Capturing Cambridge
  • search
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

West End / Main Street, Whittlesford

History of Main Street

1871 Main Street [households listed from west end]

James Pearson, 38, thatcher, b Whittlesford

 

Henry Andrews, 61, b Whittlesford

 

William Petersham, 47, ag.lab., b Whittlesford

 

William C Barns, 37, ag.lab., b Whittlesford

 

Thomas Andrews, 48, waggoner at paper mills, b Whittlesford

 

John Cooper, 77, pauper, b Whittlesford

Susan Cooper, 74, pauper, b Swavesey

Enid Porter describes in Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore p174 about Susan Cooper:

On 28th April 1878 Susan Cooper of Whittlesford died. Mr J. Maynard, who was born in the village in the year of her death, can recall hearing in his youth many tales of Susan’s witchcraft, but the one he now remembers best was the one told him on many occasions by an old bricklayer of Whittlesford.

My mother and Susan Cooper each bough a pig out of the same little. Susan came in to see my mother’s pig after a time and said it was doing much better than hers. But my mother felt quite sure Susan had witched it so she had it killed the next day as she knew it wouldn’t do no more good. She put it in the pot but it wouldn’t take the salt and was no good.

Large crowds turned up in the churchyard at Susan’s funeral. thinking they were going to see some strange things happen. Mr Maynard spoke in 1966 to a man in the village who remembered hearing from his father that all the schoolchildren rushed to trample the ground over Susan Cooper’s grave, immediately the busrial service was over, ‘so that the imps couldn’t get out’.

Genealogy of Susan Cooper:

http://www.deadfamilies.com/Z3-Others/PDF-Files/Book-Cooper-Susan-Witch-Of-Whittlesford-W005-0309-2017-01.pdf

 

William Chatten, 37, gamekeeper, b Norfolk

 

Ernest F Oscar, 37, farmer 9 men 3 boys, b Whittlesford

 

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

License

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Dear Visitor,

 

Thank you for exploring historical Cambridgeshire! We hope you enjoy your visit.

 

Did you know that we are a small, independent Museum and that we rely on donations from people like you to survive?

 

If you love Capturing Cambridge, and you are able to, we’d appreciate your support today.

 

Every donation makes a world of difference.

 

Thank you,

The Museum of Cambridge