The Witchcraft Trial of Florence Newton | Witch of Youghal | Irish Witches in History

Florence Newton, the infamous Witch of Youghal, was accused of bewitching townsfolk through kisses and put on trial in 1661. Recent access to primary sources from the trial have shed new light on the outcome of the trial, which I discuss in this video.
Resource & reading links for further reading are below, as always! 😊
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More reading and resources at the links below:
Article: Irish Legal Heritage: The Witch of Youghal
www.irishlegal...
Article: Have you heard about the ‘witch’ of Youghal?
www.echolive.i...
Article from Andre Sneddon on the Aston papers:
pure.ulster.ac...
Article: Florence Newton - the woman at the centre of one of Ireland’s greatest witch trials
www.irishexami...
More resources:
Andrew Sneddon's book 'Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland'
Another account of a (different) witch in Youghal known for sinking ships, blog by Shane Broderick:
irishfolklore....
Shane also did a presentation on Butter Stealing through Magic in Ireland over at the Irish Pagan School, more info here: irishpaganscho...
Witchcraft in Ireland Online Class at the Irish Pagan School taught by Lora O'Brien, more info here: irishpaganscho...
Lora also has a book, 'Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch' which I would highly recommend!
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Music used in this video:
via Epidemic sound, who provide a subscription for royalty free music to use in content creation
&& If anyone is interested in the video software I use, it's the Movavi Video Editor Plus -- find out more at www.movavi.com

[@kaydonnelly5141]

Hello there….I live in Youghal and I have been studying Florence Newton for many years. Wm. Ashton was the Judge who officiated at her trial and he has signed the original trial record on every page. I traced the original document to its source and was allowed to study it and photo it without flash. The college also gave me a copy of the document. I am 100% sure that there is no mention of Florence dying in the transcript. In the opening preamble it states she was aged about 65 but Andrew Sneddon misread the word aged to be dyed. In the script of the day it is understandable how this could happen. But one has to take into consideration the structure of the sentence and dyed does not make any sense when it is followed by”about 65”. Another interesting point is that Judge Wm Ashton only wrote on half the last page, finishing by saying what she was indicted for, but giving no information on whether or not she was found innocent or guilty even though he had plenty space to do so. And he signs it there one more time. As you say yourself,seeing that witch trials were rare in Ireland, if she was found guilty and executed, why is there no mention of it in the newspapers or in any of the Cork historical documents of the day? I live in hope that one day I will find out what really happened to her.

[@annanewlun5470]

Do you think Florence could have gotten away never to be heard from again?

[@kaydonnelly5141]

@@annanewlun5470 Thank you for replying to my comment. All the main male “actors” at the trial. Bailiffs, Doctor , Mayor, can be traced through historical documents such as the Council Book of Youghal. I cannot find any evidence Of the two main female “actors” Florence Newton and Mary Langdon either before or after the trial . They exist in history only from Dec. 1660 to Sept. 1661. So As of today…no one knows what happened to the Witch of Youghal or if they do, they are not telling. Kay Donnelly Youghal

[@kaygiddens776]

I find these stories fascinating. They tell so many different aspects of "life in the time"..believe systems, social customers, etc, ....I enjoy learning about what made/makes people tick.

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

They really do! Thanks Kay 😊

[@Ogham]

Well done 👏

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

Thanks Lora 😊

[@annanewlun5470]

Awesome video - can't wait to see more! Do you know of any Irish witches that fled to America around the late 17th century? And then ended up being persecuted and killed for being a witch in America.

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

Thank you! I know I haven't uploaded in an age but I am working on several things which I hope to share soon. There's one woman who was brought to the US as an indentured servant who was tried and killed for witchcraft in Boston, her name was Anne 'Goody' Glover. She died in 1688, before the majority of the witch trials in 1692. Thank you for asking the question, she is on my list to do a video on!

[@dylanoriordan2640]

Another really fascinating video! As always, amazing content! Can't wait to see what you do next!

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

Thank you 😁

[@ancientsound]

Excellent video as always! Thanks for doing such a thorough job and for looking into the papers/the written record-so much information still in there that hasn't made it into common understanding of how the events gone down. I don't have any ideas about particular Irish witches to profile (largely as I don't know enough about them yet) but would absolutely eat up any videos you might have in mind about the archival record. Looking forward to the next one!

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

Thank so much 😊 Yeah access to a lot of this information is locked behind academic pay walls, which is so freaking classist.

[@daithifarrell]

Hello From Youghal

[@terrycudlip3455]

I played her and it was traumatic

[@billnicks2362]

I'm fully convinced that Langdon's father had a copy of Malleus Maleficarum and Mary had read it. Some of her first accusations are almost word for word. I always found it interesting that counter-magic was documented as being used in the case against Florence. I would imagine the torture didn't help when it came to her passing away during the trial.

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

I'd agree with you there from what I've read on it, and yeah the poor woman in her 60s thrown in a cell and put through hell likely killed her

[@abrahamkendal3839]

Way to go!! You need to research P-R-O-M-O-S-M!

[@druid139]

Iontach; agus go raibh míle maith agat, a tháisce.

[@TheCraftyCailleach]

Fáilte romhat!