Looking out across the River Stour under oppressive October clouds, I’ve got witches on my mind. I’m in Manningtree, the place that forever sealed Essex’s reputation as “ the witch county ”.

Casual observers will miss unobtrusive landmarks – a patch of grass where four women once swung from makeshift gallows, the centuries-old Red Lion pub where neighbours spied on one another – hiding a dark chapter of the town’s history. In 1645, Manningtree was filled with fear and suspicion as Matthew Hopkins, the infamous Witchfinder General, started his short but prolific career. By 1647, at least 100 people had been executed in East Anglia.

While the scale of this persecution was shocking, witch trials were nothing new for Essex. In the new Sky History documentary, Witches of Essex , Ryl

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