The last will and testament of the
The tale of Molly Leigh – the so-called ‘witch of Burslem’ – has been told and retold for more than 200 years. We’ve gone into the archive to bring you, in exact word for word detail, the last will and testament made by Molly which was signed and dated in
THE will of Molly Leigh reveals that far from being an ‘evil witch’ she had nothing but good intentions. Her will includes instructions to share out her wealth among her family after her death.
She also wanted to look after ‘poor’ people – going as far as making provision for ‘penny loaves’ to be distributed among the ‘poor inhabitants and widows for the time being living within the hamlett of Sneyd and Burslem.’
Molly also wished for her money to be used to build a hospital ‘for many poor women of the parish of Burslem.’
Of course, the Molly Leigh story that we’re all familiar with has more to do with the supposed supernatural and dark arts than clothing and feeding the poor.
According to legend, Molly and her pet blackbird used black magic to bring illness and misfortune on townsfolk, to sour milk and break businesses.
She supposedly even used the dark arts to make it appear as if the vicar of St John’s Church, Pastor Thomas Spencer, had been continually drunk for more than three weeks.
According to legend, the good pastor even saw Molly’s restless ghost in her cottage after her death, and used prayer to exorcise her spirit before exhuming her body, flinging her still living blackbird inside the coffin, and re-interring her in her grave with a north-south orientation instead of the more traditional east-west direction favoured by the Christian church.
Molly, born Margaret Leigh, in 1685, lived in a cottage at Jackfield – near where Vale Park stands today.
The will begins by mentioning Molly’s ‘honoured mother’, Sarah Booth, who received the rent and profits of Molly’s land at Jackfield
However, her father-in-law, Joseph Booth, was excluded from having any share of Molly’s belongings.
A copy of Molly’s will is kept in the Sentinel archives – the original will was made on March 25, 1748 and after Molly’s death it disappeared into the hands of private collectors for more than two centuries.
The contents of the will were copied in 1984 and it’s this copy that’s kept in our archive. We’ve transcribed it for you below. Please note that this is an accurate transcription of the will – so it includes all the original spelling and grammatical mistakes.
You might also find it a little tricky to read, as back in 1748 there wasn’t much care for paragraphs.
But we wanted to present the will exactly as it was laid out…