The tragic story of a Cambridgeshire woman accused of witchcraft more than two centuries ago is shedding light on how fear, superstition and social exclusion continued to fuel violent persecution long after Britain’s witch trials had officially ended.
Ann Izzard, born Ann Rowe in 1765, became the target of a campaign of harassment and violence in the village of Great Paxton in 1808, after neighbours blamed her for a series of unexplained illnesses and misfortunes.
Although Parliament had repealed witchcraft laws decades earlier, local superstition remained deeply rooted in many rural communities, leaving vulnerable individuals at risk of persecution.
Ann married agricultural labourer Wright Izzard in 1780, and the couple eventually settled in Great Paxton after falling into poverty. Unable to find regular employment, they relied on parish relief (the welfare system of the time) and were housed in a small cottage on the edge of the village, physically and socially separated from the wider community.
The couple raised at least six children while living on parish assistance. When those payments ended in 1808, the family’s financial situation deteriorated sharply. It is believed Ann began begging for food, further reinforcing her status as an outsider in the eyes of local villagers.
Illness Sparks Witchcraft Allegations
That same year, several local families accused Ann of causing mysterious illnesses among their children. Parents claimed she had bewitched youngsters, including Alice Brown, who suffered from epilepsy, as well as Fanny Amey and Mary Fox, whose children experienced unexplained fits.
With little understanding of neurological disorders and disease, many villagers turned to supernatural explanations. Despite efforts by the village curate, Reverend Isaac Nicholson, to dismiss the rumours and calm tensions, accusations against Ann continued to spread.
One father reportedly attempted to identify Ann as a witch by heating a bottle filled with his daughter’s urine and pins over a fire, a folk ritual believed to reveal the identity of a witch. The ritual, unsurprisingly, produced no evidence.
Violent Mob Justice
The situation escalated dramatically in May 1808 after villagers blamed Ann for overturning a cart returning from St Neots market.
The night of 8 May, an angry crowd came into her home, dragged her naked from her bed and attacked her. Believing that drawing blood would weaken a witch’s powers, they scratched her arms with pins until they bled.
After the attack, Ann found refuge with her neighbour, Alice Russell, who tended to her injuries despite risking the wrath of the mob. Russell was soon branded a witch herself, and the emotional toll of the accusations proved devastating. She reportedly suffered a seizure and died only days later.
Ann was assaulted again just over a week after the first attack. The mob dragged her from her bed for a second time, beat her and threatened to subject her to the infamous “ducking” test, in which suspected witches were thrown into water. According to popular belief, those who floated were guilty, while those who sank were innocent—a test that could be fatal.
The second attack prompted authorities to intervene. Several villagers involved in the assaults were arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to one month’s imprisonment in Huntingdon Gaol. However, the convictions did little to end the harassment.
Ann and her family remained in Great Paxton for several more years, but in 1813 further accusations were levelled against both Ann and her youngest daughter, Ruth, resulting in additional legal action against villagers responsible for spreading the allegations. Soon afterwards, the family left Great Paxton and settled in nearby St Neots, hoping to escape the hostility.
A Reputation That Endured
Even after her move, there were rumours of Ann’s supernatural power. Local folklore claimed she rode a broomstick through churchyards, spoiled butter-making by preventing cream from churning, and threatened neighbours with curses if they refused her food.
These stories were entwined with local tradition and continued to be told well into the twentieth century, long after Ann died. Ann Izzard died in 1838, several years after her husband, and was buried in an unmarked grave at St Mary’s Church in St Neots.
Historians regard Ann Izzard’s experience as one of the last documented cases of communal witch persecution in England. While formal witch trials had ended by the nineteenth century, her story shows that belief in witchcraft and the willingness of communities to act violently upon those beliefs was alive and well in rural England for generations.
