GUEST BLOG BY GARETH J. MEDWAY From the 1960s onwards there have been witchcraft rituals held in Queen’s Wood, Highgate, at the site of the plague pits known as Churchyard Bottom, or, nowadays, as the Witches’ Circle. Those involved normally meet up at The Woodman public house at the junction of Archway Road and Muswell
Hello all! Lots of pics of the Muswell Hill Geisterfest to come soon, but in the meantime, tune in tonight (Sun 2nd Nov) at 8pm to Oracle TV’s Hallowe’en Special, when Carrie Kirkpatrick and her guests – including David Farrant, Gareth J. Medway and Seldiy Bate will be discussing the mysterious history of Queens Wood,
Incase you haven’t heard, a new movie set and filmed in Queens Wood and other parts of Highgate, has just been completed. Directed by John Mackie and starring Dexter Fletcher, ‘Coven’ promises to be a rather formulaic fright flick, replete with screaming teenage girls legend-tripping at night in a location known locally as at best
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it was quite common for people to be accused of practising black magic, when the real motive was political. In 1310 Pope Boniface VIII (who had died in1303) was posthumously charged, by Philip the Fair of France, of having commerce with a demon. The actual reason was that the
In the 15th century, a black mass allegedly took place in Highgate which could have altered the history of the monarchy today. Today the site of this rite, where wax figures of the king are said to have been melted in the fire, is a harmless golf course. But why was Highgate chosen as the
The secretion of a hoard of objects in a hidden compartment at Lauderdale House, a mansion dating from 1582 which is situate in Waterlow Park, Highgate, lends itself not to the question of WHETHER witchcraft was practiced there – but by who and when. The discovery of these artifacts took place at some stage between
A curious passageway of note in Highgate lies slightly to the north west, and beneath, the Hillcrest estate. Now a modernised cut-through between Broadlands and Talbot Roads, Park House Passage takes it name from the mansion of the same name which once stood on the looming bulwarks now occupied by Hillcrest. To the folkloric and