Witchy Wednesday, The Witch of Edmonton.

- November 26, 2025

Welcome to another Witchy Wednesday with me Kat Hazelton.

Elizabeth Sawyer lived in Winchmore Hill. She was rumoured to be a witch long before she was charged. Her penchant for oaths and blasphemies had made her suspect, and was claimed to have provided the Devil with his first access to her.
Information from Wikipedia.

Elizabeth Sawyer (died 1621), also known as the Witch of Edmonton or Mother Sawyer, was an English woman convicted and executed for witchcraft in 1621. Her case became one of the most well-known witch trials of the Stuart age and inspired a famous play, The Witch of Edmonton.

Elizabeth Sawyer was a poor, one-eyed, and elderly woman living on the fringes of her community in Winchmore Hill, in the parish of Edmonton, North London. She was widely ostracized by her neighbors due to her physical appearance and a reputation for using oaths and blasphemies. Long before formal accusations, local rumors had associated misfortunes with her.

The specific accusation that led to her arrest occurred after an argument with a neighbor, Agnes Ratcliffe, who had hit Sawyer's pig with a stick. Sawyer threatened to harm her, and when Ratcliffe died by an unknown illness four days later, Ratcliffe on her deathbed accused Sawyer of causing her death by witchcraft.

Based on her confession and the supposed witch's mark, Elizabeth Sawyer was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was hanged at Tyburn (near modern-day Hyde Park) on April 19, 1621.

Her case was quickly documented by Reverend Goodcole in a widely read pamphlet titled The Wonderful Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer, a Witch (1621). The story was also the inspiration for the Jacobean play The Witch of Edmonton, written by Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley, which was performed shortly after her execution. This play offered a socio-economic commentary on how poor, marginalized women were treated and often led to accusations of witchcraft.

The play.