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Witchcraft - part 1
In 1736 the Witchcraft Act passed by Parliament effectively dismissed the idea of witchcraft. In effect from now on witchcraft was to be regarded as just so much rubbish.
In future anyone pretending to work magic through spells would be guilty of fraud. No need for anyone to be afraid of witches anymore. Not that meant that the fear of witchcraft was banished from the public mind. Two hundred years later people in Sussex were still convinced of the existence of witches and their power.
In the early 1930s an 80 year old Sussex countryman, told that there were no witches, that the whole idea of there being such people was nonsense, burst out 'All rubbish! It ain't. Why, I knew a witch myself in this very village. Her daughter's alive still.'
Belief in witchcraft was to have a very slow decline.
Despite all that is said about the prevalence of witchcraft in the past, only few witch trials were ever held in Sussex and even then only one of the accused was put to death. This took place in 1575 when Margaret Cooper of Kirdford was found guilty of bewitching Henry Stoner on 1 April 'who languished until 20th April following, when he died.'
At the East Grinstead Assizes in 1591 Agnes Mowser from Fletching was found guilty of bewitching Ann Flemens to death but was sentenced to only one year's imprisonment, a sentence which usually carried with it four six-hour sessions in the pillory. Considering the charge, this seems a light sentence. Does it mean that the jury was undecided of the woman's guilt? Perhaps it suggests that the jury was not completely convinced of Agnes' guilt.
Other witches during this period were imprisoned for a year on charges of bewitching farm animals to death. And at this point perhaps it should be said that the majority of witches (men also were called witches and not wizards in Sussex) that most witches happened to be female.
A witch's power which was with her throughout her life was said to reside in her 'familiar': a cat or dog, a toad perhaps or even a fly. Only on her deathbed could she be rid of her power, which had often become a stifling and painful inheritance. In the late nineteenth century when Old Mother Venus, attended by some local women, was dying she sat up suddenly, cast her eyes quickly over the group of women standing near, and swiftly passed her hand onto the breast of Mabel Ockley. Then Mother Venus fell back dead! 'What did she give you?' questioned the women. 'She gave me nothing,' was the reply. But the powers of witchcraft had been passed on. In 1933 Tom Reed, whose mother was one of those present at the death bed, said that he believed that, just before the old lady passed away, Mabel had been given a mouse.
So what were the powers of witches? It was said that witches could pass through keyholes, could move stealthily up and down chimneys so that they could learn the secrets of every household. That was power enough.
But two of those most commonly spoken of powers related to their abilities to turn themselves into animals and to immobilise wagons. Time and time again these stories crop up.
For instance, take this account from a farm labourer, the author trying to capture the typical speech of Sussex men about a hundred years ago:
'My mates and me was resting under a hedge nigh Up Waltham, 'aving our dinner, when a hare comes lopping along. Darky Tussler says, 'That bain't a hare, that's that --- ol' 'ooman down along under, (speaking of a village where we was lodging). I takes up a stone and throws it, and catches that hare. She didn't half holler, letting out a screech just like an ol' 'ooman, an' then she goes limping away. That night, when we was down in the village, ol' Sary Weaver, wot people said could make a cow run dry by lookin' at her - folks said she were a witch - comes 'obbling outer 'er cottage. When she sees we, she lets out a screech, same as the hare did, and goes a-limping off, for all of the world as if she were that there hare. She were lame in the same leg wot the hare was, but she 'adn't been afore!'
There are many tales of limping witches after a hare had been stoned or shot or bitten by dogs.
Johnnie Johnson is a local author and lecturer. See his website: www.johnniejohnson.co.uk
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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