These days we tend to treat witches as a bit of joke. Children dressing up at Halloween; comical Ursula T in Disney's The Little Mermaid; the Wicked Witch of the West and so on. It wasn't always like that. While exploring St Osyth near Clactonon-Sea, I discovered being labelled a witch once meant a death sentence.
Remarkably unspoilt, St Osyth is a pretty village dominated by the ruins of a medieval priory. There are attractive houses, some weatherboarded and whitewashed, others decked with roses.
One structure stands out, though not for its looks. Its rather grim moniker is The Cage. It's said to be haunted, despite now being incorporated into a house. A hand-painted plaque near a bare wooden door declares: "Ursula Kemp was imprisoned here before being hanged as a witch in 1582."
In the volunteer-run St Osyth Museum (07973 523018, stosythmuseum.co.uk), I discovered. Ursula was the best-known victim of a big local witch-hunt between 158284. Among the museum's exhibits is a list of 20 people tried for witchcraft at Chelmsford. Their "crimes" included causing children to be struck with strange illnesses and making horses and pigs drop down dead. Some were even blamed when a neighbour's cream turned sour or their beer failed to brew. Another woman, Elizabeth Bennet, was executed for murdering four people through witchcraft.
Others, only marginally more fortunate, died in jail or were excommunicated. This was before the self-styled Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, started his purge of Essex witches.
Bu hikaye Best of British dergisinin September 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Best of British dergisinin September 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom