‘The Wonderful Discovery of Witches’ Unearthing the Occult: Necromancy and Magic in Seventeenth­Century England David Barrowclough ABSTRACT Consideration is given to how elements of the occult: witchcraft, magic and sorcery may be identified in the archaeological record. Working definitions of occult terminology are established before proceeding to propose a new approach, which triangulates data from historic and folkloric sources with archaeological evidence, to establish contextual narratives that stand for the past. Excavation of an occult ritual site at Barway, Cambridgeshire is presented to demonstrate how the approach works in practice. Archaeological evidence, combined with local folklore and historic accounts of spells and sorcery, identify the site as the locus of occult activity performed by cunning folk, or ‘white’ witches, during the seventeenth­century. KEYWORDS OCCULT, CUNNING FOLK, WITCH, WITCHCRAFT, SPELL, MAGIC, SORCERY, FOLKLORE, EAST ANGLIA, ELY, SEVENTEENTH‐ CENTURY, GRIMOIRE, PENDLE WITCH TRIAL, MATTHEW HOPKINS, JOHN STEARNE. INTRODUCTION The occult world oF witchcraFt and magic has had a particularly compelling place in the popular imagination From Shakespeare’s Macbeth to J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories. WitchcraFt’s basis in historical Fact rests on the seventeenth‐century witch‐trials, most inFamous oF which were the Pendle witch‐trials at Lancaster Castle in northern England (Poole 2011); and the prosecutions pursued by Matthew Hopkins, the selF‐styled ‘WitchFinder General’, and his colleague John Stearne in East Anglia (Gaskill 2005). Although popularly enthralling academics have largely avoided serious analysis oF the occult, notable early exceptions being the Folklorist Eric Maple (1960), who published articles on two nineteenth‐century cunning men in East Anglia, and Alan MacFarlane (1970); but it was only relatively recently that the historians Ronald Hutton (1999), Jason Semmens (2004) and Malcolm Gaskill (2005) have given this subject the serious treatment it demands. Archaeologists have been even more reticent in their approach, perhaps because archaeological evidence oF witchcraFt is hard to identiFy and conFirm. The ephemeral nature oF sorcery rarely leaves permanent traces susceptible to archaeological excavation. IdentiFication oF the material culture oF occult practices is generally conFined to the recovery oF talisman: witch bottles, shoes and occasional mummiFied cats Found built into the thresholds oF dwelling houses where they served to ward oFF evil spirits. The discovery oF symbolic objects Forming a possible magic circle at Barway, close to Ely in the Cambridgeshire Fens thereFore represents a unique opportunity For a combined archaeological, historic and Folkloric study oF the practice oF witchcraFt during the seventeenth‐ century. DEFINING AND IDENTIFYING THE OCCULT BeFore proceeding to the discovery it is necessary to clariFy the terminology used in popular discussions oF the occult, as it is oFten used loosely and interchangeably in popular literature. The term ‘occult’ is used here to encompass the various practices oF ‘witches’ and ‘witchcraFt’, ‘Cunning Folk’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Magicians’, ‘Sorcery’ and ‘Spells’. The major distinction is between those who used their alleged powers and abilities For good, and those who devoted them to evil. The latter are reFerred to as ‘witches’ or ‘black witches’, to distinguish them From the ‘Cunning Folk’ (MacFarlane 1970, 130), to whom the term ‘white witch’ is sometimes applied, whose principle Function was to do good, oFten by acting as the village healer 1 or ‘blesser’. Witches were believed to derive their powers through a pact with the devil, and to be responsible For the ills, and even deaths, oF those that crossed them. A Feature oF the witch, who could be male or Female, was the satanic ‘Familiar’, who came to them in animal Form. Typically witches and cunning Folk had their roots in their local community, were poorly educated and oFten barely literate, and the distinction between the two was oFten unclear. These ‘wise’ men and women were oFten viewed ambivalently, considered as capable oF harming as oF curing. As a consequence many oF those who Found themselves accused oF witchcraFt in the seventeenth‐century were cunning Folk who had Fallen Foul oF their community. Both witches and cunning Folk practised their mysterious art through sorcery, by casting spells, which oFten involved complex rituals during which incantations based on Formulaic recitals oF special words were given. Rituals may also involve particular objects, or the sacriFice oF animals; whilst incantations oFten invoked elements oF a pseudo‐Christian liturgy, invoking the holy trinity through garbled cod Latin. For example, Following the arrest oF Peter Burbrush, a blacksmith From Ely, in 1647, he described a spell he had been taught in order to become a witch, which draws heavily on deviant Christian symbolism: ‘W[he]n a man came to the sacram[en]t, let him take the Bread and keepe it in his Hand & aFter y[a]t he hath drinke the wine to goe