The Guilsborough Witches
On 22 July 1612 four women and one man were hanged at Abingdon Gallows, Northampton for the crime of witchcraft. Two of the five women: Agnes Brown and her daughter Joan Vaughan (or Varnham) were from Guilsborough.
They were accused of bewitching a local noblewoman, Elizabeth Belcher and her brother-in-law Master Avery and of killing, by sorcery, a child and numerous livestock.
Although the hangings can be legitimately traced back to actual historic events, the story most commonly repeated is of less certain origins. The tale is that there was an elderly witch called Mother Roades, who lived just outside Ravensthorpe. Before she could be arrested and tried for her crimes of sorcery, she died. Her final words told of her friends riding to see her, but that it did not matter because they would meet again in some other place before the month was out. Her friends were apprehended riding on the back of a sow between Guilsborough and Ravensthorpe. They were taken into custody and hanged.
The problem with this story is that, although Agnes Brown remains a constant upon the pig's back, her companions swap names depending on the version being read. Three witches were on the pig, but the potential riders, other than Agnes Brown (who appears as one of the riders in all versions), are: Kathryn Gardiner, Alice Abbott, Alice Harrys and Joan Lucas.
It would appear from records that all of these accused stood trial together, however the reporting only covers the hangings of one day in 1612, so the fates of the others are not known.
The Northampton witch trials were a significant event, not because of the accusations themselves, but because it was one of the earliest documented cases in which the "dunking" method was used in Britain.
Guilsborough used to have its own version of Black Annis / Black Agnes (a bogeyman figure in Engliah folklore) who lived in Pell's Pool. This was a deep pool which stood off Cold Ashby Lane and was used by the local fire service as a water supply for many years. The pool has now dried up and a house stands there. Young boys and girls were told not to go walking by the pool at night otherwise a witch would drag them down into the water.
Joan Vaughan allegedly "committed something either in speech, or gesture, so unfitting, and unseming the nature of woman-hood, that it displeased the most that were there present," deeply offending Mistress Belcher. Belcher struck Vaugan for the transgression, and forced her out of her company. Vaughan, enraged, replied "she would remember this injury, and revenge it." Belcher was unimpressed, and ended the encounter by saying that Vaughan "neither seared her nor her mother: but bad her doe her worst." Vaughan is said to have reported this altercation to her mother, Agnes Brown, and they decided to take revenge on Belcher, after a wait of three or four days to avoid suspicion.
Mistress Belcher is allegedly suddenly struck with an intolerable pain in her body, which has the side effect of horribly disfiguring her face. While in pain, Belcher is heard crying out, "Here comes Joane Vaughan, away with Joane Vaughan.
Master Avery, hearing of Mistress Belcher's affliction, comes to see his sister and is moved by her woeful condition. While at her bedside, he allegedly hears her "cry out against Joane Vaughan alias Varnham, and her mother," and becomes convinced that Belcher has been afflicted by witchcraft when a neighbour reports the altercation between Vaughan and Belcher.
Master Avery allegedly decides that the only way to help his sister, Mistress Belcher, is to draw blood from Agnes Brown and Joan Vaughan. He attempts to approach their home to lure them out, but is forcibly prevented from getting close by an invisible barrier. Though he tries two or three more times, he is always halted at the same spot.
Master Avery, defeated by his inability to help Mistress Belcher, returns to his own home, only to realize that he, too, has earned the enmity of Agnes Brown and Joan Vaughan. Confident that he cannot reach them, they allegedly cause him to suffer the same torments and fits as his sister.
Agnes Brown and Joan Vaughan are apprehended by Sir William Saunders and brought to Northampton Gaol.
It is alleged that, a fortnight before Agnes Brown's apprehension, she was seen riding a sow with Katherine Gardiner and Joan Lucas at night to visit an old witch named Mother Rhoades. However, Mother Rhoades is said to have died while the three were en route, and cried out with her last breath that "she would meet with them in another place within a month after.
Pell's Pool
Guilsborough used to have its own version of Black Annis (demon/witch) who lived in Pell's Pool. This was a deep pool which stood off Cold Ashby Lane . The pool has now dried up and a house stands there. Young boys and girls were told not to go walking by the pool at night otherwise a witch would drag them down into the water.
Joan(e) Lucas
I have yet to find out anything about Joan. In is likely that this was a married name, therefore could have married a male member of the family
The Guilsborough Witches