George Pickingill

George Pickingill (c. 1816 10 April 1909) was an English farm labourer who lived and worked in the village of
Canewdon in the eastern English county of Essex. Widely
considered to be a cunning man, or vocational folk magician, he reportedly employed magical means to oer
cures for ailments and to locate lost property, although
was also alleged to have threatened to curse peoples property.

and Danish witchcraft and from Classical sources, and

that in doing so, Pickingill created the structure from
which Gardnerian Wicca emerged in the 1950s. Prominent Wiccans Doreen Valiente and Lois Bourne have expressed criticism of his claims, which have also been
rejected as spurious by such scholars of Pagan studies
and magical history as Maple, Hutton, Owen Davies, and
Aidan A. Kelly.

Born into a rural working-class family, Pickingill grew

up in Hockley, Essex and was baptised into the Church
of England. Working as a farm labourer, in 1856 he married Sarah Ann Bateman in Gravesend, Kent. The couple
moved back to Essex, settled in Canewdon and had four
children. Pickingills wife died in 1887, and in later life
he attracted limited press attention for his claim to be one
of the oldest men in England. These claims also appeared
in his obituaries, although were later shown to be incorrect.

1 Biography
1.1 Life and family
George Pickingill was the son of Charles Pickingill, a
labourer and blacksmith, and Susannah Cudner, a woman
who also went by the name of Hannah Cudmore; the couple had married on 17 September 1813.[3] Although he
had no known birth record, according to parish records,
George Pickingill was baptised on 26 May 1816 at the
church in Hockley.[3] The year of Pickingills birth is
however in question, as he made diering claims in different censuses; in the 1851 census, he claimed to be 26,
meaning that his birth would have occurred circa 1825,
while in the 1861 census, he claimed to be 46, which
would have placed his birth c.1815. By the time of the
1901 census, he was claiming to be 95, moving his birth
to c.1806; it has been suggested that he made himself appear older to ease the process of collecting parish assistance from the church.[4] Throughout his life, Pickingill
would also use a variety of dierent spellings of his surname on ocial records, including Pickengill, Pickingale,
Pickengal, Pettingale, Pitengale, and Pittengale.[3]

Pickingill was brought to wider public attention in the

early 1960s by the folklorist Eric Maple. As part of his
research into beliefs regarding folk magic and witchcraft
in nineteenth-century Essex, Maple had interviewed a
number of Canewdon residents and collected their stories about Pickingill and his reputation as a cunning man.
According to their accounts, Pickingill attracted visitors
from around Essex seeking his magical help, for which
he did not charge. They attributed to him the power
to control animals, to command imps to do his bidding,
and to wield power over either six or nine malevolent
witches who lived in Canewdon. It was also claimed
that he was able to coerce assistance and beer from local residents by threatening to place a curse upon them or
their belongings. Although it has been suggested that local people were inventing claims to please Maple, many
of which were based on older tales regarding the Essex
cunning man James Murrell, subsequent research by historian Ronald Hutton has conrmed aspects of the folklorists original accounts.

It is apparent from census data that Pickingill lived

with his parents from 1816 until the 1830s, although
it is not stated where he was living at the time of the
1841 census.[4] In 1851, he was recorded as lodging
in the household of David Clemens in Little Wakering, Essex, and describing himself as a farm labourer by
profession.[4] On 18 May 1856 he married Sarah Ann
Bateman at St Georges Church, an Anglican church in
Gravesend, Kent.[4] In that record, both Pickingill and
Bateman described themselves as residing in Gravesend,
and Pickingill declared that he was working as a labourer;
no profession was listed for Bateman.[4] Bateman was
born c.1831 in Tillingham, Essex, as the daughter of
Joseph Bateman and his wife Mary Ann Aggus; throughout married life, she identied as Mary Ann Pickingill
and appeared as Sarah Ann Pittengale in her burial

In the 1970s, the occultist E.W. Bill Liddell began

publicising claims that secretive hereditary witch families had informed him that Pickingill was not simply
a rural cunning man but that he was a major gure in
the nineteenth-century esoteric community. According
to Liddells accountwhich has failed to receive any
scholarly supportPickingill was a member of a hereditary witch-cult, leading a Canewdon coven and forming nine other covens across southern England. Liddell claimed that Pickingill reformed the established English witch-cult by introducing new concepts from French
1