out w[i]th the bread in his Hand & pisse ag[ains]t the church wall at which time he shall Finde somthing like a toade or FFrogge gapeinge to receive the s[ai]d Bread and aFter y[a]t ye Party should come to the knowledge how to be a witch’ (Gaskill 2005, 266). Such was the conFusion in the popular imagination between witches and cunning Folk that Reginald Scot noted that, ‘At this day it is indiFFerent to say in the English tongue, “she is a witch” or “she is a wise woman”’ (1584). In contrast Magicians came From a narrower segment oF literate society, taking as their guide the occult stories From classical literature, and the various pseudo‐scientiFic grimoires, books oF magic. Grimoires had existed in Europe since classical times, with Further examples being produced during the medieval period, they had however remained expensive hand written items conFined to a select Few. The advent oF printing changed this, but as most were written in Latin their circulation continued to be restricted to the scholarly magicians. Within the pages oF the occult texts were the alchemic Formula For transForming one substance into another, and For practising necromancy, whereby the dead, or at least their ghost, could be summoned From the aFterliFe. First appearing in the sixteenth‐century, and developing throughout the seventeenth, were popular English translations oF the grimoires including, Albertus Magnus’ Book of Secrets (1604), James Freake’s translation oF Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1993), the English astrologer Robert Turner’s translation oF the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (1655), and most inFluential oF all, Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). Although an essential tool oF the magician some cunning Folk began to obtain these books, perhaps as much to impress their clients as to study their spells. Indeed For some the primary reason For owning them may have been cosmetic, and they may by reason oF illiteracy have been unable to make use oF any oF the magical ritual contained within. For all these reasons the identiFication in the archaeological record oF the various occult practices is Fraught with diFFiculty, with each occult practitioner developing their own individual rituals, oFten spontaneously, albeit that they deployed established symbols such as the circle. As Hutton has pointed out, cunning Folk and witches ‘appear as a remarkably heterogeneous collection oF individuals, divided by at least as many characteristics as those they had in common’ (Hutton 1999, 98). Archaeologically speaking the diFFiculty has parallels with that experienced in attempting to identiFy religious behaviour in the material record. One approach would be to attempt to develop a checklist oF Features, the presence oF which would point to a site being classed as occult in nature. Features that one might identiFy are: o The use oF a restricted range oF material culture o The use oF non‐local or rare material o The structured deposition oF material culture o The choice oF prominent location within the local landscape o The siting oF the site in relation to a prominent landscape Feature or cardinal/lunar alignment o The eFFort required in constructing the site in terms oF labour/time/resources employed o Absence oF an obvious utilitarian Function For the site 2 Although seductive, as with the identiFication oF religion (RenFrew 1994), a tick‐box approach is ultimately selF‐deFeating, creating a set oF rules to which there are as many exceptions as examples. The way Forward is not to devise a checklist oF Features presence or absence oF which might indicate the occult. Instead I suggest that a better approach is to triangulate archaeological evidence with that From historic sources and Folklore in order to construct the case For the occult. Such an approach is essentially contextual, and sensitive to the heterogeneous nature oF the data. This approach is best illustrated in practice. In the case oF Meg Shelton, archaeological evidence takes the Form oF a large boulder placed over her alleged grave at St Anne’s Church, Woodplumpton in Lancashire (Figure 1). That Meg Shelton was a real Figure is conFirmed by the historic sources, which tell us she was crippled, and accused oF the theFt oF basic staples From her neighbours, as a result oF which she became an outcast known as the ‘Fylde Hag’. History records that she, like other men and women who Failed to conForm to society, was accused oF witchcraFt, and branded variously as the Singleton or Woodplumpton witch. Folklore provides us with several instances oF her alleged powers, which Focus on an ability to shape‐shiFt, taking the Form oF an animal in order to sneak into her neighbours Farms to steal Food in various FanciFul ways. It Further provides an unconvincing account oF her death, crushed to death between a barrel and a wall, Following which she was said to have twice dug herselF out oF her grave to haunt her neighbours, prompting them to Finally bury her head First down a vertical shaFt capped‐oFF by a large boulder to prevent her rising From the dead any more (Fishwick, 1891).