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Jane Wenham (died 1730) was one of the last people to be condemned to death for witchcraft in England, although her conviction was set aside. Her trial in 1712 is commonly but erroneously regarded as the last witch trial in England. [1]
Jane Wenham lived in Church End, Walkern, near Stevenage. An elderly woman about 70, living alone, poor and eking out an existence on the margins of society, she fitted the stereotypical view of witches.
In 1751, Ruth Osborne, an impoverished old woman, just like Jane Wenham, was accused of witchcraft and attacked by a mob near her home in Tring. She took refuge in a church but was dragged out of the vestry by angry villagers, stripped naked then thrown into a pond.
While the last documented execution for witchcraft was in 1682 in England, in 1712, Jane Wenham of Walkern was set to be hung. She had become known as 'the witch of Walkern', and was brought...
This paper attempts to explore the context of the Jane Wenham case, the last trial for witchcraft in England, by looking at the social structure of the village, the individuals involved, the pamphlets on. forces influencing the outcome.'.
In March 1712 Jane Wenham, who became known as ‘the witch of Walkern’, was condemned to death for witchcraft at the age of 16. She was found guilty of the charge at Hertford Assizes after...
In 1712, a Hertfordshire woman, Jane Wenham of Walkern, became the last person in England to be condemned to death for being a witch. In 1736, the Witchcraft Act erased the crime of witchcraft from the statute books.
