Norfolk witches

[David19]

I was looking through The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806524073/qid=1142787497/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-0778611-8152026?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) today, and i was reading an entry about a a wiccan that was a member of Gardner's coven, i can't remember her exact name, but i think she was a famous wiccan (or kind of anyway), it said, after Gardner's coven, she joined various other groups including a 'traditional' Norfolk witch coven, and that apparantly, she met a Norfolk witch who had kind of gone 'undercover', on orders of their coven, in order to see if Gardner's was a serious one, and that apparantly the Norfolk witches had a tradition going back 200 years.

Has anyone else heard of this, i can't remember the name of the wiccan, but i think it's near the beginning of the book. I thought if it was true then maybe that might provide some answers about pre-Gardner covens.

Anyway, hope that made sense :).

Thanks.

[Semjaza]

I've heard the story about the 'undercover' witch, but I have no idea where I heard it or read it. There are a few strange bits of info about Norfolk and witchcraft kicking around; some that I found are below:

Doreen Valiente wrote about a man called Raymond Howard from Norfolk, who, as a boy in 1930, met Alicia Franch, "who had lived with the Gypsies or Romanys" (Valiente, 24). She "taught him some of the witchcraft traditions that she knew" (Valiente, 24) and he inherited a carving that was supposedly the head of a Horned God, named Atho (Valiente, 24).

In September, 1963, a person "nailed two thorn-pierced human effigies, and a sheep's heart also transfixed with thorns, to the door of the old castle at Castle Rising, Norfolk" (Valiente, 60). Pictures of these are found on pages 43 and 53 of Francis X. King's book, Witchcraft and Demonology.

The "Curse of Sturston": A Norfolk village was "cursed in the time of the first Queen Elizabeth... by an old woman reputed to be a witch" (Valiente, 130).

"In 1612 Mary Woods, a Norfolk witch, was said to possess imps which had the power to recover lost and stolen property and these she fed on apples, cornets, and bread... She was a skilled palmist... She was charged with witchcraft and under examination declared she had often been offered money to supply poisons..." (Maple, 73).

Around 1645, Matthew "Hopkins... moved (his witch hunting campaign) northwards into Norfolk..." (Maple, 80).

"In Norfolk, too, there was a further attempt to impose the swimming test and then three years later, in 1751, a terrifying witch murder at Long Marston, near Tring" (Maple, 122).

"In the Norfolk marshlands in 1866, during a cattle plague, many cottages and barns had a cross nailed over the door as a defence against devils and witches" (Maple, 158).

These were all the references I could find, but I was certain I had more... Guess I'll keep looking.... :)

King, Francis X. Witchcraft and Demonology. London, Great Britain: Treasure Press, 1991.

Maple, Eric. The Dark World of Witches in The Complete Book of Witchcraft and Demonology: Witches, Devils, and Ghosts in Western Civilization. Cranbury, New Jersey, USA: A. S. Barnes & Co., Inc., 1966.

Valiente, Doreen. An ABC of Witchcraft, Past and Present. Custor, Washington, USA: Phoenix Publishing, Inc., 1973.


Cheers,

Semjaza
FFFF

[Ben Gruagach]

Another place I'd suggest checking for references to historical witches or at least people who practiced magick would be Owen Davies' books, specifically "Witchcraft, Magic and Culture 1736-1951" and "Cunning-Folk: Popular Magic in English History."

Part of the problem is that while we have lots of evidence that there were people practicing folk magick, and some who even called themselves witches, there hasn't been a lot of solid evidence that any of these people were practicing anything like an intact pre-Christian religion which is what Gardner claimed Wicca was supposed to be.