The Six Witches of Canewdon

Canewdon ahead, where they said six witches would live here for as long as that church tower stands.

Canewdon has long been called the witch village of Essex. Philip Benton, writing in 1867, recorded the local saying that as long as the church steeple stands there will always be six witches in Canewdon. Later retellings add that a stone falls from the tower whenever a witch dies, and that running anticlockwise round the church at Halloween will call up the Devil. The reputation has real roots: in 1580 Rose Pye of Canewdon was accused of witchcraft, and though acquitted she died in jail. Later claims that the Victorian George Pickingill led a coven here have been shown to be invented.