Historical England

Featuring MANNINGTREE, ESSEX

By: Angie Christie

Dear Readers of The Night Watchman Chronicles magazine: Chris, our editor, thinks a few stories of my part of the world would interest those of you who reside overseas. I do hope you all agree with her.

This time, I would like you to imagine you are in the very picturesque town of Manningtree, in the county of Essex, near the North Sea Coast. The origin of the name Manningtree is little known. This town became, in Tudor times, a thriving port know as Manytre. Beautiful walks and flat fronted facades can be seen, many of which conceal Tudor or Elizabethan houses.

There is, in the town, an ancient site where a market has been for centuries. The center is still known as Market Cross. Also in this part of East Anglia are many beautiful walks and the River Stour is very beautiful as it meanders its way through towns and villages in Essex and Suffolk. Much of the wealth of the town in those days came from the cloth trade. You can see some examples of the cottages that weavers used, standing in Brook Street and South Street. Two ancient coaching inns with stable yards can be seen in the high street. Next to Manningtree is another town of Mistley, both important brewing centers and ports.

Some facts for you all.

Manningtree was the home of the Manni Tribe which greeted Caesar in 55 B.C.

Manningtree smugglers, in 1872, were caught with 168 gallons of gin at Manningtree. Hic!!!

The Shir Burn, a Lawford stream, drove the only overshot watermill in Essex at the time of the Domesday book.

And, last but not least, Manningtree was the home of the infamous Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General, who began his infamous career of terror in 1644.

Hopkins earned 15 to 23 pounds per town clearing it of "witches". This was a huge sum of money as the normal person's daily wage was as little as 2.05 pennies per day.

Hopkins was a Puritan, dressing very well in Puritan tunic and cloak and employed two assistants as he went about his shocking work in East Anglia.

Under the Witchcraft Act of 1563, death by hanging was reserved for those found guilty of murder or sorcery. These setbacks did not worry Hopkins as he managed to have between 200 and 400 people executed. In this county of Suffolk, where I live, 68 souls were executed. His name sent terror throughout East Anglia and many, many innocent souls were sent to their deaths.

Hopkins made use of a retractable bladed knife that would not pierce the skin of the accused. As his reputation grew, his ego grew even bigger. He was a trickster, whilst seeming honest in his beliefs that he, as Witchfinder General, could rid the countryside of "witches". His name and reputation was feared as he continued his evil calling.

One such victim of hate and superstition was John Lowe, aged 70, clergyman of the village of Brandeston. Accused of witchcraft, he "swum in the moat", was kept awake for three days and nights, and then forced to walk without rest until his feet blistered. Denied the benefit of clergy, Lowe recited his own burial service on the way to the gallows.

One way to extract a "confession" was to find warts or spots on the body. Moles were also a favorite with Hopkins, as well as women who owned any kind of a pet. He would make the accusation that the pets were a "witch's familiar." One lady he extracted a false confession out of was a Faith Mills of Fressingham, who admitted under duress and torture that her pet birds, Tom, Robert and John, were HER familiars who had magically made a cow jump over a sty and break a cart. The woman was hanged.

Hopkins started his reign of terror in Manningtree when a one legged lady name Elizabeth Clarke was accused of being a witch and an enemy of God. She must have been absolutely terrified as, before the end of her torment and torture, she had named thirty one more accomplices.

It was believed also that a witch would not have the baptism water, so they were thrown into a river or lake whilst having a rope tied to them. If they floated, they were witches, if they sank, they were innocent. Of course, most sank, but were pulled out, and although they were, of course, innocent of such awful charges, still were hanged.

Eventually, Hopkins realized opposition to his evil persecutions was growing. In 1646, John Gaule, a Reverend Puritan Minister of Great Stoughton, wrote a pamphlet called "Select Cases of Conscience toward Witches and Witchcraft" exposing Hopkin's methods. John Gaule also preached against Hopkins' brutality from his pulpit, hinting that Hopkins himself was a witch.

In retaliation, Hopkins published his own pamphlet which he called "The Discovery of Witchcraft". At last, the end was near for Matthew Hopkins' reign of terror.

Two accounts exist of his demise: One said he was accused of witchcraft and hanged. The other stated that he died in his bed of tuberculosis. These theories are debatable.

There ends our visit to Manningtree, Essex.

Before I finish, I will say that Colchester Castle imprisoned people, wrongfully accused. I have visited their prison there, and Readers, it is not a nice atmosphere at all.

I do hope you have enjoyed hearing about this historic English town in the heart of East Anglia, and later, I will be telling you of the history of Colchester and the Castle that has stood on the site of an earlier Roman Temple, but that is for the next issue.