The Witches of St Osyth: Persecution, Murder and Betrayal in Elizabethan England

Marion Gibson reconstructs the witchcraft accusations that divided St Osyth and neighbouring Essex communities in 1581–82. Sixteen women and one man were accused of sorcery, while Ursley Kempe and Elizabeth Bennett were taken to Chelmsford and hanged in March 1582. Others died in prison or faced prosecution as suspicion spread through the surrounding parishes.

Drawing on archival material and a close reading of an earlier account, Gibson follows the case beyond St Osyth itself. The book considers events in Little Clacton, the Sokens, Little Oakley and Beaumont cum Moze, examining local relationships, testimony and the pressures behind the accusations. It also asks how this episode has been recorded, remembered and interpreted, placing a notorious Elizabethan witch-hunt within its wider social setting.