2
record.[4]
On 22 June 1858 the couples daughter, Martha Ann, was
born in Hawkwell, Essex. By 1861 they had moved to
Eastwood, Essex, where they were recorded in that years
census.[4] Here, Pickingill described himself as an agricultural labourer.[4] That same year, their son Charles
Frederick was born.[4] The following year, Pickingills
wife was caught stealing two pecks of potatoes, and subsequently ned ten shillings.[4] In 1863, a second daughter, named Mary Ann, was born to the couple.[4]

1 BIOGRAPHY
and allowed the old man to ride in it.[4] The journalist subsequently wrote an article about the alleged centegenerian, in which he claimed that his name was Frederick Pickingale"; it is possible that Pickingill gave the
false name so that no one would be able to look up the
parish records and discover his real age.[4] Maple described Pickingill as a tall, unkempt man, solitary and
uncommunicative. He had very long nger-nails, and
kept his money in a purse of sacking. He also noted
that he had worked as a farm labourer and that he was a
widower with two sons.[5]

"[Pickingill] still gets his own meals ready, and lls in

odd moments by pottering about in the garden. 'Yes, I'm
a hundred and ve,' he said, 'and feel good for another 20 1.2
years. I was born in Hockley, and I've been in these parts,
working on farms, all my life. I only stopped working
at 90.' The aged man has never seen a railway train. A
Press representative took the 'old boy' for a ride round in
a motor car, much to his delight. 'I'd like to go to London
on it,' he said. 'I've never been to London.' When asked
how to live to be 105, he laughed and said, 'You just go
on living thats all.' He still likes his pipe of tobacco and
mug of ale.

Magical activities

Essex Newsman, 19 September 1908.[4]

At some point in the coming four years, the Pickingill
family moved to Canewdon, where another son, George,
was born in 1876.[4] The couple and their four children
were then recorded in the 1871 census, where Pickingill
was again listed as working as an agricultural labourer.[4]
In the 1881 census, the couple were recorded as living with two of their children, Mary Ann and George,
and Pickingill was again identifying as a labourer.[4] On
17 August 1887, a homeless man named James Taylor
stole a jacket and pair of leather gloves from Pickingill.
Taylor was arrested and brought to trial in Rochford on
24 August; in October, he pleaded guilty to the theft
of the jacket, although not to those of the other items.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard
labour.[4]

Aerial photo of Canewdon, 2007

The rst printed account of Pickingill that described him

as a cunning man appeared fty years after his death.[6]
This was provided by the folkorist Eric Maple, who was
making a systematic study of nineteenth-century traditions regarding witchcraft and magic in south-eastern
Essex,[7] and who examined the case of Canewdon in
the winter of 195960.[8] He had begun his enquiries
by meeting with a number of elderly local residents at
the home of the schoolmistress, from whom he gained
a variety of tales pertaining to magical practices in the
village.[9] His initial ndings were published in 1960 in
the scholarly journal Folklore, produced by The Folklore Society.[7] He subsequently produced a sensationalist popular history of witchcraft, The Dark World of
Witches (1962), in which he repeated many of the claims
regarding Pickingill. In this work, he erroneously described south-eastern Essex as the last bastion of English
witchcraft beliefs, and ignored scholarly conventions in
relating his information, resulting in a critical reception
from folklorists; the book nevertheless was popular and
sold well.[10]

On 13 September 1887 Pickingills wife died at the age

of 63 in Canewdon; her death was attributed to a disease
of the liver by the certifying doctor.[4] She was buried
at Canewdons St. Nicholas Church on 17 September.[4]
According to the 1891 census, Pickingill was still employed as an agricultural labourer, and was living in
Canewdon with his married daughter Marry Ann and his
granddaughter, Emily Wood.[4] Records show that he was
living in a rented cottage with an adjacent garden, and that
in July 1899 the owner sold the property at auction.[4] By
1901 he was listed as living on parish relief, with his two
Maple noted that, unusuallygiven his role as a cunning
sons back living with him.[4]
manPickingill did not charge for his services, but did
By this time, Pickingill was increasingly inating his age, receive some money from visitors, and that his recorded
eventually claiming that he was 105 years old. This at- roles included restoring lost property and curing minor
tracted attention from other areas, including London, and ailments, both of which were common practices amongst
in September 1908 a journalist visited Canewdon; he ar- British cunning folk.[11] According to one account, he
rived by automobile, the rst that Pickingill had ever seen, cured a woman of rheumatism by transferring the ail-

