New Research Suggests England’s Last ‘Witch’ Execution May Not Have Occurred

New research indicates that the woman widely considered to be the last person executed for witchcraft in England might not have faced the gallows. Professor Mark Stoyle, a historian affiliated with the University of Southampton, posits that a clerical spelling mistake in court records led to the accused woman’s survival rather than her execution, allowing her to live for several additional years. Alice Molland received a sentence at Exeter Castle, Devon, in 1685, on charges of “bewitching” three of her neighbours. It was widely assumed that she was executed in the Heavitree area of the city that same year, thereby establishing her as England’s last executed witch. Professor Stoyle’s investigation proposes that the contemporary court documents contained a transcription error, and that the individual identified as Alice Molland could have, in fact, been named Avis Molland. He stated: “Court records from the 17th century were written in Latin, and in this form it would only have taken a single mis-stroke of the clerk of the court’s pen to transform ‘Avicia’ (Avis) into ‘Alicia’ (Alice).” “Almost nothing is known about Alice’s life and attempts to illuminate it have failed.” Given that Molland was an uncommon surname in Exeter, Professor Stoyle noted the strong similarity when he encountered a reference to an Avis Molland within local archival materials. He commented: “I immediately asked myself, did Alice Molland ever exist? Is Alice, in fact, Avis?” Contemporary records indicate that Avis Molland had been married and had three children, all of whom had passed away. Professor Stoyle remarked: “By the time of the 1685 trial, Avis Molland was a poor, middle-aged widow, who was burdened with loss – precisely the kind of woman who was likely to be accused of witchcraft in early modern England.” He further noted that circumstantial evidence points to Avis having been incarcerated at Exeter Castle concurrently with the period when Alice’s trial was recorded. Avis passed away in 1693, eight years subsequent to Alice’s presumed execution. If a straightforward spelling error indeed occurred, then the last individuals executed for witchcraft in England would instead be the Bideford Three – Temperance Lloyd, Susannah Edwards, and Mary Trembles – in 1682. Professor Stoyle concluded: “The truth is, despite all my diligent searching, we may never know for sure whether history has got it wrong.”