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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nOccasionally I have to attend the eye clinic at Heavitree Hospital in Exeter. The area is now a bustling part of the city, with a university campus, a Waitrose, the hospital and lots of traffic. Usually stationary. On a cold lonely winter evening, waiting for the 9a bus home, I spotted one of the bus stops is called Gallows Corner. Later I found out The Bideford Witches, having stood trial at the Exeter Assizes, were taken to Heavitree to be hanged. My good friend and writer Devon-born Kathryn Haydon then told me Heavitree means hanging tree. So this part of the city which throngs with students and medics was once a site of public execution. And not that long ago either. According to The Heavitree Local History Society the last hanging was in 1866.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/www.heavitreelocalhistorysociety.co.uk\/newsletters\/2017\/hlhs-news-068-mar2017.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It never fails to amaze me how, when you scratch even a little at the surface, history is lying there, waiting to be discovered. Of course, because this is women\u2019s history, and a shameful episode at that, you have to scratch away more deeply to find it. There is a plaque dedicated to The Bideford Witches hung on the wall of Rougemont Castle in the middle of the city and where the gaol once was, but it\u2019s a grudging sort of apology for the deaths of three women who were most probably annoying, quarrelsome and sometimes drunk but who didn\u2019t consort with the Devil.<\/p>\n\n\n In the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic is an enormous board. It\u2019s inscribed with the names of all those who lost their lives as a result of an accusation of witchcraft. Women, men and even some children. It\u2019s humbling to stand before it. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw an epidemic of witch hunting and not just in England and Scotland. An estimated 40,000 \u2013 50,000 people were executed across Europe.
It\u2019s been impossible to ignore the popularity of witch-themed books. I read and enjoyed Weyward<\/em> and Widdershins<\/em>, loved Elena Collins\u2019 The Witch\u2019s Tree<\/em> and have devoured every witchy book the fabulous Syd Moore has ever written.<\/em> Witches hold a fascination for me, which probably dates from visiting, as a small child, The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall. It left an indelible impression. I revisited last summer, as part of the research for Magpie<\/em> and it has lost none of its power to enthral.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a>
If you regularly read the Blog you\u2019ll know how much I love the research. I began diving more deeply into the subject of witches and their persecution in England, research that was both engrossing and distressing. Then I happened upon the story of The Bideford Witches, three women who have the sad claim to be the last women in England to be hanged for witchcraft. I can\u2019t remember when I first came upon them, but it may have been when I read the excellent Not One of Us: Individuals set apart by choice, circumstances, crowds or the mob in Exeter, 1451-1952<\/em> by local historian and academic Todd Gray. There are so many stories in that book. A fascinating read and one which comes highly recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
So, what else was the Universe pointing me in the direction of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
If this is making you angry, join the club. I poured mine into the book and channelled it through my modern heroine, Beth, who was doing the same sort of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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