Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches)<\/em>. Written by a Catholic clergyman, it set out legal and theological theories to endorse the extermination of witches. Based on it, in 1484 Pope Innocent III gave the existence of witchcraft \u2018official\u2019 status by issuing a papal bull sanctioning inquisitors and starting a witch hunting hysteria, not fully lessened in Britain until laws against witchcraft were abolished in 1736.<\/p>\nFrom 1450 to 1700 in Europe alone, about 35,000 people, mainly women, were hanged or burned at the stake as suspected witches. While over a thousand people were sent to their deaths in England, curiously only 5 in Wales appear to have suffered the same fate. In 1579, Gwen ferch Ellis from Bettws in North Wales, was executed for witchcraft. She was a healer but for some reason she was persuaded by another woman, called Jane Conway, to leave an evil charm at Gloddaeth, the home of aristocrat Sir Thomas Mostyn, who died soon afterwards. Gwen was brought before a packed court in Denbigh. Seven witnesses stood against her, claiming her charms had broken bones, bewitched ale, and even stilled a young man\u2019s heart. Gwen was convicted of murder by witchcraft and hanged.<\/p>\n
Apart from punishing them, people looked for ways to defend themselves from witches. The National Museum at St Fagans houses a collection of 17th-century witch-related artefacts, featuring “witch bottles” designed to counteract suspected bewitchment. These bottles, often containing pins, nails, and human urine, acted as counter-magic, with the sharp objects meant to break the witch’s spell and cause them pain.<\/p>\n
One local story concerns a lady who used to live in a cottage at Porthkerry Park. A rich young man was persuaded to pay her for a love potion, to win over the girl of his dreams. Seeing how old and frail the witch was, his servant pocketed the money and refused to pay her. Angered by the deception she cast a spell over the two of them uttering \u2018May these men never leave these woods.\u2019 The two men only got as far as the edge of the woods before turning into two trees. Research has revealed there was a woman called Ann Jenkins known as a provider of potions and remedies, inspected for witch marks by the Cowbridge magistrates. There is no record of the outcome. Official records register Ann Jenkins as being buried in the yard at the church of St Nicholas in Barry, unlikely if she had been proven to be in league with the devil.<\/p>\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST THE VERNAL EQUINOX AND THE PORTHKERRY WITCH Along with St David\u2019s Day, St Patrick\u2019s Day and Mothering Sunday, March brings the vernal equinox, celebrated in both Christian and pagan traditions. In 2026 it occurs on March 20 at 10:46 a.m. marking the astronomical start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and bringing nearly equal lengths of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,431,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4kd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15206,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15206","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":0},"title":"March Thursday Walks","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 THURSDAY WALKERS Next Walk On Thursday 20th March, a circular walk from the Knap in Barry, following the old parish route as far as Porthkerry Country Park. About 5 miles. Meet 1.00pm at Wenvoe Village Hall. Transport can be shared. Many thanks, Bert. 07828665264 All are welcome participate at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for March 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for March 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=420"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11875,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11875","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":1},"title":"Thursday 7th July Walk","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THURSDAY WALKERS \u00a0 Thursday July 7th. A walk from Porthkerry of about 5.5 miles. Meet 1pm at Wenvoe Village Hall. \u00a32 car parking is required at Porthkerry and coffee is available after the walk. Bert If you are interested in a walk, just turn up \u00a0 \u00a0 .","rel":"","context":"In "Valeways Walkers"","block_context":{"text":"Valeways Walkers","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=336"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16748,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16748","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":2},"title":"Crufts 2026","author":"Alan Williams","date":"26th March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST CRUFTS 2026 Eva and Asher were doggy superstars at Crufts 2026. Asher made his debut in the Dog Obedience Championship on Saturday 7th March. His owner, Carolyn, was thrilled to be placed 4th with him. Eva was first to work her obedience test the following day\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Crufts.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16636,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16636","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":3},"title":"Competing In the Crufts Obedience Championships","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST COMPETING IN THE CRUFTS OBEDIENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS Two local canine residents Eva and Asher Heath have made their dog mum very proud as they both won championship dog obedience classes last year which meant they were invited to compete in the annual Crufts Obedience Championships in 2026.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Crufts.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10322,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10322","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":4},"title":"When is it time to say STOP?","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th September 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Vale Communities Unite Vale Communities Unite is a community group set up by local people in the Vale of Glamorgan during 2020. Its aim is to give residents a voice and to protect the local environment from unwanted development. Wenvoe is fortunate to be protected as a conservation area.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8684,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8684","url_meta":{"origin":16629,"position":5},"title":"A Remembrance Day Like No Other","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Remembrance Day Like No Other A headline in my newspaper said it so well \u2018It was a Remembrance Day like no other\u2019 and the same could be said for the year we have been living through in 2020. Nothing has been the same as we have had in what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "St Mary's Parish Church News"","block_context":{"text":"St Mary's Parish Church News","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16629"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16632,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16629\/revisions\/16632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>Through the ages, Ostara has been celebrated by witches holding rituals and performing spells that focus on growth, abundance, and new beginnings. For most of the Middle Ages the term \u2018witch\u2019 meant the local healer, someone who made poultices and medicines and perhaps had charms or spells for healing farm animals. From the middle of the 15th century, things changed with supposed \u2018witches\u2019 being used as scapegoats and blamed for everything from bad harvests to untimely deaths. Surprisingly this darker period began with the publication of Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches)<\/em>. Written by a Catholic clergyman, it set out legal and theological theories to endorse the extermination of witches. Based on it, in 1484 Pope Innocent III gave the existence of witchcraft \u2018official\u2019 status by issuing a papal bull sanctioning inquisitors and starting a witch hunting hysteria, not fully lessened in Britain until laws against witchcraft were abolished in 1736.<\/p>\n