The Witches of Elizabethan Essex

I went on a Tudor witch-hunt.

A slightly strange thing to be doing on a cold winter’s afternoon on a Sunday in January, but those of you who know me, know that I’m slightly obsessed with the witches of Essex. Essex people (mainly women) who – between the 1560s and c1680s – were legally convicted of the crime of witchcraft.

Living close to the Essex town of Maldon, I’m a mere stone’s throw from some of the major “outbreaks” of England’s Tudor witchcraft. So, hence my decision to go on a witch-hunt.

Today, I visited the village Hatfield Peverel. In this village lived one of the first people to be executed for witchcraft in England. She was executed in 1566. If Essex was Tudor witch-county (which it was), then Hatfield Peverel was witch-village. The parish had more Elizabethan witches living in it than anywhere else in Essex (and therefore, by default, anywhere in England).

Hatfield Peverel today, despite being near the City of Chelmsford, is still relatively small. It is probably better known for its a train station with fast trains into London and its very easy access to the A12.

Not many people realise that it was once a witch village.

So, I went hunting for poor Agnes Waterhouse of Hatfield Peverel – executed in Chelmsford in 1566 for being a witch. Her grandmother, sister and daughter – all of Hatfield Peverel – were witches too.

The Examination and confession of certaine wytches at Chensforde

A woodcutting of Agnes Waterhouse. Executed in 1566 for murdering William Fynee by witchcraft

Today, there is very little trace of the Tudor or medieval village. A small amount of remnants are present in a few buildings and within the names of some of the houses. Such as Priory Lodge – located where there was once a medieval priory. Later, the ruins of the former priory were heavily amended during the 18th century.

Born in the early 1500s, Agnes Waterhouse and her family would have known the original Benedictine priory. It was closed in 1536, during Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries – part of the consequences of the English Reformation. Long before her execution in 1566, as a young poor woman of the village, Agnes might have visited the priory, seeking charity and alms – such as bread and milk – for her family from its monks.

With most of the medieval/Tudor village long gone, the nearest I could get to poor Agnes was today’s parish church – St Andrew’s.

Agnes Waterhouse was born in the early 1500s – during the reign of Catholic Henry VII. Today’s parish church was originally part of the pre-Reformation Catholic priory’s church. But by the time of her trial in 1566, England had changed and was Protestant under Queen Elizabeth I’s Religious Settlement.

So much religious change happened during the 60 years of Agnes’ life.

A booklet printed at the time of her execution stated that Agnes said her prayers in Latin. A clear indication to Tudor folk that she was of the old religion – the banned Catholic faith. During Elizabeth I’s reign, England was a Protestant country and everyone was legally forced to say their prayers in English – the language of Protestantism.

Agnes’ prosecutors used the fact that she said her prayers in Latin – the language of the banned Catholic faith – as evidence that she was a witch.

Strange times…

Unfortunately, today Hatfield Peverel’s church was locked, so I couldn’t get inside it. The interior probably looks very different to how it was during Agnes’ childhood. Back then, at the start of the 1500s, the priory’s church must have been highly decorated with paintings of Catholic saints and symbolism. The interiors of English churches were white-washed on the orders, first of Henry VIII and then later by his son Edward VI.

Today, 450 years on, it was the nearest I could get to Agnes Waterhouse.

It was very peaceful in today’s churchyard – although I could hear the constant roar of the nearby A12 – East Anglia’s equivalent to a motorway. A murder of crows was calling in the churchyard’s trees (I love that expression – I’ve always wanted to say it!). But even in the coldness of the first Sunday in January, snowdrops were in full bloom.

Normally, when I’m witch-hunting, my next steps would be to look in the parish registers – baptisms, marriages and burials. It’s unlikely I’d find the burial of a convicted Essex witch– they were buried in a pit of executed criminals in Chelmsford – in unconsecrated ground. But I might find a witch’s victims buried in the local churchyard.

However a quick look at Essex Record Office’s website shows that Hatfield Peverel’s parish registers start in the early 1600s. I don’t know the complete history of St Andrew’s – particularly when it started to be the village’s parish church after the priory (and therefore it’s church) was closed. Agnes may have worshiped at another nearby church such as the one at Ulting.

So that’s one avenue of my research closed.

I didn’t quite find Agnes. But I certainly found the places where she played and roamed – and learnt her craft of being a witch – as a child in Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s England.

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By the way, many people think that the major road in Chelmsford – Waterhouse Lane – was named after her. Even Chelmsford’s local newspaper has published an article saying that it was….

But think about it carefully… Witches were feared throughout England. Would a road (even what was, in Tudor times, a small country lane) really be named after a convicted notorious and much dreaded executed witch? Moreover, poor Agnes came from Hatfield Peverel – not Chelmsford.

But then, playing devil’s advocate, maybe the lane was named after her because of her place of execution. Chelmsford’s gallows was located approximately at the start of Waterhouse Lane. The hangman’s gallows were roughly where the road called Primrose Hill now is.

Then again, would the great and good of Tudor Chelmsford really really name a road after an executed and much feared witch from Hatfield Peverel who had a cat called Satan – who spoke to her and told her to say her prayers in Latin.

I think not.

Agnes Waterhouse’s cat – Satan. Image from the 1566 pamphlet. Caption © Kate J. Cole 2014-19.

June 2026 Update

Since this article was first published in 2014, it has generated a surprising amount of discussion among historians, local researchers, genealogists and family historians interested in the 1566 Essex witchcraft trials.

In recent years I have been contacted by a number of people who believe they are descended from Agnes Waterhouse or other families connected with the village of Hatfield Peverel. Some have shared family trees, while others have pointed me towards records and sources that I had not previously encountered. The continuing interest in Agnes, Joan Waterhouse, Elizabeth Francis and the wider community of Hatfield Peverel has been both fascinating and encouraging.

As this article was originally written in 2014 (12 years ago!) some of my interpretations have changed as further evidence has come to light. In particular, the exact relationship between Agnes Waterhouse and Elizabeth Francis continues to be the subject of my research.

If you believe you have traced your ancestry to Agnes Waterhouse, Joan Waterhouse, the Francis family, or any of the other Hatfield Peverel families connected with the events of 1566, I would be very interested to hear from you. Equally, if you have come across original documents, family papers, or local traditions relating to the Waterhouse family, please do get in touch.

I am also interested to hear from people who live today in Hatfield Peverel and the surrounding villages, as I continue to build a picture of the landscape, community and daily life of Agnes’ world.

I am also delighted that the illustration of Sathan the white-spotted cat from the 1566 pamphlet, together with my accompanying caption, has found a wider audience among those discussing the history of the trials.

I remain actively engaged in researching Agnes Waterhouse, her family, and the Tudor community of Hatfield Peverel. The discoveries made since this article was first published are helping to shape a forthcoming book exploring Agnes’s life and the world of Tudor Essex in the years leading up to the 1566 witchcraft trials.

The story of Agnes Waterhouse continues to raise new questions nearly 460 years after her execution, and I am always pleased to hear from fellow researchers.

Kate J Cole
kate[at]essexvoicespast.com

Comment (3)

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