Jane Wenham (alleged witch)

[1] The twice-married Jane Wenham, of Walkern, Hertfordshire, had apparently separated from her second husband and about 1710 brought a charge of defamation against a farmer, John Chapman, in response to an accusation of witchcraft.

A detailed account of the trial and of the claims then made by parishioners is provided by the Hertfordshire antiquary William Blyth Gerish (died 1921) in his 'Hertfordshire Folk Lore, No.

Here she was visited by Bishop Francis Hutchinson (1660–1739), author of an Historical essay concerning witchcraft (1718), in which he applied an extremely rational approach to the subject.

One such case involved Mary Hicks and her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth, who were condemned to death by the assize court and were hanged in Huntingdon on Saturday 28 July 1716.

[6][7][8] The trial caused a sensation in London, where publishers such as Edmund Curll sold material proclaiming Wenham's innocence or guilt.

Chauncey's son-in-law and one of the witnesses at the trial, Revd Francis Bragge, published three pamphlets about the case, including, A full and impartial account of the discovery of sorcery and witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkern in Hertfordshire.

[3] However, the Wenham case is arguably more complicated than this distinction might imply, as Henry Chauncy, for example, was a published author who had studied at Cambridge University.

Written by Kate Miller and directed by former Hertfordshire vicar Richard Syms, the play starred Toni Brooks as the titular character, with Rhiannon Drake as Anne Thorne and Lindsay Cooper as Debora Gardiner.