Agnes Waterhouse

Agnes Waterhouse (also known as Mother Waterhouse) was the first person in England to receive the death sentence for witchcraft from a secular court.

She stood trial alongside two other women, her daughter Joan Waterhouse and Elizabeth Francis. This trail marked the first of the Chelmsford witch trials, that took place in Essex in the late 16th century.

Agnes was accused of consorting with Satan in the form of a white spotted cat. The cat was given to her by Elizabeth Francis, who also instructed her on how to care for him in order to gain things she desired. Agnes was said to have first used the cat, who she openly called Satan, to seek revenge on neighbours she had disputes with. This usually took the form of killing their livestock. Example of this mentioned at the trial include killing some pigs belonging to a Farther Kersey, and drowning a cow belonging to a Widow Gooday. She confessed to rewarding Satan for his help by feeding him chicken and drops of her blood.

She also faced the very serious accusation of causing death through the use of witchcraft. She was said to have called on Satan for help ridding her of a neighbour and his wife with whom she had had a disagreement. She was also accused of having Satan dispatch with her own husband.

As well as taking the form of a cat, Satan was said to have later taken the form of a toad at Agnes's request. When Joan gave evidence she said that he had come to her in the form of a black dog.

Agnes also testified that Satan had foretold she would meet a death of burning or hanging.

Although Joan Waterhouse confessed to calling on Satan to help her scare a neighbour she had fallen out with, and being aware of her mothers use of him, she was found not guilty. Elizabeth Francis confessed to being the original owner of Satan and was found guilty of practising witchcraft, she received a sentence of one year imprisonment. However, in 1579 she was brought back to court on further charges, for these she was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Agnes was found guilty and sentenced to death. On they day that she was due to be hung she made a further confession. Shortly before going to gallows she told how she had tried to kill another neighbour, Wardol. She said she had sent Satan to kill him but Satan had returned to her and said he was unable to do so. When she asked Satan why he told her that it was due to Wardol's strength of faith in God. Agnes went to meet her death repenting and calling on God for forgiveness.

The Lowestoft Witches

In 1662 Bury St. Edmunds became another backdrop to the Witch Trials that were sweeping Europe. However, this story does not start in Bury St. Edmunds, it starts in Lowestoft, a thriving fishing town on the east coast of England. It was also the home of Amy Denny and Rose Cullender, know today as ‘The Lowestoft Witches’.

Amy Denny was first accused by Samuel Pacy, who claimed she had cursed his daughters after a dispute about buying fish. It began with his daughter Deborah being seized by fits for a number of weeks. Samuel sought medical help from his neighbour, Dr Feavor, he said that he could find no natural causes for her illness. Not long after this Samuel’s other daughter Elizabeth also became similarly afflicted.

Upon the evidence being formally presented Amy Denny was thrown into stocks, but the Pacy sister's torment did not end there.

Rose Cullender had been the subject of local rumours for a while, with lots of locals believing she was a witch. She soon became implicated along with Amy. Both Deborah and Elizabeth claimed that they had been seen visions of the women whilst suffering fits, seizures and loss of senses. Samuel had the girls move to their aunt’s house, hoping the extra distance would weaken the affects. It did not. Whilst there the symptoms continued, including vomiting pins and on occasion nails. Elizabeth gave an account of how the specter of Amy Denny visited her and implored her to drown herself.

The Pacy’s neighbours soon started alleging that similar fates had befallen their children following a dispute with Rose, and the case against the two women grew. After days of witness accounts and experiments being conducted on both the women and their victims, a jury took half an hour to find them both guilty. They were hanged the next day.

This trial played and important role in the history of the persecution of witches for a couple of reasons. The first of which being the publication of ‘A Tryal of Witches, at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds for the County of Suffolk; on the Tenth day of March 1664’. Despite it’s rather inaccurate title - (the trial took actually took place in 1662) - this makes this trial one of the best documented on record.


This leads to the second reason why this case was so important. ‘A Tryal of Witches, at the Assizes…’, was later used as a reference for specter manipulation during the famed Salem Witch Trials.

The St. Osyth Witches

During the late 16th and 17th century Essex felt the force of the witch trials that were sweeping Europe more than most places. In total the county saw well over 700 people accused of either being witches, or associates of witches. This was largely due to it being the main stomping ground of Matthew Hopkins, aka Witchfinder General. One of these trials was that of the St Osyth Witches.

In 1582 fourteen people were put on trial for witchcraft, the best documented of all the charges are the ones made against Ursula Kemp. Ursula was a local midwife and nursemaid. She was first accused of witchcraft by Grace Thurlow, who had once been a friend and neighbour of Ursula’s.

Grace claims that Ursula came to her aid when her son became seriously ill, casting spells to cure him. Grace also turned to Ursula a few months later when she became ill herself, following the untimely death of her baby daughter. Ursula agreed to cure Grace’s condition as long as she paid her. However, some time after Grace then refused to pay Ursula claiming she could not afford it. After this disagreement Grace’s condition worsened dramatically, leading to Ursula being accused of cursing her.

During Ursula’s trial, her own son was called as a witness against her. Thomas Kemp gave an account as how his mother kept four familiars, two cats, a lamb and a toad, that she fed on her own blood. Later in the trial Ursula herself pointed the finger of accusation at others. She named Elizabeth Bennet, Alice Hunt, Alice Newman and Margery Sammon as witches. Not only did these women confess to witchcraft but made accusations of their own. Agnes Glascock, Cicely Celles, Joan Turner, Joan Pechey, Elizabeth Ewstace, Anis Herd, Alice Manfield, Margaret Grevell and Anne Swallow were all subsequently named as witches. Most of the women were either fond not guilty, or found guilty of lesser charges and sent to prison, only Ursula Kemp and Elizabeth Bennet were sentenced to death and hanged.

