Judy’s Hole, Burwell

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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.

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.

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