As
we near Halloween we are reminded (bombarded might be a better term) of ghouls and
assorted other haunting spectres. For we whose families come from Devon,
England, what better way to mark the date than looking at the history of
witches who may have lived there.
There
is a notorious case of a witch trial in the town of Bideford, Devon. Three
women were convicted in 1682: Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah
Edwards. They were hanged in Exeter in 1685, apparently the last of those convicted of
witchcraft in England to have been executed.
There
is a plaque at at Rougemont Castle, in Exeter, Devon commemorating the deaths
of the three women with a plea to end such persecution. In recent years many
groups, including a Devon MP, have sought to have the Bideford women pardoned. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-witches-demand-justice-for-the-bideford-three-executed-300-years-ago-9702695.html
There
is a website that list the people tried for witchcraft of which 22 were from
Devon, England. (http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/county.html) I have not
looked for them in other records so cannot confirm whether they were all
convicted or hanged, outside of the three above:
1652 Joan Baker
1654 Diana Crosse
1658 Joan Furnace
1658 Thomas Harvey
1670 Elizabeth Eburye
1670 Aliena Walter
1671 Johanna Elford
1671 Margaret Heddon
1672 Phelippa Bruen
1676 Susannah Daye
1682 Susanna Edwards
1682 Temperance Lloyd
1682 Mary Trembles
1684 Alicia Molland
1685 Agnes Ryder
1685 Jane Vallet
1687 Abigail Handford
1693 Dorothy Case
1693 Katherine Williams
1694 Clara Roach
1696 Elizabeth Horner
1701 Susanna Hanover
Witchcraft
is an interesting study and there have been many publications on the subject,
for Europe and North America. You only have to do a Google search for “witches
in Devon, England” to get thousands of references. A booklet about the Bideford
trial by Frank Gent can be found at http://gent.org.uk/bidefordwitches/tbw.pdf There is a
Museum of Witchcraft in Boscasle, Cornwall that apparently has a great
collection of related artefacts. http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/
Devon
has its share of haunted places as well, ten of the (apparently) most important
of which are described here: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/10-haunted-places-Devon/story-23344331-detail/story.html I am sure there
are many more!
One
that is not listed is a pub in Underwood, Plympton called the Union Inn (http://www.unioninnplympton.com/). This pub has
been in existence since the early 1600s.
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Photo
from Union Inn Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Union-Inn-160924193926387/
According
to the pub-owner, there is a well-dressed lady from long ago that
has visited the established on more than a few occasions, usually late at night.
She did not appear the day we were there in 2004 so we could not confirm the
story.
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Wayne
enjoying a brew at the Union Inn in 2004
Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in England, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is the Editor of Relatively Speaking, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Genealogical Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated
