Rosina Massey, the witch of Witchcraft Bottom

In Ashridge Park lies Witchcraft Bottom, where a poet's wife was said to have frozen the woodmen's axes in the trees.

Witchcraft Bottom is a hollow in Ashridge Park, once a hamlet on the old route south from Ivinghoe common and Ringshall. Its ancient name gained a story in Victorian times, when a woman named Rosina Jane Massey lived there. She was reported to be a heavy drinker and to have strange powers. One tale says that when the woodmen told her off for gathering their wood chips, she cast a spell that left their axes stuck fast in the trees until she had taken all she wanted. The name itself is far older than her stay.