Devonshire Witches

Set against the rugged moorlands and storm‑tossed coasts of Devon, this vivid account explores how landscape and belief intertwined to fuel a deep‑seated fear of witchcraft. Drawing on contemporary records, the author traces the rise of persecution from early statutes to the fervent campaigns of James I, showing how ordinary villagers turned suspicion into courtroom drama.

The narrative turns to a striking episode in 1682, when three aging women in Bideford—known locally as trouble‑makers—become the focal point of a community terrified by unexplained deaths and maladies. Their repeated hearings, the locals’ desperate appeals to “wise men,” and the looming specter of the gallows bring the era’s harsh justice into stark relief. Listeners are invited to feel the tense atmosphere of a time when superstition and law moved hand in hand, before rationalism began to unravel the witch‑hunt fabric.