Witchcraft
In medieval times many people believed
that unexpected events such as a cow dying were the result of
witches.
Criminal action began in 1521
when the Pope Leo X issued a papal bull enabling religious court to
order the execution of people convicted of witchcraft.
This began a major campaign
throughout Europe which to some extent was inflamed by the church.
In England King Henry V11 was
concerned that the religious courts would order execution and passed
the first Witchcraft Act in 1542. This brought him some problems
with some allegations being made that his wife Anne Boleyn was a
witch as she had 6 fingers and a mole on her neck . These
deformities were considered one of the marks of a witch.
In 1547 the Witchcraft Act was
repealed by King Edward V1 but on the accession of Elizabeth 1
another Witchcraft Act was passed in 1562.
The first trials of witches
were recorded in Chelmsford in 1566 which saw Agnes
Waterhouse hanged as a witch.
Before ascending the English
Throne James 1 attended a trial at North Berwick of several women
accused of trying to create a storm that would drown James 1 and his
wife on a recent trip to Denmark.
He became so convinced about
the threat that in 1597 he wrote a book called wrote the
Daemonologie which condemned witchcraft..
There were already laws in
place to outlaw witchcraft but in 1604 James 1 passed a new stronger
statute which contained his statement that witches were loathe to
confess without torture.
an
old print of a male witch raising the devil
The notorious Matthew Hopkins
' The Witch-finder General' was born during this period and from
1644 launched his witch finding campaign in Essex and Suffolk,
partly based of the book written by James 1.
Although Matthew Hopkins was
based in the Essex Town of Manningtree which was 30 miles away from
this area , his brother John Hopkins had a local connection being
appointed at Presbyterian Minister of South Fambridge in 1645 at the
height of witch finding campaign.
Witchcraft trials which only
stopped when his act was repealed by King George II in 1736
although the last person convicted in England was in 1712 and the
last execution for witchcraft in Scotland was in 1722.
Local stories of
witchcraft abound - some are reproduced below
The ghostly bells of
the River Crouch - The Hart Family of witches
The Hart family were the most
notorious witches to reside in the area .
Many villages in this area
have folklore relating to a Witch hart and most include the story of
the stolen church bell from Latchingdon..
As a witch Mistress Hart
suffered from an allergy to Church Bells. She was especially annoyed
by the bells at Latchingdon Church. One night she removed the bells
from the church tower and took them to Burnham where she attempted
to take them to the opposite side of the river. Instead of a boat
she used a barrel and used a feather for an oar. Not surprisingly
neither she or the bells made the crossing. Legend has it that on
stormy nights the bells can be hear tolling from under the River
Crouch
Another Witch Hart lived at
North Fambridge. Witch Hart and her husband were taken to the river
where they were tied to a boat by a rope while the boat sailed along
the river. Mr Hart sunk and nearly drowned but Witch Hart floated.
This was taken to be a sign that Witch Hart was a witch as witches
could not drown.
An alternative version of this
legend has it that Witch Hart was taking the bell to Wallasea where
another witch called Mother Redcap lived. The two witches planned to
use the Bell as part of their witchcraft.
The last Hart witch is
documented as living near Deadway Bridge, Latchingdon in the early
1900's. Rumour had it that legions of imps were hidden in her
cottage. One night a man was riding past her cottage when he met a
vast army of small animals with fiery red eyes. He lashed his horse
and escaped although to his dying day he claimed that the creatures
were Mistress Hart's imps on their way to cause mischief.
Witches and Warlocks
Fanny Bird was Creeksea's witch who was used to get her way
from people scared of her magical spells. One day a man refused to
move out of her way. She said to the man " You look out. I'll see
you get home wetter than you started off today" . The man laughed
and continued his way but a few minutes later he fell into a dyke
and nearly drowned.
Isabel Whyte, a spinster of
Purleigh appeared at Essex Quarter Sessions accused of killing two
cows, a ram and 9 pigs belonging to Thomas Ward in March 1600. She
was accused of bewitching the animals and causing them to die
although she was acquitted of the charge.
John Smyth alias Salmon of
Danbury also appeared before Essex Quarter Sessions where he was
found guilty of bewitching 8 cows,6 calves, 3 pigs and 7 ewes
belonging to Francis Simon of Stow Maries. He was however acquitted
on a charge of bewitching to death Rose Larkin also of Stow Maries.
The sentence is not recorded.
A retired Policeman called
Buzzy and his friend Silly Bill lived in the Latchingdon area where
they worked on the land. Buzzy was renowned for his magic and his
ability to cause farm machinery to stop merely by looking at the
machine ( this may well have been a crafty way to gain a break by
the workmen rather than magic!) . His most famous magic was to look
at a silent thrashing engine which suddenly burst into life.
Another wizard at Latchingdon
used to travel around the area in a yellow carriage drawn by two
large dogs.
Captain Harriott in his book
'Struggles through Life, London, 1815', tells the story of an
old couple named Hart lived in a cottage near Fambridge Ferry. Young
Harriott and his brother alternately patronised and teazed the old
lady, and presently satisfied themselves by an experiment of their
own that she was no witch. But the pair, long after the boy was
gone, were wickedly persecuted by their neighbours, and according to
Mr. Benton (History of Rochford Hundred) they were eventually "swum"
in the presence of a great crowd of people. The husband was adjudged
innocent, after being nearly drowned, but the wife was tied to a
boat by a line, and consequently floated. She was ever afterwards
regarded as a witch.
Sentences for those
found guilty of Witchcraft
The common perception is that witches were sentences to death by burning. This is not totally true in England as most witches were actually hanged although in Scotland burning was the normal sentence. The reason for this was that in England witchcraft was treated as a crime rather than treason against the state or church. The one exception to this rule was a female who used witchcraft to kill her husband. In this case the law prescribed death by burning as the punishment as " she has risen up treasonably against her Lord and Master
" Many local people died as a
result of allegations of witchcraft often for malicious or spiteful
reasons.
Listed below are some local
victims.
1566 ~ Mr.Hawes of Steeple
1566 ~ Mr. Richmond of
Creeksea
1575 ~ Joan Litelberie of
Bradwell
1577 ~ Joan Litelberie of
Bradwell
1577 ~ Margery Sowman of
Bradwell
1580 ~ Nicholas Johnson of
Woodham Mortimer
1580 ~ Ralph Spacey of
Southminster
1584 ~ Margaret Lyttelberie of
Bradwell-on-sea
1584 ~ Joan Thorock of Burnham
1585 ~ Anne Bonner of Burnham
1585 ~ Agnes Thurrock of
Burnham
1591 ~ Margaret Wiseman of
Bradwell
1599 ~ Thomas Ward of Purleigh
1600 ~ Isabella Whyte of
Purleigh
1615 ~ Grace Tabour of Stow
Maries
1619 ~ William Walford of Cold
Norton
1664 ~ John Webb of Woodham
Mortimer
