Witchcraft in Gt Yarmouth

Matthew Hopkins

Great Yarmouth has had it's fair share of witchcraft in years gone by.  In 1645 Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinders General, visited Great Yarmouth to find these witches.  Yarmouth Assembly actually invited him here to find witches.  Eleven people went to The Tolhouse (which is now a Museum) to be tried before the court there.  Two of these eleven people were men.  Five of the eleven people tried were hanged.  These were:-

• Alice Crissell
• Bridgetta Howard
• Maria Blackborne
• Elizabeth Dudgeon
• Elizabeth Bradwell.

Mary and Rebecca Town were sisters and were accused of black magic.  They were hanged in 1692.  Mary Town was baptized in St Nicholas Church (now St Nicholas Minster).  She was finally exonerated 20 years after her hanging.  In September of 1646 there were no trials against witchcraft.  And there was only one case in April 1647.

Regarding Matthew Hopkins, he was a witchfinder general from 1644 until 1647, so his career only spanned three years.  He died on 12 August 1647 and is buried in St Mary's Church in Mistley Heath, Essex.  It is strange to think that he thought that a wart or mole to be a mark of the devil.  Just in Bury St Edmunds he had 68 people put to death.  You can't imagine the fear these people must have gone through, can you?