Distance: 5.5 miles

Difficulty of the terrain: medium

Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

Walk from Bottesford in the far north east of Leicestershire. Out to Belvoir, the site of Belvoir Castle. The two locations are connected through the story of the Belvoir Witches in the early 17th Century.

The Story

The Walk

Getting Back

Two Families, Completely Disimilar in Dignity

Hailing from Bottesford, in Leicestershire but so close to Lincolnshire it is often considered to be in that county, the Flowers were an early 17th Century family comprising a mother Joan and two daughters Margaret and Philippa. Residing several miles to the south were the Manners family, who had three children, Henry, Francis and Katherine.

While living and working in close proximity to each other the two families could not have been more different. The Manners family were the Dukes of Rutland, while the three members of the Flowers family held menial positions working as cooks and cleaners in their household at the imposing Belvoir Castle, which to this day holds a commanding position rising up on a ridge above the flatlands of the eastern Midlands.

Generally the lives of those like the Flowers family are lost to history, while those of the Manners parents and children alike are recalled in fading wall plaques, oblique references in the names of public houses and the footnotes of conventional history. Perhaps in middle age the Manners sons would have been a commander in a Civil War era army or played a statesman like role in either the Commonwealth or the recovery of the British crowns by Charles II?

The fact that neither of them did is intimately bound up with the fate of the Flowers family and the reason why we remember them today.

During the time that they were employed at Belvoir Castle the Flowers were purportedly unpopular with the other staff. They were accused of petty theft and other misdemeanours. After being in the castle’s employ for some time they were dismissed with only Joan receiving any kind of severance package. Her compensation for loss of office amounted to two pounds in cash and a bedspread.

Shortly after the family’s dismissal all five members of the Manners family fell ill. Duke, Duchess and all three children alike were wracked with a mysterious affliction which left them convulsing and vomiting for days on end. During this period of sickness Henry the eldest who was due to inherit the Rutland ducal title died, though the rest of the family survived.

The dismissal of the Flowers family from Belvoir Castle and the illness and death in the Duke of Rutland’s family were initially not connected. Indeed, why would they be?

However, these were the years of the witch hunts. For centuries England had taken a relatively lenient stance towards those considered “witches”. In many cases those engaged in what was considered in low level magic (love charms, healing potions etc.) were left alone. Even in cases where magic was deemed to have harmed another, if proven (which was understandably considered tricky by both the secular and church courts) often attracted relatively light penalties, very seldom corporal punishment, let alone death.

Throughout the medieval and early modern periods as scholars like Malcolm Gaskill show, it must be remembered that pretty much everybody believed in evil spirits, the reality of witchcraft and the devil’s real presence in the world. However, as the example of England’s relative leniency regarding witchcraft shows, the level of concern this raised varied across the centuries.

As Silvia Federici shows in her modern Marxist feminist classic text Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation the social upheaval which accompanied the slow generations long emergence of the system of social relations we call capitalism steadily changed attitudes towards witchcraft and people (usually women) deemed to be engaged in magic and in contact with spirits and potentially the devil.

The received narrative in the mainstream about the emergence of modernity during this time period is that society became steadily more rational and more humane. What Silvia Federici shows through her work is that this story is not so straightforward. Indeed in the 16th and 17th Centuries the oppression of women and the conditions of their exploitation intensified and concerns about witchcraft explicitly, and the control of women by men implicitly, lay at the heart of this.

Rural England in the early 17th Century was in a state of constant upheaval as traditional peasant agriculture based around small plots and larger expanses of commonly managed (but privately owned) land was steadily replaced by a system where a small number of large tenant farmers rented land from major landowners like the aristocratic Manners family, who in turn rented the time and energy of the bulk of the land dwelling population to produce food and raw materials for industry like wool.

This process was good for the large tenant farmers, brilliant for the major landowners and terribly for the majority of the peasantry. The peasants found that their traditional fairly self regulating autonomous way of life was swept away in favour of an unstable, dependent, existence competing for work as seasonal wage labourers. Unsurprisingly this led to resistance, most prominently in the Midlands this took the form of a “revolt” in 1607 which saw protests by landworkers across Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire which was crushed by violence.

In the wake of the dissenters being crushed witch trials came into the southern Midlands in a big way. A similar pattern is observed by Silvia Federci elsewhere in Europe. In 1616 in Leicestershire alone, nine women were sentenced to death for witchcraft.

Though it was admittedly not entirely new to England, concern about witchcraft having grown amongst politicians and officials at the top level of the state during the late 16th Century, and been cemented by the arrival on the throne of James I who as King of Scotland in the late 16th Century had been an enthusiastic persecutor of perceived witches.

