The Red Lion, Manningtree

The Red Lion is a Grade II listed building and the oldest pub in Manningtree, dating back to 1605 and the time of Matthew Hopkins and his witch trials. According to the Red Lion’s website ‘The inn is also mentioned in a book of 1647 written by Matthew Hopkins on the scourge of witchcraft. Hopkins, a native of Manningtree, was a lawyer known as the Witch Hunter General.The Red Lion is a Grade II listed building and the oldest pub in Manningtree, dating back to 1605 and the time of Matthew Hopkins and his witch trials. According to the Red Lion’s website ‘The inn is also mentioned in a book of 1647 written by Matthew Hopkins on the scourge of witchcraft. Hopkins, a native of Manningtree, was a lawyer known as the Witch Hunter General. In 1644 he suspected eight local women of witchcraft. With the aid of local man, John Stearne, Hopkins rounded up the women and threw them into the Manningtree prison, which used to sit on the land to the right of the pub. The women were eventually taken to Colchester Castle and then on to Chelmsford to stand trial. In 1645, with twenty other women, they were condemned to death and executed. There was public outcry as evidence against the women was scant. One of the local women, Elizabeth Clarke, was taken screaming and shouting from The Red Lion. Hopkins described her as a drunken sot, although her only apparent crime was that she was in possession of a cat, a polecat, a rabbit and a crow.’

Elizabeth Clarke (Born 1565 – Died 1645) was accused of witchcraft by John Rivet, a tailor. She was the first victim of Matthew Hopkins. She was an old woman with one leg who confessed after being deprived of sleep and being interrogated.

“The said Elizabeth forthwith told this informant and one Master Stearne, there present, if they would stay and do the said Elizabeth no hurt, she would call one of her white imps and play with it on her lap. But this informant told her they would not allow it. And they staying there a while longer, the said Elizabeth confessed she had carnal copulation with the devil six or seven years; and he would appear to her three or four times a week at her bedside, and go to bed with her and lie with her half a night together, in the shape of a proper gentleman, with a laced band, having the whole proportion of a man. And he would say to her, “Bessie, I must lie with thee”. And she never did deny him”.

She was found guilty and hanged as a witch. As had her mother.

In an article by Emily Talbut entitled ‘The 14 most haunted places in Essex to visit this Hallowe’en’, (13 October 2014, Essex Chronicle) it is suggested that the Red Lion is haunted by the Witch Finder General, Matthew Hopkins.