Iron bars in this window of the ancient Moot Hall at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, UK, are a reminder of seven women, accused of witchcraft, held in cells here in 1645, during the first English Civil War, by ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins. The Aldeburgh women, executed in February 1646, were among scores of people he sent to the gallows.
Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, UK: in 1645, during the first English Civil War, seven women accused of witchcraft by ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins were held in the two prison cells inside the town’s Moot Hall. Guards watched to see if the women were visited by ‘unfamilar spirits’, and in February 1646, all seven were hanged. Today, the iron bars of this tiny window in the east front, surrounded by cut stone, pebbles and flints, recall the terror wrought on East Anglia by Hopkins, whose career as a witch-hunter flourished from March 1644 until his retirement and early death in 1647. Hopkins, author of ‘The Discovery of Witches’, was born around 1620 at Great Wenham, Suffolk, son of a Puritan minister. He claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although Parliament never gave him that title. Between 1644 and 1646, he was responsible for the execution of scores of alleged witches. With his colleague, John Stearne, he sent more accused people to the gallows than all the witch-hunters in England of the previous 160 years. The timber-framed Moot Hall, built in about 1520, has generally had a much happier history. It began life as a market house and has spent the last 400 years as the centre of local government in the town. Aldeburgh Town Council is still based there, sharing the Hall’s two floors with the exhibits of Aldeburgh Museum. Aldeburgh was once an important port and flourishing shipbuilding centre. It gained borough status in Tudor times, but declined as the River Alde silted up and large ships could no longer berth. Much of Tudor Aldeburgh was lost to coastal erosion, but the town survived on fishing until the 1800s, when it became a seaside resort. It is now best known as the home of composer Benjamin Britten (1913-76), and for arts activities centred on the Snape Maltings complex.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Moot Hall, Market Cross Place, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, UK.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1500s, 1520, 1600s, 16th, 17th, aldeburgh, alleged, anglia, barred, bars, beachfront, building, built, captivity, cell, cells, century, civic, civil, council, councillors, cross, , east, eastern, england, english, executions, gallows, general, government, grade, hall, hanged, hopkins, iron, jail, kerr, kingdom, leaders, listed, local, lock-, market, matthew, meetings, metal, moot, museum, place, prison, seafront, stone, suffolk, superstition, terence, town, trials, tudor, uk, united, war, wars, window, witch, witch-hunter, witchcraft, witches, witchfinder
