384 HAUGHLEY CASTLE СНАР. Stowmarket in order to get a glimpse of this imposing fortress. As I draw near the village I picture to myself one of those grey old ivy-clad strongholds such as I have seen at Caister, Castle Acre, and elsewhere; it even occurs to me that here, in this out-of-the-way Suffolk hamlet, there may be a ruin as grand as that of Framlingham. But on seeing the real castle, or the site where there may once have been a castle, all such fond imaginings are dispelled. What I see is simply another of those huge mounds so plentiful in East Anglia and already so familiar to me; only in this case its outlines, and those of its flanking earthworks, are totally hidden by trees and their dense undergrowth. Of the "extensive ruins of an old and strongly fortified castle" I see no signs, though an old villager tells me that in winter traces of foundations are visible among the leafless thorn and bramble thickets. That there was once a fortified house of some kind here is undeniable, for even now the mound and earthworks are surrounded by a moat so deep that within the memory of men still living at Haughley a miller's horse dragged a cart into it until both horse and cart were out of sight. But this stronghold is, so far as I can see, wholly vanished, and on inquiring into its history I am reminded that it was the place which was stormed and destroyed by that Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, who was slain in that Battle of Fornham I referred to earlier in this chapter. It was then held by Ralph de Broc, its builder, who chose Haughley for the site of his "castle"-a "tall round tower," one historian calls it-because of the advantages offered by its great artificial mound. This mound, the origin of which I will not venture to suggest, would, if it were not so densely clothed with trees and nut bushes, command a wide view; if you climb to the higher branches of one of the taller trees you may even see the tower of Ely Cathedral, which is thirty miles away. Like the rest of these artificial hillocks it seems to have been occupied by Romans, Saxons, and Normans in turn; but as to whether, as some have XIII STOWMARKET 385 said, it was really that Sitomagus which was the central camp of Suetonius, the Roman general who commanded the district, I have no opinion to offer. Having already seen so many "ancient British earthworks," I am disposed to enjoy the quiet charms of Haughley village and visit the local hop gardens a rare sight in East Anglia-rather than indulge in futile guesswork. So, refusing to be beguiled by the old villager into entering his garden in order to see where an old earthen rampart used to run through the midst of his cabbage beds-it is levelled now-I abandoned myself for a while to Arcadian delights, and then set out for Stowmarket. As I am not particularly interested in the manufacture of gun-cotton or cordite, there are, apart from two or three curious monuments in the church, only two things I care to look at in Stowmarket. These are the Old Vicarage, which in the sixteenth century was the home of Milton's tutor, Dr. Young; and a weather-beaten old mulberry tree in the Old Vicarage garden, said to have been planted by the poet during one of his visits to the town. The house which hides itself away behind C C 386 HOPKINS THE WITCH-FINDER CHAP. the newer houses of one of the main streets, retains some external evidence of its antiquity; and its interior, though considerably altered in its arrangement, possesses many features characteristic of the age in which it was built. The walls of its older portions are constructed of clay with oak framing; while the oak floor joists are, in all probability, the ribs of old ships or parts of an old church roof. As to Dr. Thomas Young, who was appointed vicar of the town in 1628, he is described by one of his nineteenth century successors as a man of profound learning and, like his famous pupil, a republican in politics and a Calvinistic dogmatist in theology. Milton, in a Latin ode, acknowledges his indebtedness to him for the influence he exerted upon his youthful mind. After his removal to Stowmarket, the poet still kept closely in touch with him, and it is not unlikely that he was an occasional guest at the Old Vicarage. It was during Dr. Young's pastorate that Stowmarket was visited by Matthew Hopkins, the infamous witch-finder; but with what results he carried on here his abominable investigations history sayeth not. This tyrannous charlatan was an Essex man whom Parliament commissioned to travel about the Eastern counties for the purpose of discovering and punishing witches. "Witch-finder General," he called himself, and was allowed twenty shillings for every town he visited. Among his victims was a clergyman named Lowes, a vicar of Brandeston, a village not far from Framlingham. Apparently this Lowes was an eccentric old man, yet absolutely inoffensive; but some of his parishioners had a grudge against him, and, as a consequence, he was arraigned at Bury before certain commissioners (including the Rev. Mr. Calamy, that notable Puritan whose political feelings so often ran away with him) and condemned to death. He was executed, with other reputed wizards and witches, at Bury, and as no one would undertake to give him Christian burial he was allowed to read his own burial service. A curious letter is preserved in which a gentleman whose father was one XIII HOPKINS'S EXPOSURE 387 was of Lowes' parishioners gives his opinion concerning the doing to death of this harmless divine. "My father," he says, always of the opinion that Mr. Lowes suffered wrongfully, and hath often said that he did not believe he was no more a wizard than he was. I have heard it from those that watched with him that they kept him awake several nights together, and run him backwards and forwards about the room, until he was out of breath; then they rested him a little, and then ran him again. And this they did for several nights together, till he was weary of his life, and was scarce sensible of what he said or did. They swum him at Framlingham, but that was no rule to try him by; for they put in honest people at the same time and they swam as well as he." Hopkins, who was paid twenty-eight pounds for his services. in ridding Stowmarket of people equally as dangerous to the community as the unfortunate Lowes, explained that the walking up and down process was practised upon suspected persons "because if they be suffered to couch, immediately came their familiars into the room, and scareth the watchers, and hearteneth on the witch." One of his tests, which was applied to Lowes, was to tie together the thumbs and toes of the supposed witch and throw her into deep water. If she sank she was considered innocent, but if she floated she was pronounced guilty. To the genius who invented this test Hopkins owed his final and deserved discomfiture, for it was applied to him by a party of rollicking country blades who had grown tired of his nefarious practices. Encountering him one day they tied his thumbs and toes together and threw him into a river; and as he struggled and floated he was at once pronounced to be a wizard. Thus made the laughing-stock of all sensible men, he was compelled to throw up his commission and leave the Eastern counties. It seems strange that so learned a man as Dr. Young should have been deceived by such a charlatan; but wherever Hopkins went he met with a cordial welcome from the Puritan divines. During sixteen 388 NEEDHAM MARKET CH. XIII years 109 persons were condemned for witchcraft, sixty of whom were hanged in Suffolk alone. According to a writer of the time there were at least thirteen kinds of witches, the Hebrew, Indian, Lapland, Protestant, Popish, Pagan, Cursing, Blessing, Active, and Passive witches, and witches by Art, Compact, or Descent. With the country between Stowmarket and Ipswich I am not favourably impressed; but this is largely due to the fact that I see it under a lowering sky and through a blurring mist of rain. Needham Market. Needham Market, under more cheerful circumstances, may be worthy of exploration-an inn I get a glimpse of as I hasten through the village street certainly has an inviting appearance, though this may be owing to the dismalness outside-but for the most part the road seems monotonous and uninteresting. Leafy June seems suddenly to have taken upon itself the aspect of dreary October; and as there are indications that the rainstorm which has begun is no mere summer shower to "last but half an hour" I am glad when I reach Ipswich and take my ease at an inn. |