The Witch of Clapham?

Close by the Christian church of St.James in Clapham lies a new monument, which depicts some images of a darker belief. The Millennium Stone features aspects of Clapham and its history. In the top right hand corner, next to the image of the church, is Dame Alice Ketyll, an alleged witch, with nine dead red cockerels. I first heard the story of Alice Ketyll some years ago from the late Trish Hardy of Bentham who had been reading about her in Bill Mitchell’s book “Ingleborough. The Big Blue Hill”, (1994). Who was Alice Ketyll? Could we find any historical facts to fit the legend? Bill Mitchell revealed that he had obtained his information from a publication by Peter Winstone, a former vicar of Clapham. Rev. Winstone, by then vicar of Fewston, said that he had obtained all his information from Cragg, “ Legendary Rambles: Ingleton & Lonsdale”, (1905). Cragg did not cite any earlier sources.

The main elements of the story of Alice Ketyll, or Kettle, are that she was supposed to have lived in a lowly cottage at the foot of Trow Gill in the 15th century. Nearby at Clapdale Castle lived her foster son, John de Clapham. In 1468 she was persuaded by John to assist him with her reputed powers to obtain 500 horsemen, arms and money for the Lancastrian cause. She called to her aid the Evil One, who offered her a familiar spirit called Robin Artisson. To obtain the help of this familiar, she was to sweep the Bridge of Clapham between compline and curfew, sweeping the dust towards the castle and repeating the lines: “Into the house of John, my sonne, Hie all the wealth of Clapham towne” Then at midnight she was to place nine freshly killed red cockerels round her in a ring on the bridge. 500 troops were thus mysteriously supplied. Alice’s own son, William de Coldcoates, had been previously slain, and to avenge him, John de Clapham beheaded the leaders of the Yorkists with his own hand in Banbury church. Ultimately John was captured and, for profaning God’s house in Banbury, he was beheaded, and Alice was taken prisoner. She was taken to Lancaster and tried before the Irish Bishop of Offory. She confessed to her contract with the devil and for penance she had to cover the Church of Clapham with lead and restore it. She knew of a mine of lead and silver on Ingleborough Hill so the penance was duly paid, and eventually when she died her body was buried in holy ground.

Trish Hardy and I searched all the records we could find in the north of England, including parish registers, probate records and indexes, but could find no mention of Alice Ketyll, nor could we indentify John de Clapham or William de Coldcoates. We wondered if the records of the ecclesiastical court at Lancaster had survived; we had a more or less definite date of 1468 for Alice’s trial. The Lancashire County Record Office at Preston referred us to the Public Record Office (now the National Archives) at Kew who produced a positive response to my letter, but it was not of the kind that we were expecting. I received a phone call from Mr A. H. Lawes, who had had my letter passed on to him. Mr Lawes was involved in the revision of the Dictionary of National Biography - it had not occurred to us to look at this source - and the entry regarding Dame Alice Kettle or Kyteler was being re-written. According to the DNB, Dame Alice was tried for witchcraft in 1324 in Kilkenny in Ireland before the Bishop of Ossory (Camden Soc., 1843). She was charged with having nightly conference with a spirit called Robin Artisson to whom she sacrificed in the highway nine red cockerels and nine peacocks. She swept the streets of Kilkenny between compline and twilight, raking all the filth towards the doors of her son, William Outlaw, whilst murmuring the words, “To the house of William my sonne, Hie all the wealth of Kilkennie towne” Alice was found guilty and for penance her son, William Outlaw, had to re-roof St.Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny.

Does any of this sound familiar? Unfortunately the main difference between the two versions is that the Kilkenny Alice is well documented with contemporary accounts, whereas no mention can be found of the Clapham Alice before Cragg’s book of 1905. We therefore came to the reluctant conclusion that Cragg had lifted the tale of Alice of Kilkenny and set it back down against the backgound of Clapham. The account Cragg read probably used the long letter S in the word Ossory, which Cragg mis-read as Offory. On reflection, an Irish bishop would never have sat in an ecclesiastical court in England. Cragg was a writer who was interested in selling books about the area in which he lived, so cannot be blamed too much for creating the myth, but, as it is clearly a fabrication, it would be inappropriate if it were to persist any longer in the folklore of the Dales. Maybe there were witches in Clapham in medieval times, but Dame Alice Kettle was not one of them.

Sources

• Camden Society (1843) Narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler for sorcery 1324. Transcript (in Latin) of Harleian MS 641 in the British Library
• Cragg, R.B. (1905) Legendary Rambles: Ingleton & Lonsdale (in Settle Library).
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Mitchell, W.R. (1994) Ingleborough. The Big Blue Hill, publ. Castleberg, Settle.
• Winstone, P. A history of the church in Clapham, NYCRO Journal vol.9 p.29