Tag Archives: witchcraft

Great Yarmouth’s Early Modern Astrology

Astrology, or using the stars to tell the future, has been a part of human society since prehistory and remains with us today in the form of horoscopes and readings.  For Early Modern people astrologers offered a chance to understand … Continue reading

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Remote Learning with the Coven of Atho

There are numerous references to witchcraft in the archives at the Norfolk Record Office. These references typically relate to cases of people being tried as witches. Of course, the defendants in these cases were victims of persecution but what about … Continue reading

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Elizabeth Bradwell: Accused of Witchcraft and Executed in Great Yarmouth, 1645.

The retelling of history does not lend itself so willingly to the lives of women like Norfolk-born Elizabeth Bradwell. With scarce records surviving that allow us to trace her life, much of our understanding of Bradwell comes from the events … Continue reading

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The Witches of Lynn

It’s strange how one thing leads to another. When I was researching the French POWs in King’s Lynn, I came across Devil’s Alley, where the warehouse that was used for temporary accommodation was situated. This led on to the legend … Continue reading

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Halloween Event!

A week today on Thursday 30th October the Norfolk Record Office will be displaying a spooky array of material relating to Norfolk’s ghostly encounters, hideous deaths, witchcraft and the unexplained. There will also be readings of ghost stories taken from … Continue reading

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Norfolk Witchcraft Trials

Trials for witchcraft were fairly common in Tudor and Stuart times: several can be found in the Yarmouth quarter sessions records, for example (Y/S 1/2).  By far the biggest trial was that of 1645.  Yarmouth Assembly actually invited Matthew Hopkins … Continue reading

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