It was in this ferment that late in 1618 the Flowers family, mother and daughters alike, were apprehended by the law and arraigned for the murder of Henry Manners the heir to the Duchy of Rutland by malicious witchcraft in 1613. Why after more than five years had elapsed it was suddenly decided to apprehend and investigate the Flowers family for their alleged involvement in the death is unknown. All three women protested their innocence and they were held by the vengeful Duke of Rutland for a couple of months for initial examination by various gentleman and members of the clergy for several months until is was decided to commit them for trial.

The women were taken to Lincoln to stand trial at the next assizes. Enroute in the village of Ancaster Joan Flowers died, something which was probably brought on by the stress of the situation and exposure to diseases in the cramped insanitary conditions prisoners during the period were kept in. However, legend has it that she requested a communion wafer during the journey to confinement at Lincoln Castle, claiming that consuming it would prove her innocence because there was no way that somebody truly in league with the devil could eat one. The party of guards taking the women to Lincoln decided to try it and sourced one for her. Upon taking the wafer, chewing the bread, and beginning to swallow, Joan Flowers choked, and continued choking until she was dead. A story which supposedly shows that she was guilty of the crime she was accused of.

Upon reaching Lincoln with their mother dead and after an interrogation, which undoubtedly included elements of oppression if not outright torture, the Margaret and Philippa began to change their story. Margaret claimed that her mother – handily dead – was the witch and solely responsible for the illness and death in the Manners family. Philippa admitted the crimes laid against her, her mother and her sister. She also named three other women living around Bottesford as confederates in their magical crimes, all of whom were promptly arrested and taken to Lincoln Castle for trial.

At the women’s trial at the Lincolnshire Assizes on the 11th March both Margaret and Philippa were sentenced to death. Margaret was hanged shortly afterwards, however, there is no evidence of Philippa having been executed or indeed having died at all. The legend around the Flowers family tells that she escaped from Lincoln Castle in some tellings by means of magic, and ended up in Kent where she lived to a ripe old age, marrying and having three children.

Whether Philippa did somehow survive, fleeing to southern England, and living a relatively happy life, is impossible to know. What is known is that in 1620 the year after Joan, Margaret and Philippa were sent to Lincoln for confinement and trial Francis Manners the Duke of Rutland’s younger surviving son also died. This was blamed on the Flowers and their confederates’ ongoing curse. Katherine the sole surviving child married George Villiers the Duke of Buckingham a “favourite” (and likely lover) of James VI, and had two male children who survived into adulthood dying in their 60s in the late 17th Century. But not the Duchy of Rutland which passed to another branch of the Manners family upon the death of the old duke in 1632.

Henry and Francis Manners are remembered in a memorial in Bottesford church which has the highest spire in Leicestershire, visible from across the flat Vale of Belvoir which surrounds Belvoir Castle. The memorial to the two Manners boys is unique in England for being the only requiem plaque which mentions death by witchcraft.

The Walk

Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox

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This walk to Belvoir Castle from Bottesford begins at Bottesford Railway Station, which is on the Nottingham to Grantham railway line.

Upon alighting at Bottesford head towards the left to exit the station via a gate next to a level crossing.

If approaching from the direction of Nottingham this involves heading along a track opposite the platform heading west from Grantham.

Upon reaching the level crossing turn left and taking care, cross the track heading through a footgate on the far side.

Once through the footgate turn left, then after crossing the road head down a footpath opposite where you are standing.

Continue straight down this footpath heading towards the centre of Bottesford.

Soon you reach a junction. Here, walk straight ahead.

Off to your right you see the building and churchyard of St. Mary’s the Virgin Bottesford parish church. This is where you can see the requiem monument for Henry and Francis Manners the Duke of Rutland’s sons who were supposedly killed by the Belvoir Witches in the early 17th Century. Their monument is the only one in the UK which mentions death by malicious witchcraft. The church is often open so when passing you can pop in to see the memorial.

Passing the churchyard continue along the path walking next to a stream until you come to a footbridge.

Here, turn left and cross the footbridge.

After crossing the footbridge keep walking straight down the residential bridge on the far side.

Walk a little way down this road looking out on the left for a snicket waymarked with a footpath sign.

Upon reaching the snicket turn left and walk down the path.

Soon you reach the main road running west to east through Bottesford.

Here turn left and walk a short distance towards the mouth of a cul-de-sac lined with modern houses off on the right.

Turn right onto the cul-de-sac. At the bottom of the short stretch of road next to a small cluster of newly built houses there is a footpath situated on the left.

