Newcastle witch trials: A little known history and one of the largest mass hangings in nation's past
Reporter Emily Reader has been uncovering a dark chapter Newcastle's history
One of the country's largest mass hangings of 'witches' in English history took place in the North East 374 years ago - but little is known about it.
On 21 August 1650, 16 people - 15 women and 1 man - were hanged on the Town Moor in Newcastle "for a wich".
Although the spelling of the crime has changed since then, the story behind the trials and those accused remains a mostly untold chapter in the city's past.
A city of ills
It was uncertain times in Newcastle in 1649.
The city was feeling the effects of an ongoing civil war, recovering from plague, and experiencing a climate of strict puritanical views left over from the reign of James VI.
Also reeling from the ongoing misery was the city council, which began to suspect the work of witchcraft in the area. And so that year they sent for a "witch finder" from Scotland.
There is no recorded name for who this was but he worked on commission, receiving 20 shillings per person they accused. Around £100 in today's money, it was lucrative business.
A town crier was regularly sent through the town, encouraging residents to come forward with people for the witch finder to accuse. They would cry: "All people that would bring in any complaint against any woman for a witch."
Eventually 30 people in Newcastle were accused, rounded up and taken to the Town Hall.
'Wondefull Newes' from the North
Newcastle, at this time, had two county prisons. One for the district of Newcastle and one for the county of Northumberland.
The Newgate prison on Newgate Street housed the city's 30 suspected 'witches' before their trial.
Meanwhile another suspected 'witch', was held in the dungeons of Newcastle castle - her native Northumberland county prison.
Her name was Jane Martin and is the accused whom the most is known about. This is because a pamphlet was made at the time which detailed the events leading up to her accusation.
The pamphlet, titled 'Wondefull Newes from the North' cited the accusations against Jane, wife of a Chatton miller.
'Wondefull' or 'wonderful''s meaning in the 17th century was different than today, referring to something mysterious or astonishing.
David Silk, the learning manager at Newcastle Castle, said: "From the pamphlet, we know that a family called the Muschamp family accused Jane and several others of bewitching their children.
"I think today we might look to some sort of mental health explanation for these types of events but obviously that language didn’t exist in the 17th century, so they looked to witchcraft."
She is thought to have lived in the dungeon - in terrible conditions - for around a year before her trial.
Mr Silk added: "The castle keep, by that point was quite ruinous I suppose, there was no roof on the building, so there would have been cracks in the ceiling. We know water came in through here.
“It’s pretty grim. Prison at that time was not designed for long term confinement of people.
“As you would expect prisoners were literally chained to the wall.
“Straw on the floor and a chamber pot and that’s your lot really.”
Trial by witch pricker
The trials of the 31 accused, including Northumbrian Jane Martin, took place a year later at the Guildhall, on Newcastle's Quayside.
It is unclear exactly what methods were used to convict the 'witches' but we know one method used at the time by Scottish witch finders was 'pricking'.
The witch finder would jab a long needle known as a 'witch pricker' into the accused. If they bled they were innocent, if they did not bleed, they were guilty.
Three-sided gallows
Following the trials, 16 were found guilty. They were hanged on 21 August 1650 alongside other criminals.
Twenty-nine people were hanged on that day. The mass hanging was such a large event that the council built a special three-side gallows for it.
The exact location of the gallows in unknown but it is thought to have been located on the Town Moor.
The hangings would have been somewhat of a spectacle. A large loud crowd would have gathered to watch, treating it as entertainment.
Dr Katie Liddane completed her PHD in the Newcastle witch trials.
She said: “The accused witches would have been taken from Newgate jail, followed by their friends and family members but also a waiting crowd to watch the spectacle that was made out of the hanging.
“It would have been a large occasion for the community.
“All of the people about to be executed were stood on ladders that were then kicked from beneath them.
“You’d have family members horrified that they’re about to loose their loved one to public execution and then you’d have people cheering and celebrating that their community is about to be rid of witches.”
The gallows were purposefully built near the city's army barracks so that soldiers would have been on hand, should crowd control have been needed.
Divine sign of innocence
The main source we have for the Newcastle witch trials and hangings having taken place is a book by a man called Ralph Gardiner, published in 1655.
It contains an illustration of the hangings.
Gardiner, from North Shields, wrote the book as a criticism of Newcastle council. One of his criticisms was of the witch trials.
He highlights the injustice of the trials and accused the witch finder of fraud.
His detailed account of the the hangings tells the story of Margaret Brown, one of the accused.
Gardiner writes: "She beseeched God that some remarkable sign might be seen at the time of their execution to evidence their innocency and as soon as ever she was turned off the ladder her blood gushed out upon the people to the admiration of the beholders.”
In other words, using the logic of the witch prickers, blood meant innocence, and so this was supposedly a sign from God that the accused were in fact all innocent.
Dr Ruth Connelly, from Newcastle University, said: "Admiration there kind of means astonishment or to their shock, because this is kind of a providential sign as if God has intervened from on high to show that she is indeed innocent."
An unholy burial
Some time after the hangings the names of the 'witches' appeared on the burial records of St Andrews Church, in Newcastle.
Next to each name the record reads "for a wich", one of the ways 'witch' was spelt in the 17th century.
Their names were:
-Isabell Bown-Margrit Maddeson-Ann Wotson-Ellenor Henderson-Ellenor Rogers-Ellsabeth Dobson-Mathew Bowner-Ellsabeth Anderson-Jane Hunter-Jane Koupling-Margrit Brown-Margarit Moffet-Kattren Wellsh-Aylles Hume -Marie Pootes-Jane Martin
Although the location of the grave itself is unknown due to it being unmarked, what is known is that they were buried at night in the north side of the graveyard.
This is because the north side got the least amount of sunlight and so was thought of as being less holy.
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