Witches in Suffolk

The idea of the ‘witch’ is thousands of years old and is first mentioned in Ancient Greek texts. The word ‘witch’ and the associated perception of the image has evolved through time and each culture has its own stories and imagery.

In the UK witches are usually portrayed as women, stereotypically ugly – often with large noses, moles and warts. It isn’t unusual for them to be pictured mixing their spells in a cauldron with their black cat nearby. But the people accuse of being witches in the past were just women and men, of all ages. Some may have made healing remedies or used common folk charms and incantations; they may have been local ‘healers’ and mid-wives, but more often than not they were people on the edge of society.

These people have been persecuted, tried and ultimately murdered throughout the centuries, used as scapegoats for poverty, disease, death, crime, famine, plague, war and local upheaval.

Between 1645 and 1647 witch-hunting reached a peak in English history and in East Anglia in general. This site focuses on those trials. For addistional context visit the ‘Learning’ pages to find out more about the trials of Suffolk ‘Witches’ that occurred both before and after this dark period of history.