Talk:Bideford witch trial

The end of the beginning
Ok I've got this article down to reasonable size, and without any direct copies from the pdf; apologies to people I annoyed with my zillions of edits. It could probably do with a reworking of my (too wordy?)writing style; anyway, I've finished. Totnesmartin 14:11, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

What does this mean
Grace Thomas's grounds for suspicion were that she had met Lloyd the previous September; Lloyd had wept with joy and expressed pleasure in seeing that had Thomas regained her health. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk • contribs) 01:15, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Oops! "That Thomas had regained" is what I meant. Totnesmartin (talk) 14:12, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

I still don't have a clue what it is trying to convey, or who Grace Thomas is in relation to Lloyd. It reads like a non sequitor. "Grace Thomas" is mentioned in a previous paragraph, but this sentence doesn't seem to be related to the previous paragraph, some intermediate information is missing. Instead of just restoring it, try to add context and explain who the people are in relation to each other. Its a stand alone paragraph but doesn't convey a completed bit of information. Was it Grace Thomas who made charges of witchcraft against Lloyd? If you provided a reference, I could read the reference and see what was missing and try to edit in the missing information. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 18:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Neopaganism?
At the risk of coming over all offensive, I'm not sure this article should be included within any Neopaganism projects. I'm not aware of any suggestion that the people involved were practising any pagan or neopagan religion. The claim was that they were involved with 'witchcraft' as the Christian church at the time would have understood the term: namely, sorcery in league with the Devil. I see no connection between the Bideford incident and modern neopaganism except this one word, the meaning of which has changed considerably over the past four(ish) hundred years (although I recognise that that's the subject of continual heated debate). I think we should take care not to attribute beliefs to historical people if we've no evidence that they held them - especially when it's likely that they would themselves find the label offensive. Whatever our modern interpretation of the word 'witch', it's fair to suppose that most people in that culture would have seen it as a negative thing to say the least.

In my defence, and for what mitigation it provides, I'm pagan myself, so I don't make these comments out of hostility to modern pagans. I simply believe that we must be careful not to create associations - even implied ones - where we can't show that they existed. - Laterensis (talk) 13:06, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Heresy or hearsay?
Is this a typo?Harrypotter (talk) 22:00, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Black Man
Is there any information about the Black British population of Bideford at this time. As it was a port active in the tobacco trade, there are likely to have been some people of African descent there?Harrypotter (talk) 22:19, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

History of the Plaque
It would be essential to inform who was responsible for the plaque (photo) commemorating the executions on the wall of Rougemont Castle in Exeter. Please add information. Hegeler (talk) 09:27, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Dates/details of trial outcomes missing
The article is like a book with the "final chapter" missing. Nothing about date(s) and place of execution. Bizarrely, one has to study the article's photo of a plaque at Exeter Castle for basic info - the plaque says three died in 1682 and one more (Alice Molland) died in 1685. Then checking back over the article, one finds it makes only a passing one-sentence to Alice Molland, saying in the Lede that she might not have been executed. I'm left confused and disappointed by the article's non-resolution! Witch trials are not my area of expertise or interest, so I'll leave the article alone - but I hope somebody will pick up and work on its completion someday. Pete Hobbs (talk) 16:18, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Last Executions
Regarding the claim that these women (and Alice Molland) were the last to be executed in England as witches, I believe there is ample evidence to show that there were at least two executions in the eighteenth century. Mary Hicks and daughter were executed at Huntingdon, 28 July 1716. This is well documented "The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs Mary Hicks and her Daughter Elizabeth" She actually appears in the Wiki - List of People Executed for Witchcraft. 77.100.153.86 (talk) 13:51, 17 June 2020 (UTC)


 * And has her own article Mary Hicks (alleged witch). LastDodo (talk) LastDodo (talk) 10:40, 20 January 2023 (UTC)