This however is not the last we hear of these women, over 300 years later, in the mid 1900’s this tale takes a slightly grizzly turn. In St Osyth two female skeletons were discovered by accident, buried on unconsecrated ground with metal spikes through them. Pinning witches into their coffins was a technique employed during the witch trials to stop their corpses rising from the dead and seeking revenge. It was widely believed that these were the remains of Ursula and Elizabeth. The one believed to be Ursula went on to be displayed in an open coffin as a tourist attraction, before becoming part of the private collection of Robert Lenkiewicz.

The North Berwick Witches

The North Berwick Witches were a group of seventy or so people from southern Scotland prosecuted for witchcraft between 1590 and 1592.

At this time Scotland was ruled by King James IV, who had always been very relaxed with regards to implementing laws against witchcraft. However, this attitude changed when he sailed to Copenhagen to marry Princess Anne of Denmark. During the journeys both there and back they were met with horrific storms. The Admiral of the escorting fleet of Danish ships blamed the extreme weather on witchcraft, an opinion shared by many crew members. This experience drastically changed his views on witchcraft, and upon returning to Scotland set about eradicating any trace of it.

One of the first people accused was Gellie Duncan. She worked as a servant, but often provided healing cures to people. Her cures were deemed to be a little too successful, and quickly drew suspicion. Initially she resolutely pleaded her innocence, however after ongoing interrogation and the discovery of a 'Witches Mark' on her neck, she changed her plea. She confessed that her treatments were prepared with the help of the Devil. She also implicated several other people.

One of the most shocking things is that one of the people she named as an accomplice was King James's cousin, Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell. However, he was by no means the only member of high society accused. Others that Gellie accused included Barbara Napier, widow of Earl Archibald of Angus and Euphemia Maclean, daughter of the Lord Cliftonhall. Gellie was eventually burnt at the stake.

King James was heavily involved with the trials, presiding over many of them. One story tells of how he examined Agnes Sampson at Holyrood House. She was kept without sleep for days and fastened to a wall with a 'Witches Bridle'. A Witches Bridle is a metal contraption that places sharp metal prongs against the tongue and the inside of the cheeks. Eventually she confessed, and was subsequently burnt as a witch.

Most of the confessions obtained during these trials were done so under horrendous torture. The accounts given where often of coven meetings at Auld Kirk Green, which now forms part of the modern day North Berwick Harbour area. North Berwick churchyard also featured heavily. Many of the accused claiming they went there at night to meet with the Devil. There were numerous confessions that detailed an attempt to sink the kings ship. They detailed that on Halloween 1590, they had met with the Devil in North Berwick churchyard. In order to raise a storm they retrieve limbs from corpses, attached them to a dead cat and threw this into the sea.

King James went on to write a book, 'Daemonologie', instructing his followers on the prosecution of witchcraft. The North Berwick trials were the first major occurrence of many witch trials in Scotland, it is estimated that from the late 16th century to the early 18th century between 3000 and 4000 people were executed for witchcraft in Scotland.

The Bideford Witches

The town of Bideford in Devon has it’s place firmly marked in the history of British Witchcraft. It was the home of Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susanna Edwards. In 1682, these 3 woman became the last people in England to be executed for Witchcraft.

Temperance was the first to be accused. A local shop keeper, Thomas Eastchurch, claimed she had used witchcraft to torment local woman Grace Thomas. After a chance meeting between to two woman, Grace took ill with severe internal pains. Temperance was also accused of conversing with the devil, who took the shape of a black man. She was also said to have sent the Devil, in the guise of a magpie, to Grace’s windowsill at night. She was accused of causing Grace’s pains by using a wax doll and pricking it with pins. An accusation based on nine marks Grace claimed to have on her knee. When Temperance admitted to pricking a piece of leather nine times her fate was made. She was sent to Exeter Assizes.

Suspicion of Mary and Susanna began merely due to them being seen in public with Temperance. When another local woman, Grace Barnes, began having fits they were quickly blamed. At the local magistrates, it was claimed that Mary had been seen loitering outside her house. Grace was physically carried into the town hall to give evidence. To add to the drama a man who was present, Anthony Jones, began foaming at the mouth, jumping around as if possessed, and shouting “I am now bewitched by this Devil.” Mary and Susanna were then sent to join Temperance in Exeter.

The three woman were held awaiting trial for over a month. Within this time public interest grew, and with it outrageousness of some of the accusations. At one point it was claimed that Temperance Lloyd had the Devil suckle at unnatural teats that grew on her body. All the women fell apart under questioning and not only admitted to the charges levied against them, but all began to blame each other. They were all found guilty.

They were sentenced to death by the judges presiding, one of which was Rodger North. The motives for this sentence are debatable. Lord North - (Rodger North’s brother) - wrote to the secretary of state following the trial. In this letter he stated that the women must be put to death, or else the country would loose faith in the capability of the legal system in dealing with cases of witchcraft. He claimed this would lead to illegal, vigilante witch hunts being carried out, outside of the legal system. Sir Francis North later completed an investigation into the case and found it to be deeply flawed.

The women were put to death at Heavitree, on the 25th August 1682. The English legal system eventually abolished the death penalty for witches in 1736.