Head off down this footpath on the left. Continue along it for some distance.

Soon the path you have been on runs through a hedgerow. On the far side of the hedge you come to a junction where the path you have been following runs straight across a playing field heading through a hedgerow with a stile set in it on the far side.

Once through the hedgerow turn left following a path through a small clump of woodland.

This leads to a stile, on the far side of which lies a field. Here you get your first glimpse of Belvoir Castle perched high up on its distant hill.

Having climbed the stile turn left following a footpath across the field.

On the far side you reach a footgate set in a hedgerow. Cross a smaller, somewhat overgrown pasture, on the far side of the gate.

Soon you reach another gate which leads out into another large field. Walk straight across the big field on the far side heading for another gate.

Head through this gate and then walk straight ahead through the field on the far side. Look out on the right for a stile.

Having crossed this stile to the left you are standing in a field. Once in the field turn left and cross the field heading for a gap in the hedge on the far side.

Here there is a plank bridge across a little ditch and through a hedgerow.

Once on the far side of the plank bridge and the hedge turn right.

Follow the path a short way, through a clump of trees to the side of the A52 bypass running to the south of Bottesford.

Having taken care crossing the busy road, cross a stile and follow the footpath across a small overgrown meadow.

On the far side of the meadow cross another stile and walk straight along a footpath through a thicket of trees on the far side.

This leads out into a field, which you cross, climbing a stile into another field on the far side.

Walk across this field also, and climb a stile across a hedge into a horses paddock.

Once in the paddock turn left and walk along the side of the hedge until you reach a stile leading out onto the side of a narrow lane.

Upon reaching the lane turn right walking a short distance towards a house and an old tree set in a hedgerow.

Just past the house, next to the tree head through a gap in the hedge into a field beyond.

Once in the field turn left and walk around the edge along a strip of grass. Partway across, turn right and head slightly downhill towards a gap in the hedge beyond.

Having passed through the hedgerow, keep walking straight ahead across the field.

Presently you reach a hedgerow next to a drainage ditch. Here turn left and follow a footpath alongside the little waterway.

Keep straight ahead for quite some distance.

Eventually you reach a waymarked little bridge across the drainage ditch to the right of you.

Cross this little bridge and turn left along the semi-paved bridleway on the far side.

Soon you approach and cross the derelict Grantham Canal, which still has water in it, but is heavily overgrown with reeds and other water plants.

Continue along the bridleway a short distance beyond the ruined canal. Look out on your right for a footpath running off the track you have been walking along.

Pick your way straight ahead across the field.

Presently you reach a patch of rough grass, here you turn left, picking your way through the grasses until you reach a waymarking post across the field boundary.

Cross the field beyond making for a waymarked plank bridge across a drainage ditch.

Having crossed the ditch, walk straight across the field beyond. It is a great expanse of ground so it takes you some time to cross.

On the far side of the field off to the right there is a gap in the hedge leading out onto the side of a road.

Upon reaching the road turn left and begin following the road as it steadily runs downhill.

The road is quite busy but the verges are wide, so it is fairly easy to walk along it safely.

Presently the road curves around sharply to the right.

Some way after the sharp turn approaching a cross road look out on the right for a waymarked path leading across a field.

Walk straight ahead across the field heading for a gap in the hedge in front of you.

Ahead of you there is another field which you also cross, heading through a gap to the left of the field, into a further field, which is where the right of way runs.

Cross this field steadily approaching a farm track.

Upon reaching the farm track turn right and make your way a short distance along it to the side of a road.

Once on the road turn left and follow it as it begins to run uphill.

Presently you approach the so-called “Engine Yard” on your left, a little shopping-cum-crafts centre type place, beneath Belvoir Castle owned by the Dukes of Rutland. The ridge Belvoir Castle sits atop is directly in front of you.

Keep walking up the road until you reach a junction. Here straight in front of you is the car park and entrance for Belvoir Castle.

This is where the walk ends.

Getting Back

From Belvoir Castle you can either walk back to Bottesford, either by reversing the walking route and retracing your steps, or along the side of roads. From there you can catch the train either back west towards Nottingham or further east towards Grantham and other destinations in south Lincolnshire like Boston. Alternatively, turn left at the Belvoir Castle car park and follow the road around the castle mount and downhill towards the village of Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir. Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir at the time of writing in October 2023 was served by four buses a day to Grantham, the last one leaving just after 15:00. From Grantham it is possible to get buses to other destinations in the East Midlands as well as catching trains either west towards Nottingham, further east into Lincolnshire or north and south along the East Coast Mainline.