In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's Witch Trial
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In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's Witch Trial Ellen Hayward was born in 1838 at Arlingham on the east bank of the Severn in Gloucestershire. By 1901, Ellen had given up dressmaking and named her occupation on the census as a herbalist. Over the following years she became well known locally as a ‘wise woman’ and a trusted source of herbal remedies. This was a fine line for her to tread as ‘wise’ men and women, or ‘cunning folk’ as they were also known, carried with them an aura of magic and spells, even in the early 20th century. It was this aspect which brought her to public attention (and to the notice of Parliament) when in 1905 a local man named John Markey accused her of practising witchcraft on his family. In May 1906, Cinderford ‘wise woman’ and herbal healer Ellen Hayward was tried for witchcraft at Littledean Magistrates Court in the Forest of Dean.
In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's Witch Trial
In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's…
In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's Witch Trial
In the Shadow of the Forest: Ellen Hayward's Witch Trial Ellen Hayward was born in 1838 at Arlingham on the east bank of the Severn in Gloucestershire. By 1901, Ellen had given up dressmaking and named her occupation on the census as a herbalist. Over the following years she became well known locally as a ‘wise woman’ and a trusted source of herbal remedies. This was a fine line for her to tread as ‘wise’ men and women, or ‘cunning folk’ as they were also known, carried with them an aura of magic and spells, even in the early 20th century. It was this aspect which brought her to public attention (and to the notice of Parliament) when in 1905 a local man named John Markey accused her of practising witchcraft on his family. In May 1906, Cinderford ‘wise woman’ and herbal healer Ellen Hayward was tried for witchcraft at Littledean Magistrates Court in the Forest of Dean.