…my good friend, Author Gerald Neal, is no stranger to this ‘ere blog… and my page is the more blessed for that… however blessings are usually never far from curses… and his insightful piece below is witness to that… enjoy…

THE WITCHES OF HARWICH. by Gerald Neal

The first case on the Sessions Book in Harwich concerned five women accused of witchcraft in 1601 – all were found guilty and hanged, not burnt alive as myth would have it. This did not occur until 1645 when Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General from nearby Manningtree bought over fifty suspected witches for torture and subsequent trial at Chelmsford court.

In 1605 Mary Hart was found not guilty of bewitching 7lb of meat that had gone putrid, but her luck ran out the following year when she was found guilty and hanged on another charge.

In 1609, Thos Barneby, Peter and Cecelia Wigborough were accused…