Why a Booktrail?
1650s: Take a witchery tour around Newcastle and the infamous witchtrials of the 1650s
Walking with Witches
What you need to know before your trail
Eleanor and Izzy are on a trip to Newcastle, visiting the Literary and Philosophical Society library. They see odd shadows and hear ghostly whispering voices – and a book in a glass display case leafs open as they watch. Pages stop fluttering at woodcut of a group of witches hanged on the town moor in 1650. The girls hear a bell ringing and their adventure begins…The friends decide to study the witches for a history project. When witches’ bones are unearthed in St. Andrew’s graveyard in Newgate Street the girls investigate, and encounter an unearthly dark cloaked figure. As they follow the trail that the accused witches took around Newcastle, the friends fit the pieces of the puzzle together …and put themselves in danger.
Travel Guide
Newcastle
Starting off at the Lit and Phil library at Newcastle
Journey around Newcastle and the story of its history in a tale based on true fact – where women were persecuted for being witches or for having witching qualities where they were suspected of bewitching people and causing havoc in other ways – making potions from leaves and plants for medicinal purposes.
It’s a a journey through the streets of Newcastle and its surrounding areas taking in many of the sights and sounds such as the local church, the castle keep and the watery grave of a river which flows and takes the rot and the mysticism though the city
The centre of the story is St Andrews Church where witch bones were said to be buried and found
Streetview Maps
A) Newcastle - St Andrews Church
D) Newcastle - The Lit and Phil
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Walking with Witches
Author/Guide: Lynn Huggins-Cooper Destination: Newcastle Departure Time: 1650s
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