Bedfordshire Witches Part One and Two: Show notes and further reading.

Posted on by Natalie Doig

Recommended reading

This is by no means an exhaustive list but one I hope you’ll find something in to read if you want further information about witchcraft in book form.

Any book by Ronald Hutton is worth reading here’s a list of his books at Waterstones https://www.waterstones.com/author/ronald-hutton/566642 I can recommend in particular: The Triumph of the Moon, Witch, and Stations of the Sun.

Religion and the Decline of Magic by Sir Keith Thomas is well worth a read still even if it’s now over 50 years old. I first read it at university in the 1990s.

Bang up to date is this fascinating book Witchcraft A History in Thirteen Trials by Marion Gibson.

Willow Winsham’s books on witchcraft are also excellent including England’s Witchcraft Trials.

Tracy Borman’s book Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts is another excellent choice to read.

Emma Wilby’s book Cunning Folk and Familiar spirits is fascinating.

Common Bodies: Women, Touch and Power in Seventeenth-Century England by Laura Gowing isn’t about the witch trials but it is about the experience of women in particular how their bodies were viewed, used and abused in the 17th Century.

If you want to know more about the Witch Finder General then check out Malcolm Gaskill’s Witchfinders

I’ve just finished reading this excellent new book on the Pendle Witch Trials by Carol Lee.

What to listen to and watch

Witch, from the BBC is a wonderful podcast I can not recommend it enough.

The Shropshire Witches podcast has some fantastic witch related episodes with witchcraft historian royalty including Tracy Borman and Ronald Hutton. You can listen to all of their episodes here: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/68jxi-32341f/The-Shropshire-Witches-Podcast

There’s an In Our Time episode on witchcraft.

If you want to know more about the Scottish witch trials then Witch Hunt is another fantastic podcast.

This hard to find documentary from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage called the Pendle Witch Child is fascinating. https://youtu.be/Yv-JDUfADiw?si=hr41Hsv8iPTbFrBv

Another good TV programme is Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials which you can watch on Channel 4 On Demand: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/suranne-jones-investigating-witch-trials

Finally if you want to know more about “living deliciously,” sorry I mean, if you’d like to get a real sense of what it might have felt like being alive in the 17th Century in the time of witch crazes, then you can’t go wrong watching Robert Eggers The Witch. Here’s a review of the film. It’s a bleak, historically absorbing and terrifying film and it’s one of my favourites: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/20/the-witch-robert-eggers-folk-horror-debut-worms-its-way-under-your-skin

Contributors to the show

If you’d like to find out more about Dr Francis Young please check out his website here: https://drfrancisyoung.com/

Owen Staton the wonderful Welsh story teller has a great website with links to his podcast and story telling events. https://www.welshstoryteller.com/

Bedfordshire Archives information

I am so grateful to the staff at the Bedfordshire Archives for their continued support and help. They have quite a lot of information about witchcraft in Bedfordshire. Here are some useful links:

The history of Southill: https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Southill/TheParishInGeneral.aspx

The Dunstable Witches: https://virtual-library.culturalservices.net/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/dunstable_digitisation_history_witches.htm

Witch Testing at Oakley: https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Oakley/WitchTestingAtOakleyIn1735.aspx

Crime in Harrold including the Victorian witchcraft and animal cruelty case: https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Harrold/CrimeInHarrold.aspx

On the left pretty cottages with purple and yellow flowers on their walls in front of the houses is a stream with curved bridges crossing the stream to the houses. Then a road
Google street view image of Brook Lane in Harrold.

Other resources for further information

Old Mag

Leighton Buzzard & District Archaeological & Historical Society ran a story about Old Mag’s ghost on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LBDAHS/photos/spooky-seasonin-the-early-20th-century-reports-of-a-headless-ghost-on-mags-lane-/974397838061052/?_rdr

The Witchfinder General

Here’s a wikipedia page on Matthew Hopkins: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins#:~:text=Matthew%20Hopkins%20(%20c.,was%20never%20bestowed%20by%20Parliament.

Pancake Witch

You can read more about the pancake making witch of Conger Hill here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-26368070

https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Toddington/ToddingtonCastle.aspx

A pen an ink sketch of a night sky with a pale full moon and 6 witches on broomsticks flying across the sky.
The Witches’ Ride by William Holbrook Beard, 1870, charcoal on paper,

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Published by Natalie Doig

"Science and sorcery." It's a quote from a beekeeper I saw on the TV, about how he sees the work he does keeping bees, a balance between science and sorcery. For me it also sums up my experience of life, my interests and my outlook. I love photography which is a perfect blend of science and sorcery, using light and technology to create magical images. But when I'm not taking photos you'll find me making the podcast Weird in the Wade. I'm also often to be found writing, reading, knitting, riding my mountain bike or drinking coffee watching the world go by. By day I fight for disability rights, equality and inclusion for all.

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