Witch
The Paxton Witch
A tipped cart, an angry mob, and pins in the dark.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Saxon minster church in the village where it happened
- Legend from
- Regency, 1808
- Tone
- Dark history
Great Paxton, 1808: a cart tipped over, and the village decided a woman named Ann Izzard had done it with a look.
In the hard times of 1808, people in Great Paxton began blaming their troubles on Ann Izzard, a labourer's wife. A grocer's wife had a fit, butter would not churn, and in May a cart loaded with corn and groceries overturned on the way back from St Neots. Neighbours said Ann had bewitched it. That night a mob broke into the Izzards' lonely cottage, dragged her from bed and scratched her with pins to draw blood, an old charm against witches, then attacked her again the next day. The rector defended her and the attackers were tried and jailed. Farm hands were still carrying charms against her years later.