Back in August 2020 the family decided to take a drive out of Bishops Stortford for a drink and something to eat in a country pub. At the time pubs in the area were under what became the Tier 1 restrictions. In the event, a farm shop intervened and I didn't get my pint, but we did pay a visit to somewhere new that has made a grisly contribution to the County of Essex's history.
A friend had recently mentioned the existence of stocks and a whipping post in the area of Helmans Cross. Lying at a junction in the road, Hellmans Cross is at the centre of the Parish of Great Canfield in Essex. By virtue of its central location and I dare say visibility to people passing through the area, it was the site for those common tools of corporal punishment and public humiliation for those breaking the laws of the day, the stocks and the whipping post.
As indicated by a sign fixed on the railings enclosing these grim reminders of our past, the replicas were returned to the site by the Parish Council to mark the millenium.
However, of more interest to me was the second piece of information imparted by the plaque which stated that this was also the site at which a local woman of Hellmans, one Elizabeth Abbot, suffered the horrendous fate of being burned at the stake in 1683, having been convicted of practising witchcraft.
Witch trials in Essex had been common place, peaking at the time of the English Civil War. Poor unfortunate women (in the vast majority) were brought before County Assizes by Matthew Hopkins and his assistant John Stearn. Hopkins, the self-proclaimed 'Witchfinder General' and his team of 'investigators' were responsible for the conviction and execution by hanging of an estimated 100 'witches', many having been resident in the towns and villages of Essex.
Witch trials petered out in the middle of the 17th Century with the restoration of the monarchy, so in this respect Elizabeth Abbot's conviction and punishment would have been one of the last in the area. Another peculiarity of Abbot's case is the means employed for her execution. Under English law the penalty for witchcraft was death by hanging and not by being burned at the stake. It may be the case that after the sentence had been carried out Elizabeth's remains were burned in order to destroy the body, an act born out of fear perhaps? Of course this is just speculation on my part but this could explain how this manner of execution has passed down through the last 350 years.
Internet based efforts to learn more of Elizabeth Abbot's case have come to nothing as far as I can see which is rather sad.
A chilling though is that witchcraft is still alive and well in Africa to this day.
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