Show Notes
The year is 1716. The place is Huntingdon, a small market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The Enlightenment is spreading across Europe. The scientific revolution is gathering pace. The last person condemned for witchcraft in England—Jane Wenham—had been pardoned by Queen Anne just four years earlier. The age of reason, it seemed, had finally arrived. But in Huntingdon, the old beliefs still held. Mary Hicks and her nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were accused of witchcraft by a neighbour who claimed they had cursed his cattle. The evidence was thin. The case was flimsy. The magistrate who committed them to trial admitted he had his doubts. They were tried at the Huntingdon Assizes on 28 July 1716. The jury took little time to deliberate. Both mother and daughter were found guilty. They were sentenced to death by hanging. www.roamingraven.co.uk
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