00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Chronicles live here on KMTV where we explore all of Kent's history
00:22from the medieval era to the industrial revolution and everything in between. I'm Tia Chalice and
00:28join me as we turn back time on the clock of the county and for this week we are diving into the
00:33mysterious history of folklore and witchcraft. First up this evening we have our long-standing
00:39landmark and earlier I spoke with Eleanor Gonzalez to give a bit more insight into a statue in Maidstone
00:45that pays tribute to women who were executed under the Witchcraft Act of 1562. Let's see what she found
00:51out. First of all can I ask you a little bit about this week's landmark and how it relates to our
01:03topic of witchcraft and folklore? Of course so this week's landmark it's not quite as long-standing
01:08as we would expect from some of the other long-standing landmarks we've looked at but
01:13it's more representative of a long-standing history of the area. So it's called the Meeting Point
01:18Statue it's on the screen behind me and it was unveiled in Penenden Heath last year on the 30th
01:23of October. It's made up of three figures who are from across all of the centuries. There is a Royalist
01:29Cavalier from the 1600s, a Victorian cricketeer and the figure that most interests us this week who is
01:35the Healer Woman. So the Healer Woman is a tribute to the hundreds of women who were executed under the
01:40Witchcraft Act. A lot of these women were executed for being widows, midwives but also for being healers
01:47because these were kinds of jobs that came under suspicion. And can I ask you why Penenden Heath?
01:53What are its links to witchcraft? So among the thousands of women that were executed for witchcraft
01:59there were seven that were hanged at Penenden Heath in 1652. It was done publicly as well with the idea
02:08that not only was it punishing the women who were being accused but it was also a way of dissuading
02:14the public from following in the same footsteps. So the idea was to scare them. Thanks for that
02:19insight. And why did Maidstone Borough Council commission this statue? So in early October last
02:25year Maidstone Borough Council wrote to the government asking for a government pardon for all the women
02:32that were executed. So on top of that this is just an extra tribute to those women. They worked with a
02:40father and son team, Thomas and Gary Thrussell, to design the statue.
02:51And now it's time to head down to Whitstool Beach to find out how people used to protect themselves
02:57against alleged witchcraft. Our reporter Crystal McPherson went down there on a hunt to discover
03:02hagstones. Let's see if she managed to find any in this week's Alluring Artifacts.
03:15I'm here at Whitstool Beach helping to get my hands on some mystical pebbles also known as hagstones.
03:20Hagstones, also known as adderstones or witchstones, are rocks typically made of flint with holes in them
03:26that for centuries have been believed to ward off witchcraft of any kind. They can be found all over
03:31the world along pebble beaches, but especially here in Kent. There are several reasons for people
03:37believing these stones can protect against witches. Firstly, it's a commonly held belief that magic
03:42cannot work on objects that water can run through. Therefore, a hagstone can supposedly repel the spells
03:48of witches thanks to the unique holes that are formed by water. Hagstones are believed to be portals that
03:54look into the fairy world and thus can also help with an individual's luck, with good luck passing
04:00through the middle of the stone while bad luck gets caught. Across Britain, hagstones were used on
04:05barns, ships, window sills, and keys, all in hopes of warding off curses and evil. It's also believed that
04:12wearing hagstones as jewelry can offer you personal protection from the dark arts. But what do you think?
04:18Do you believe these pebbles are portals that can truly invite luck and protection? Crystal Macpherson for KMTV
04:33Now, how well do you know your history? It's time for this week's Tea Time Trivia with Louis Stevens.
04:38What is claimed to be the most haunted village in Kent?
04:46Um, I've heard about somewhere nearby. I forgot what it's called. Bluebell Hill. St. Sheerness as one.
04:57The answer is Pluckley. Known as the most haunted village in England, Pluckley is home to the world
05:03record of claimed hauntings. Resident to anywhere between an alleged 10 to 17 ghosts, garnering the
05:09most haunted village rumour in 1950 and entering the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989. The rumours
05:15surround various ghosts such as a white lady who was buried within seven coffins and an oak sarcophagus,
05:21as well as the spectre of a highwayman and a colonel.
