Judy’s Hole, Burwell

History of Judy's Hole

Enid Porter wrote about Old Judy, the witch of Burwell, in Cambridge Customs and Folklore p161f.

Old Judy [Finch], the witch of Burwell, was described in The Antiquary of November 1888:

Old Judy lived in the Squatters’ Cottages on the fen side of the Weirs, half a dozen primitive one-storeyed hovels built of wattle and daub with clunch chimneys and thatched with sedge and litter.

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Old Judy lived in the most northerly cottage and was credited with every kind of witchcraft. A great pit of about one and a half acres of water nearby is still called Judy’s Hole, and the following verse is of her:

A wicked old crone

Who lived all alone

In a hut beside the reeds,

With a high-crowned hat,

And a black tom-cat,

Whose looks were as black as her deeds.

In the 1841 census there is a woman named Juda Finch in Burwell, described as a farmer living in North Street aged 50.