Mary Sykes, a Bradford Witch
Bradford, Yorkshire 1650
“And, this informant asking her why she did not speake, she answered she cold not speake for thatt she saide Mary Sykes fumbled about her throate and took her left syde thatt she cold not speake.” - John James, 1866
If someone asked you to name accused witches in the U.K., you might go straight to the Pendle Witches, but did you know Bradford had a witch accusation? On the 18th March 1650, Mary Sykes of Bowling, Bradford, was snatched from her house and brought before the Justice of Peace (Henry Tempest of Bolling Hall, at this time). The finger was pointed, and the statement heard, Mary Sykes was accused of Witchcraft. What was her story?
Bradford local, Dorothy Rhodes, had gone to the law to report that her daughter Sara woke one night in a fit of distress. When asking what was wrong, Sara told her mother that Mary had appeared at the end of her bed and had attempted to strangle her. This ordeal had left Sara unable to speak (which… well.. unable to testify as well?!), and resulted in her having regular fits of anxiety, believing she had been cursed.
This account was documented by John James in Continuation and Additions to the History of Bradford, and Its Parish in 1866, quite some time after Mary’s death:
March 18, 1649-50. — Before Henry Tempest, Esq., Dorothy Rodes, of Boiling, widow, saith thatt upon Sonday night was seaven night, she and Sara Rodes, her danghter, with a litle childe, lay all in bedd together ; and, after theire first sleepe, she heareing the saide Sara quakeing and holding her hands together, she asked her what she ailed, and she answered, A, mother, Sikes wife came in att a hole att the bedd feete, and upon the bedde, and tooke me by the throate, and wold have pat her fingers in my mouth, and wold needes choake me.'* And, this informant asking her why she did not speake, shu answered she cold not speake for thatt she saide Mary Sykes fumbled ahout her throate and took her left syde thatt she cold not speake. And she farther saith thatt the saide Sara hath beene taken severall tymes since the said Sonday with paines and benummedoes, by six tymes of a day, in grcate extremity, the use of her joynts being taken from her, her hart leapeing, the use of her tongae being taken away, and her whole body neare onto death, and those fitts continewed halfe an hower, and sometymes an hower, and when she was recovered, she continnally saide thatt the saide Mary Sykes came and osed her in thatt maner.
Supposedly, Mary had cursed another local. Richard Booth of Bowling testified to receiving a Mary Sykes curse as she exclaimed “Bless the” and “I’le crosse the” which caused his livestock to die. But Mary’s curses don’t stop there, she also was accused of cursing Henry Cordingley of Tong with the very same “Bless the” and “I’le crosse the” curse, which resulted in some of HIS livestock passing away… He went as far as claiming he saw, with his own two eyes, Mary fly off with one of his cows in tow!
This would not do, Henry Tempest ordered Isabella Pollard with a crew of five other women to find Mary and search her body for ‘witch marks’, supposedly marks which indicate they’d been feeding the devil or their familiars with their bodies. The women ran back and reported a strange looking wart and a few suspicious lumps on Mary’s body. Evidence enough! Mary was shipped off to York Assizes for trial. She was later released, and accusations of Witchcraft stricken from her record. The warts must have just been… well… warts?
It’s nice to hear of a trial in which the woman walked away unharmed, there’s all too many stories of women being horribly tortured for crimes they didn’t commit in these kinds of folklore stories. Long live Mary Sykes!
Sources
Events that have shaped Bradford’s past and present
Continuation and Additions to the History of Bradford, and Its Parish. John James, 1866. Published by Longmans at Harvard University. Accessed at: Full text of "Continuation and Additions to the History of Bradford, and Its Parish".
