One of the darkest moments in the history of Lowestoft, a small market town in Suffolk, occurred in the mid 17th century. This took place when the inhabitants decided that there were two “witches” living in their midst. Consequently two elderly widows, Amy Denny and Rose Cullender, were taken through the courts and finally tried and executed at the Assize held at Bury St. Edmunds on 10th March 1662. Later a concise record of their trial was published and this talk focusses on that report.
Historian Ivan Bunn has spent the best part of 50 years researching this trial and the history of witchcraft in Old and New England. Working closely with the late Gilbert Geis, Emeritus Professor of Criminology, University of California, Irvine, together they published a seminal work exploring the trial and background of what has become known as “The Trial of the Lowestoft Witches,” published in 1997 as “A Trial of Witches”.