It’s been a while since I posted anything here as I’ve been distracted with everything (gestures towards the state of the world and the pandemic). During 2020 I could only read familiar things such as Lord of the Rings but this year, I have managed to read some non-fiction books. Here are some short reviews of some of the history books I’ve read.

A Tale of Two Towns: Calleva and Reading by John Mullaney published in 2020. John has written several books on local history and publishes them locally as Scallop Shell Press along with books by other local authors. John describes himself as a syncretic historian who draws upon the research of experts in many fields. In this book he looks at the origins of Reading and how it became the most important urban centre for the area. As the title suggests he looks at the Roman town of Calleva, the remains of which can be found near the North Hampshire village of Silchester; various artifacts from early archaeological digs at Calleva can be found in Reading Museum. The book starts before Calleva with the earliest human settlements in this area then the pre-Roman Iron Age, and then the Roman invasion and the creation of Calleva. John then describes the decline of Calleva after the disintegration of the Roman Empire and how the centre of power moves away and the founding of Reading in the Anglo-Saxon period. He looks at the evidence for where Reading started, was it around St. Mary’s Minster or near where the Abbey was built; the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. The book concludes with Reading after the Norman invasion and the founding of the Abbey. At only 140 pages, the book is a gallop across the centuries and covers a lot of topics but is well worth reading by anyone interested in why Reading is here as the Berkshire County town.

The Witches of Selwood: Witchcraft Belief and Accusation in Seventeenth-century Somerset by Andrew Pickering published by Hobnob Press in 2021. This book is a major revision of an earlier book by Andrew Pickering called Witches of Selwood: Witchcraft and Demonism in Somerset, 1625-1700 published in 2017 and now hard to find. Selwood Forest is an area which overlaps Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire which produced two important seventeen-century books on witchcraft, Richard Bernard’s Guide to the Grand-Jury Men (1627) and Joseph Glanville’s Saducismus Triumphatus (1681). The book is centred on witchcraft accusations in the village of Beckington in 1689 and links that case with other witchcraft accusations in the local area. This local study places the witchcraft accusations within the context of the social history of the area, the role of the local important families and Bernard’s and Glanville’s books. Andrew’s book uses a wide variety of local primary sources and many secondary sources. A curious omission from the sources cited is independent researcher Ian Powell’s excellent website on witchcraft in Somerset 1530-1720 bornofsilence.webs.com which based on solid local research and well worth looking for anyone interested in the history of witchcraft. Not citing Ian’s website in a study of witchcraft in this area is odd and I don’t know why it was not mentioned as it has been referenced before in books such as J. Barry’s Witchcraft and Demonology in South-West England 1640-1769. Nevertheless, the Witches of Selwood is a good local study of witchcraft accusations and a useful addition to any witchcraft history researchers’ library.

Taking a sideways step away from witchcraft, I read Dark Folklore by Mark Norman and Tracy Norman published by The History Press in 2021. This book is a serious study of five topics in the darker side of folklore which are often mentioned on the internet. The authors are well known researchers of folklore and local history. The first topic is sleep paralysis (Old Hag Syndrome). Then folk Christianity such as the Green Man and other folklore associated with churches. Folk Ghosts which are distinct from alleged sightings as they are stories about ghosts. Urban legends such as Slenderman and giant pigs in the sewers are the fourth topic studied. Dark tourism and Legend tripping is the last. In each case the authors look at the origins, evolution and impact of each of these folklore topics providing a useful balance to the many websites which cover them.

Although I’m mainly interested in witchcraft accusation in England, I do occasionally venture north to Scotland. Borders Witch Hunt – 17^th Century Witchcraft Trials in the Scottish Borders by Mary W. Craig published by Luath Press in 2021. This book looks at seventeenth-century witchcraft accusation in the part of Britain now known as the Scottish Borders but in the seventeenth century was a wild and debateable area which had a higher-than-average number of witchcraft accusations. After an introduction to witchcraft belief in Scotland (which had ten times as many executions for witchcraft as England), each chapter looks at witchcraft accusations in in a specific time and place. Each set of accusations are described and then used to discuss a wider point about witchcraft in Scotland and the ways in which accusations were dealt with. The book concludes with some general comments on the reasons for the high incidence of witchcraft accusations in Scotland and some useful appendices. This book is not only good local study of witchcraft in this part of the country but makes some useful points about witchcraft history in Britain generally.

The Last Witches of England – a Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition by John Callow published by Bloomsbury in 2021. This book looks at the well-known case of the Bideford Witches in the late 17^th century. The three women accused in Devon in 1682 were the last to be executed for witchcraft in England. Although this case is often mentioned in books on witchcraft history usually referencing Frank Gent’s The Trial of the Bideford Witches, this book adds substantially to what is known about this case by building on previous work. John Callow’s extensive research has used a variety of sources to dig into the lives of the accused women, the social and economic history of the port of Bideford and the local and national context of these accusations. This book should now be referenced as the standard work on the Bideford Witches and adds to the understanding of how witchcraft accusations arise out of local social, economic and political circumstances.

I still have a pile of books to read and hopefully will get even more at Christmas 🤓