05:24And for this week's A Town Through Time, we asked the people of Canterbury their beliefs on the ducking
05:33stool in the city centre and what they thought it was used for. Then our reporter Lucy Keane investigated
05:39further. A quick disclaimer, as this includes a mildly graphic description of some of the acts
05:45done to individuals accused of witchcraft. I think, um, the ducking stairs, um,
05:55it's, were those used for, like, trials or anything? Well, I heard it's a replica and,
06:01when I went on one of the boat trips around here, they basically told me that it was used to punish
06:08women who disobeyed their hospital. As far as I'm aware, I'm thinking it was to
06:15dunk women, um, possibly, um, accused of witchcraft. I'm here at the heart of Canterbury at the River
06:21Stow and just nearby is a ducking stool located by Old Weaver's House that is commonly believed in
06:28Canterbury's folklore to have been used in witchcraft trials to determine the guilt of an individual.
06:34I spoke to local punter Dylan McCohen to inquire a bit more about the locals' beliefs in the alleged
06:40witchcraft and folklore in Canterbury and Kent. Ducking stools, sometimes called cooking stools
06:45as well, they were used as a form of punishment, contrary to the popular belief that they were used,
06:51or popular myth, that they were used as a trial for witches. There's been, there's been a lot of myths
06:56throughout the years of, um, of witches here in Canterbury. There's been a lot of different tests
07:01as well. One test that I, that I heard from Apunter who also works here is, it's this test,
07:06they have a retractable nail inside a pole and the belief that, uh, witches could not bleed,
07:11that if you could not bleed you were the devil. So, they would poke the young woman with the,
07:16the long stick with the nail sticking out and of course she would bleed and everybody would know
07:19she's not a witch as she could bleed. Now in the commotion they would retract the nail just enough
07:25that it would still, um, pierce the, they would still, uh, dent the skin but not pierce it enough for
07:30it to bleed. So, they would poke her with it, they would see the hole in their skin but no blood was
07:35coming out so she was said then to be a witch. Although the Witchcraft Act was brought into
07:39the court of law in the 16th century, academic research from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust
07:45strongly suggests that the ducking stall was not used for witchcraft trials in that time period.
07:50However, in the 7th century in Canterbury there is a history of genuine ecclesiastical laws
07:55punishing witchcraft as a crime. The Archbishop of Canterbury of that time, Theodore of Tarsus,
08:01wrote such laws in the Penitential Theodore which address alleged magical activities and explicitly
08:07mentions women in relation to supposed witchcraft and one punishment that included fasting a year
08:13long on bread and water for those practicing magic. And now we know a little more about witchcraft in
08:19Canterbury and popular folklore that has remained prominent for locals across the years. Lucy Keen for
08:25KMTV in Canterbury.
08:27And finally for our Periodic Profile we have Reginald Scott. He was the first of his time to go against
08:37the typical, rejecting widespread beliefs in witchcraft and sorcery. Earlier this week I spoke with Rebecca
08:44Raines, a historical researcher who has written an academic journal about Reginald Scott. Let's take a look.
08:49What can you tell us about Reginald Scott? Who was he? Reginald Scott was a 16th century radical
09:06humanitarian. He was born at Scott's Hall sometime between 1534 to 1541. Historians don't really know
09:17exactly when he was born due to the fact that his birth registry isn't recorded at Smeet Parish nor is
09:26it at or has it been found at Scott's Hall. What drove you to write your journal on him? I really took
09:32an interest in Scott when I took a course during my undergrad called the History of Witchcraft and
09:39Magic in the West. Our research papers had to focus on a primary source and Scott's book
09:47was on the list. I wanted to know who he was, who were his friends, where was he born, what did he do?
09:54Like basically anything about his life. What drove him to bust the myth of the supernatural would you say?
10:02I would say it would be a combination of his upbringing, his obscure interests
10:09and his also unique belief in magic and religious standings may have helped debunk the witchcraft
10:26ideas at the time. He did lead in the existence of the spirit of the devil, god, and the holy spirit. He just
10:33didn't believe that spirits could take physical form. That's where he started debunking a bit of the
10:40witchcraft stuff, where it was supposedly the physical form of the devil that these women
10:46made packs with. And he said, how is that possible? On top of that, Reginald Scott, he was very interested in
10:55all sorts of different texts. He was a very well-read man. He went to university. He didn't get a degree,
11:04but it looks like he was studying law because the way discovery is constructed, it looks like a lot of
11:15legal documents at the time.
11:23Well, it looks like that was one for the history books. You've been watching Kent Chronicles live
11:28on KMTV. Don't forget though, there's always history happening around us. And if you have a story you
11:34think we should be covering, then get in touch. But for now, that's all we have time for. See you soon.
11:39Goodbye.
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