenbay produced the tape which follows the witches' final journey in 1612 from their native Pendleside villages to Lancaster Castle, where they were tried and hanged.

The story is brought to life using dramatic interludes based on the trial, music of the period provided by harpist Fiona Katie Roberts and interviews with local historians and writers. Sarah Lee, the council's senior promotions officer who devised the original witches trail guide booklet, said: "The audio guide provides a new dimension to the trail and simply oozes with the atmosphere of the 17th Century while telling an important story in our social history.

"The tapes will be promoted nationwide and internationally to bring visitors to the area to boost tourism in our little known but beautiful corner of Lancashire."

Local contributors included Maureen Stopforth, of the Witches Galore shop, Newchurch-in-Pendle, local historian John Hope and novelist Kate Mulholland.

The tape is dedicated to Edgar Peel, of Colne, author of The Trials of the Pendle Witches.

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