This is the sign that hangs in the village of Warboys, Cambridgeshire. My parents live there, and around the village you will spot witches on bumper stickers, weathervanes, and in company logos. The local football team is known affectionately as The Witches, the local cricket club has a witch in their emblem, too.
Whilst I love seeing the witches everywhere, there is a devastating reason for their presence.
The Witches of Warboys were Alice Samuel and family. Alice was accused of being a witch by a 9-year old girl, and the family were executed for witchcraft between 1589 and 1593. This case attracted a great deal of attention, and it was this trial especially that influenced the passage of the Witchcraft Act 1604. The Act's full title was An Act against Conjuration, Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked spirits, and it was this statute that was enforced by Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General.
Poor Alice Samuel (76) was accused by Jane Throckmorton. Her four sisters - only slightly older than Jane- and twelve servants, would later echo these accusations. The sisters were daughters of Robert Throckmorton, a well connected commoner who was a close friend of Sir Henry Cromwell, grandfather to Oliver Cromwell. Lady Cromwell had a conversation with Alice about the trouble she found herself in. That night she had nightmares, fell ill and then died, which cemented the idea in the Throckmorton’s heads that Alice and her family were witches.
A parson convinced Alice to admit to witchcraft and despite retracting this statement, she admitted to it again when placed before the Bishop of Lincoln; later a keen supporter of the Witchcraft Act of 1604. The trial that resulted would find Alice, her husband, and her daughter guilty. They were hanged in Warboys.
Their corpses were examined and Alice had a “witches’ mark”, which was important legal proof at this time. If she had a mark at all I’m sure it was something common like a skin tag.
How awful it must have been to be defenceless, and at the mercy of the wealthy ruling classes. Whenever I see this sign I think of these poor people, and wish it could have been different for them.
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