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LEGEND
Which Witch Is the Worst Witch? T
In the supernatural world, spells, incantations, rituals and magic are commonplace, though in the rational world these things take some explaining. Shaun Cooper offers a few thoughts and examples on the folklore of witchcraft in Sussex
here are over 60 places in Sussex with definite reports of witches, with the range of witch legends from across the county being both broad and interesting. Generally, Sussex witch legends are typical of those found across Britain. Many witches were reputed to be shape-changers and whimsical stories are commonplace. A witch from Duddleswell called Dame Garson could change into a hare when she wanted to spy on people. Although it might have been supposed that all witches could change their shape, only about a third of county witch legends feature that sort of thing. Yarns concerning witches who could immobilise horses and wagons also proved popular. Witches who immobilised horses and wagons, or wagons-and-teams, were believed to have used their sorcery at Albourne, Hurstpierpoint, Laughton, Wigperry, Plumpton, Ditchling, West Grinstead, Crowborough, Horsted Keynes, and Hadlow Down, to name but just a few locations. Belief in witchcraft lingered long in some of the more rural parts of Sussex, and so it has quite a few unusual witch legends – Old Martha, of Plumpton is a notable example. My favourite tale about Old Martha is the one Marcus Woodward recounts in The Mistress of Stanton’s Farm (1938) concerning the time she chased him down a hill, running backwards, and brandishing long knives. He also tells of an incident that occurred near East Chiltington. ‘A carter making a journey to Lewes on a dark night with a loaded wagon saw something spring up at the horse’s heads, by which they were thrown into a great fright, and how it turned into a hare which he struck with his whip, and how the hare then materialised into Old Martha.’ A very similar old tale was published in the Kent & Sussex Courier in 1932 about a Crowborough witch who leaped at the horses in the form of a black dog. An even earlier version
May 2021 | SUSSEX LIVING 99
