Meg Shelton
Woodplumpton, Preston 1705
“The Witch’s Grave. Beneath this stone lies the remains of Meg Shelton alleged witch of Woodplumpton, buried in 1705.”
This folklore tale takes us to the little town of Woodplumpton, which absolutely sounds like one of those made-up parodies of a British town name, but is definitely real and lies just outside Preston, Lancashire. The Church of St.Annes, built in the 11th Century and then rebuilt in 1639 and then re-rebuilt in 1900, is home to a rather out-of-place looking boulder. Beneath this boulder lies the remains of Meg Shelton, an alleged witch who brought havoc to Woodplumpton during her waking hours.
Who was she? Meg Shelton, real name Margary Hilton but very often referred to as the Fylde Hag (unfairly so), was a woman who existed 100 years after the Pendle Witch trials (so totally not jumping on the trend) and lived in the nearby village of Catforth. Little did she know her shape-shifting, occult-power wielding ways would earn her the status of ‘witch’.
There has been many tales of her mischief, all culminating in a rather grisly send off after her accidental death. Unfortunately for Meg, she walked with a rather pronounced limp, which naturally made people aware of her presence. The reason for her limp supposedly comes from a bet she placed one day with her landlord - she told him she would turn into a rabbit and race his dogs from Wesham, where he lived, to her cottage in Catforth, of which she rented. If she was successful, she would own the cottage but the greedy landlord made sure to send his most vicious of dogs... resulting in Meg obtaining a rather nasty bite to her leg.
Meg’s shapeshifting did not stop there, lesson clearly not learned, she would often infuriate the local farmers by stealing fresh milk in a jug she would then transform into a goose (very inconspicuous animal, of course). A fool-proof plan until one farmer, suspicious of the goose, kicked it - smashing the jug and spilling Meg’s stolen milk. Meg’s feud with farmers continued, one time disguising as a sack of corn to steal food from a local barn, which of course ended a similar way when a farmer stabbed each sack of corn until one of them screamed and ran away.
Would any of her devilish deeds result in her death? Somehow, no. Meg avoided all efforts to murder witches in this time period and was accidentally crushed in her home by a large barrel. Despite her rather unextraordinary demise, Meg’s shenanigans were far from over - death would not stop her tormenting the townsfolk (which is the motivation we all need). The village attempted to bury her in St.Annes churchyard twice, each time her corpse was spotted pulling itself out of the ground. To put a stop to this madness, the townsfolk buried her head first and plonked a large boulder on top to prevent further emergences.
Whilst this method did stop Meg from pulling her undead body out from the ground, it has not stopped her spirit from haunting those visiting the graveyard, with many people reporting seeing an old woman in ‘strange clothing’. The most famous encounter being from a little boy in 1920 who claimed an old lady chased him out of the grounds.
Could the boy have seen the ghost of Meg, or was it a poor church attendant mistaken for a hagged old witch? You’ll have to visit her yourself to see!
Sources
https://www.spookyisles.com/witch-of-woodplumpton/
https://www.lancastercastle.com/history-heritage/further-articles/other-witch-stories/
https://northernlifemagazine.co.uk/witch-is-the-real-grave/
