Witchcraft

Interesting Individuals: Agnes Waterhouse – The First Witch Hanged in England

With a glass of wine and the sound of bird song on a glorious summer evening, the world of 16th Century Essex could not feel further away. Turning to the dusty tome before me however, the story of Agnes Waterhouse beckons; the sixty-four year old witch from Hatfield Peverel, the first woman to be executed …

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Neither Toad Nor Stone – The Mystery of the Toadstone.

A delve into the library today turned up this fascinating object – the toadstone. These much-sought after “jewels” were actually the fossilized teeth of a of ray-finned fish called lepidotes. Possibly so called because they resembled the dull colouring of toads, they were credited with magical properties as early as the first century, where they …

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