https://conant400.blogspot.com/2019/10/bewitched-by-east-budleigh-1.html
Safely back after a wander on our East Devon ‘Egdon Heath’, with thoughts of pagan rituals forgotten, you’re heading perhaps towards the comforts of the excellent Sir Walter Raleigh pub.
The double yellow lines protecting those
displays of plants make for a reassuringly tranquil scene on the village High
Street with its pink and white thatched cottages.
East Budleigh has had well deserved success in floral competitions over the years.
But a few years ago I did spot a voice of protest raised by 'An East Budleigh garden wildlife-lover' as shown in this poster at a window on the High Street.
Where was the decay and disorder which are part of the natural order of things, it asked. Manicured gardens were no habitat for a proper variety of wildlife, including creepy-crawlies. Hedgehogs – which I now know are one of the animals that witches turned into – had ‘gone with the wind’ lamented the poster. ‘And we haven’t seen a toad or a frog for years,’ it continued.
Above: A 16th century woodcut showing a witch feeding her toad familiars. The image is reproduced in various books regarding witchcraft, including a publication dealing with the witch trials of Elizabeth Stile, Mother Dutten, Mother Devell and Mother Margaret in Windsor, 1579
Well, we know from historical records that any elderly lady in countryside communities of the past, spotted in the company of a toad, would be likely to end up on the gallows. Prof Mark Stoyle, author of the 2017 book ‘Witchcraft in Exeter 1558-1660’ commented on the large number of cases involving toads.
‘One unfortunate old woman was spotted by a neighbour sitting by the fire with a toad in her lap, and that was enough to condemn her.’
And if you haven’t quite forgotten Thomas Hardy’s story of heathland witchcraft you may well give a second look at this sign next to the ancient holly tree on East Budleigh High Street.
Back in 2009, film maker Sandra Sykes included it in a series of films made by production company Changing Views, highlighting intriguing stories
surrounding famous old trees in the beautiful East Devon countryside. She described it as a ‘mark tree’, probably marking the boundary between two hamlets which have
merged to form the village we know today. There was no written record of it,
she discovered, ‘but as we hear, village folklore is so strong that no one
dares to cut or even trim it!’
It's true that ‘beating the bounds’ to mark boundaries is a centuries-old custom in many English
parishes, usually led by a priest and church officials. Even more ancient as recorded by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder is the belief that the holly tree protected against evil.
It’s a belief passed down through the centuries. ‘Pliny saith, the branches of the tree defend houses from lightning, and men from witchcraft,’ wrote the famous herbalist Nicholas Culpeper in his 1652 book ‘The English Physitian', a page of which is shown above.
Above: V.C. Clinton-Baddeley. Image credit: Sherborne School Archives
Yes, belief in witchcraft does seem to have been particularly strong in Devon.
The Cambridge-educated actor and author Victor Clinton-Baddeley (1900-70), born in Budleigh Salterton and buried in East Budleigh churchyard, devoted 15 pages to the subject in his study of the county, published in 1925.
‘Here is a people still living in comparative isolation – at least little troubled as yet with the cold arguments of cities and factories,’ he wrote, explaining that, in the 20th century, ‘witchcraft is still believed in.’
The many examples that Clinton-Baddeley quotes in his book ‘Devon’ do not include this curious monument at the crossroads half a mile or so outside East Budleigh village and known locally as the Brick Cross. I learnt that the original cross dates from 1580 when the Sheriff of Exeter ordered the burning of a witch at the site.
Former local resident David Leyman comments: 'The story that "everyone knew" is that the witch
was burnt there because it was at the junction of three parishes - East
Budleigh, Yettington and Bicton and nobody in any of the parishes wanted her in
their ground. This was considered neutral. The accepted name of the witch was Anne Morris or
Marrish. All this is passed down aurally;
there is, as far as I know, no documentation.'
David Leyman helpfully provided a transcription of the religious text on the four faces of the Brick Cross:
Another local, Stanley Anniss, has vivid memories of the Brick Cross from his childhood: 'As kids we believed it to be
haunted,' he wrote. 'On a dark winter's night, if I missed the bus from Otterton to East
Budleigh after Wolf Cubs, I would run like mad past it imagining all sorts of
things!!!'
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths
are peace." (West Face) "Make us to go in the paths of thy Commandments for
therein is our desire." (South Face)
"O that our ways were made so direct that we might
keep thy statutes." (East Face) "O hold thou up our Goings in thy Paths that our
Footsteps Slip not." (North Face)
'This appears to be an object lesson in not turning
to witchcraft for any solution to our problems but to rely on God only,' he commented.
The Devon Witches plaque at Rougemont Castle, Exeter, where these poor women were tried for witchcraft
The 16th and 17th centuries saw the highpoint of persecution throughout Europe. Exeter has the shameful distinction of being where the last people in England were executed for so-called witchcraft; three women - Temperance Lloyd, Susannah Edwards and Mary Trembles from Bideford - were hanged in 1682, while Alice Molland was executed in 1685.
Hanging and burnings ceased, but credulity
remained, even in the Age of Enlightenment.
At a time of imagined miracles and belief in varieties of witchcraft one
of Devon’s celebrities was the so-called prophetess Joanna Southcott, pictured above. She was revered
by tens of thousands of her followers as a saint but equally mocked as an
imposter.
Born near Ottery St Mary in 1750, she was a
farmer’s daughter brought up in a family where her grandmother was famous
locally for interpreting dreams, mixing potions and dispensing protection
against evil spirits. In her forties
Joanna Southcott developed a reputation for prophecy, eventually publishing her
writings which became best-sellers.
By 1811, still unmarried, she had become the
centre of a cult; thousands of followers believed her prophecy that at the age
of 61 she would bear a Christ of the Second Coming, to be named Shiloh. From all over Britain she received gifts for
the expected child from her Southcottians as her followers were called. Many of
these gifts are on display at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
Sadly for Mother Joanna, as she became known, nothing came of the hoped-for pregnancy and she died on 27 December 1814. For three days her followers waited for her to rise again, as she had prophesied, but finally she was interred in a cemetery in Marylebone, London.
Sadly for Mother Joanna, as she became known, nothing came of the hoped-for pregnancy and she died on 27 December 1814. For three days her followers waited for her to rise again, as she had prophesied, but finally she was interred in a cemetery in Marylebone, London.
A 19th century engraving of Budleigh after C.F. Williams and dedicated to Lady Rolle by the R.B. Paine Library, Salterton
It’s interesting to note that Southcottians could be found even in increasingly fashionable Devon seaside resorts. The Taunton Courier newspaper of 15 January 1815 ridiculed what it described as the ‘astonishing fooleries committed by the Bedlamine followers of Joanna Southcott.’
These included, the newspaper reported, ‘watch-papers curiously wrought in lace, by the female manufacturers at Budleigh Salterton, on which were designs emblematical of the miraculous pregnancy of the Old Lady!’*
*Watch papers are round decorative papers placed between the inner and outer case of a pocket watch to protect its inner workings. They also served as advertisements for watchmakers as they often included names and addresses along with elaborate designs.
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