Solstice pilgrimage along the Yare to remember witch persecutions

Two artists walked ten miles along the riverbank in period dress.

Ruth Dillon describes the pilgrimage her and Eleanor Dale have just done as ‘powerful’. It’s been to honour and remember the women who were condemned under the Witchcraft Act in East Anglia. On the morning of the summer solstice the pair began in Limpenhoe and walked along the River Yare to Great Yarmouth, dressed in period clothing from the 1600s.

“We did that through the heat of the day,” says Ruth, “although thankfully there was a breeze which made it bearable. In making and wearing period clothing we hope to embody something of the women’s stories and lives through cloth and stitch.”

Eleanor says the outfits actually helped in the warm weather. “The skirts are linen with lots of layers of fabric which keep you really cool. And your legs are in constant shade, I don’t think I would have felt any cooler in my modern clothes.”

On the walk they remembered those found guilty of witchcraft, which in 1542 became a criminal offence punishable by death. Between 1645 and 1647 almost 250 accusations came before the authorities in East Anglia, resulting in around 100 executions.

“They are just heart breaking stories,” artist Ruth tells me, "whole communities in fear and women lost and family members lost. Most of them were old women, the poor and the vulnerable. It ripped families apart.”

On the pilgrimage they thought about the persecutions. They talked about the women, tied fabric ribbons in different places and recited their names from a scroll they’d made. Also determined the pair say to highlight the relevance to modern society - to ‘contemporary issues of oppression, freedom of speech and feminism’.

They were joined by sound artist Charlotte Arculus who is documenting the pilgrimage. “I think I feel kind of profoundly affected by it on some level - it’s been very moving. The list of women, which is extraordinarily long, has been very present with us today.”

In Great Yarmouth the three held a ceremony on North Denes beach. “It was beautiful,” Ruth says, “we read the whole list of names again, you’re saying mother and then sister and daughter and the surname - and it was powerful, very powerful.”

The next day they held talks at the Tolhouse Gaol where 17th century witch trials were held. In October in King’s Lynn they’ll be a short film screening and at some point a needlework project will be exhibited. A quilt that women from across East Anglia are contributing to, each making a panel to remember one of the victims, a project called We Are Witch.

One of the panels from the quilt. It was made by Val Thomas and depicts Elizabeth Bradwell, one of the women hanged as a witch.

“This is just the beginning,” Eleanor says, “our promise is not to forget them.”

The video was made by Charlotte Arculus and it includes footage of the pilgrimage. Eleanor Dale is the singer.