Name Mears Ashby Shire county Northamptonshire Role Village in England Dialling codes 01604 | Local time Wednesday 11:40 AM | |
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Weather 7°C, Wind NW at 8 km/h, 96% Humidity | ||
UK parliament constituency Wellingborough District Borough of Wellingborough | ||
Mears ashby village walk 2006 new
Mears Ashby is a village in the county of Northamptonshire, England. It lies between the county town of Northampton and Wellingborough and is in the West ward of borough council of Wellingborough area which also includes Sywell. At the time of the 2011 census, it had a population of 473.
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Witchcraft
According to Westwood and Simpson in their book, The Lore of the Land, the county in general and Mears Ashby in particular has a long tradition of witchcraft and accusations of witchcraft. In their book they recall that as late as 1785 a local inhabitant, Sarah Bradshaw, was so accused. We learn from the Northampton Mercury on 1 August 1785 that:
"Thursday last, a poor woman, named Sarah Bradshaw of Mears Ashby...who was accused by some of her neighbours of being a witch, in order to prove her innocence, submitted to the ignominy of being dipped (on a ducking-stool); when she immediately sunk to the bottom of the pond; which was deemed an incontestable proof that she was no witch!"References
Mears Ashby Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA