Spellcraft and Witchcraft and Magic, Oh My!
Explore the role that magic played in everyday life
- Next Event
- 21st March 2025 7:00pm
- Event Finishes
- 21st March 2025 9:00pm
About this event
The team of Moyse’s Hall are delighted to present a talk by one of the nation’s leading historians on the subject of witchcraft and cunning folk.
Step into the supernatural world of sixteenth and seventeenth century England, where magic was real and the Devil was known to walk down the road. In this talk, Dr Tabitha Stanmore will explore the role that magic played in everyday life: it was a tool to fix many problems, but also a deadly threat when wielded by the wrong people. The tension between malevolent witches, pious priests and helpful cunning folk sounds like it should come right out of a story - but as we will see, real history can be even stranger than fiction.
Dr Tabitha Stanmore is the author of Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic and Love Spells and Lost Treasure: Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era.
Starts: 7pm (Doors open 6.30pm)
Tickets: £14
Booking: Essential - use the 'Book Tickets' button or call 01284 758000
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About the Venue
This beautiful medieval museum in the heart of Bury St Edmunds houses rich and eclectic collections and changing exhibitions, and hosts events ranging from themed craft workshops for all the family to historical talks and lectures.
Steeped in history, Moyse's Hall has looked out over Bury St Edmunds market place for almost 900 years.
The landmark 12th century building rich and varied past has included serving as the town Bridewell, workhouse and police station, first opening as a museum in 1899.
Today the museum offers a fascinating view into the past with collections that document the foundation of the early town - from the creation and dissolution of the Abbey of St Edmund to prison paraphernalia, plus remarkable collections relating to the notorious Red Barn Murder and fascinating insights into local superstitions and witchcraft.
Winner of Suffolk's Family-Friendly Museum of the Year 2017, Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary has helped Moyse’s Hall Museum bring Bury St Edmunds’ gruesome history to life for children.
The Museum's ground floor not only features six Terrible Tales by Terry Deary, best-selling author and creator of the hugely popular Horrible Histories books, but also some grisly and gruesome interactive displays for children and adults. Step inside a gibbet cage (made for the museum by blacksmiths Kingdom Forge), try on a ball and chain for size, experience the smells of history including the wretched tanner’s pits, handle thumbscrews and try on manacles, and pick up a Norman sword. You can even trace the artefacts in The Red Barn Murder including the murder weapon and the disease box where visitors can smell a pus ridden hand is a museum favourite! The Battle of Fornham is told through the eyes of a blacksmith, a nun tending to the body of St Edmund tells of his grisly end. The stories of Mary Tudor, Queen of France (who is buried in St Mary’s Church, Bury St Edmunds), the Red Barn Murder, the Nichols Murder, witchcraft and Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, all feature. Every story links back to an artefact, bringing the museum’s stories to life.
Moyse's Hall Museum is also known as home to a world class collection of exquisite collections of clocks and timepieces including rare items bequeathed by musician and clock collector Frederic Greshom-Parkington and fine art by Sir Peter Lely, Angelica Kauffman, James Tissot, and England's first professional female painter Mary Beale.
Assistance dogs only. Dogs are welcome in the reception for tourist information enquires and to access the gift shop.
