Witch's Heart, Kings Lynn

The infamous window of no. 15

With the clocks going back at the beginning of the week and Halloween approaching, we delved into a darker corner of Norfolk today. I was looking for something to chill the blood so I was excited to learn from a local expert (my wife) that there is just such a legend surrounding Kings Lynn's Tuesday Market Place.

The Tuesday Market was one of the largest markets in England in the Middle Ages when it first came about. The market still exists though much diminished. Instead the square functions mainly as a car park. Today, you can book tickets for music, comedy and cinema at the Corn Exchange, one of many historic buildings that border the square. What passed as entertainment back then was altogether more macabre. The market place was the focal point for public punishments which would draw big crowds.

The Corn Exchange

This thirst for cruelty contributed to a culture where justice was routinely overlooked. In 1590 Margaret Read was one of the many women to fall victim to the era's fascination with witchcraft. Disease would have been rife and indiscriminate in 1590 and the Enlightenment was yet to happen so people were left pondering why God had inflicted their fate upon them. They were left with the uncomfortable conclusion that this was God's vengeance for a lack of virtue or the convenient alternative of blaming someone else. The impatience to see painful retribution led to women being accused of witchcraft often on the flimsiest of pretences then tortured until they confessed. Their extorted confession would be used to justify a sadistic death sentence. 

Over the years Margaret Read's story has become somewhat confused with those of other so called witches. In one telling of the tale it was the death of her husband that led to accusations that she murdered him using witchcraft. In some cases it could be something as banal as owning a black cat or having warts that triggered suspicion.

Margaret was sentenced to be burned alive in the market square. Her legend says that as she burned her heart burst from her chest and flew into the wall of number 15 where it seared its imprint surrounded by a diamond. Her heart is said to have bounced from the wall to the nearby River Ouse where it spontaeously boiled the water like a lump of magma.

Is that a heart shape forming in between the clouds?

 

Today there was just a gentle ripple across the Ouse as it slid towards the Wash but above it the sky glowered.

 

History shows that Margaret Read was a real person and that she was far from alone in her torment. Around thirty years after Margaret's grisly fate Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General came to operate in East Anglia and consigned countless more women to their doom. 

 

If you ever visit the Tuesday Market Square, spare a thought for Margaret Read and the other tortured souls that may dwell there. Consider also that if there is any truth to the tale then her spirit surely has unfinished business in the town. Perhaps you will see a faint glow emanating from the black heart in the brickwork and a black cat prowling nearby.

Waking the Witch by Kate Bush seems apt for this post but I should warn you that the video contains some disturbing imagery.

Many thanks to my guest investigators Lisa and Ricky.