1.2

Magical activities

ment to her father.[5] Maple wrote that Pickingill was

known to use cursing and malevolent magic on occasion,
something that the folklorist contrasted with the activities of other contemporary cunning folk that he had studied, such as James Murrell.[5] At harvest time, Maple
recorded, Pickingill was known to wander around the
eld threatening to bewitch farm machinery, with many
farmers thus oering him beer so that he would leave
them alone.[12] He was also recorded as coercing local
people to obtain water for him from the village pump by
threatening to set upon them white mice, a rodent which
in local folklore was associated with misfortune.[5] Another tale that Maple recorded also associated Pickingill
with white mice; according to this, a visitor travelled to
the cunning mans cottage only to nd him lying in bed,
with the mice suckling from his nipples.[13]
Pickingill was also known for his purported ability to control animals, namely horses, and it was believed that when
he struck a hedgerow with his stick, game animals would
run out that could then be caught, killed and eaten.[13] It
was also rumoured that he could do things faster than ordinary human beings, and that he could do an hours job
in only a few minutes, with some believing that he got
his impshis familiar spiritsto do the job for him.[14]
Maple also noted that people who visited his cottage reported seeing ornaments and furniture dancing around
the room of their own accord; the folklorist believed that
this story had originated in a Dutch folkloric tradition that
may have been imported to Essex when many Dutch migrants settled there in the seventeenth century.[15]
According to Maple, Pickingill was suciently well
known in Essex as an accomplished cunning man that
people came to visit him from outside Canewdon in
search of magical aid, sometimes from great distances,
including men from the Essex village of Dengie, who
sought his advice in a wage dispute.[16] Meanwhile, as
Maple noted, Canewdon had developed a reputation associating it with witchcraft and magic by the end of the
nineteenth century, when it was often thought of as The
Witch Country and avoided by many wagoners who
feared having their vehicles bewitched.[8] This was possibly due to its relative isolation from neighbouring settlements, as it was surrounded by marshland, and the insular
nature of its community.[8] Maple recorded that in this
period there was a rumour that there were either six or
nine elderly women living in Canewdon who were malevolent witches and used their magic to harm others. It was
believed that whilst they were not known to one another,
they all owed their allegiance to a singular wizard or master of witches,[17] and there was a rumour in the local
community that Pickingill himself was this gure.[13] It
was claimed that as Master of Witches, Pickingill simply had to whistle in order for these nine witches to stand
by their front doors and reveal their identities,[18] or that
alternately he could will them to dance for him in the
local churchyard.[13]
When my sister and I were children, we wanted to ride

3
our pony and trap to Rochford Fair; but that day the
beast just wouldn't move, no matter what we did with it.
Then we suddenly saw George Pickingill staring at us with
those terrible eyes of his. He came over and told us to put
down the reins and not to interfere with the pony at all.
Then he whispered in its ear for a few minutes and stood
back and hit it; and it started o, and found its way down
the lanes to Rochford, without our needing to touch it.
Jack Taylor, interviewed by Ronald Hutton, 1967.[19]
Subsequent researchers also travelled to Canewdon to
meet with Maples informants and conrm his account
for themselves. In April 1967 Ronald Hutton visited the
village where he met with elderly resident Lillian Garner, who had been one of Maples informants. He also
found an informant that Maple had not encountered, an
old man named Jack Taylor, then living in a retirement
home. Taylor claimed that as a young man he knew
Pickingill, and that the latter had the power of horsewhisperingthe magical ability to command horses to
do his bidding. On the whole, Hutton found that the
account of Pickingill among the local people to whom
he spoke was entirely consistent with that provided by
Maple.[19][lower-alpha 2] In 1977 Hutton was followed by the
Gardnerian Wiccan initiate Michael Howard, who met
with Garner, then eighty-seven years old.[21] On this occasion, she recalled Pickingill being photographed with
the rst car to arrive in the village, and also gave Howard
the original copy of a photograph of him that was in her
possession.[22] She then added the informationwhich
she had not given to Maple or Huttonthat her own
mother had talked of Pickingill leading a local coven, and
that he received many visitors from a long way away
who sought his magical knowledge.[1]
A dierent account was provided by Charles Lefebvre, an American author of the sensationalist Witness to
Witchcraft (1970). Here, his use of sources was unclear,
although he asserted that Pickingill had had an ageless
body, was a relative of Roma people, was the last survivor of an old witch family, held Black Masses and orgies in the church yard, and was visited by black magicians from across Europe. According to Lefebvre,
Pickingill was nally killed when confronted by the sign
of the cross.[23] Hutton later described these as fantasies
which served to support Lefebvres view that witchcraft
should be criminalised.[19]
However, claims have since been made that Pickingill
was not a cunning man or involved in folk magic at all.
Local Canewdon historian Sylvia Webster expressed her
view to Howard that tales regarding Pickingills magical
practices had been invented by the locals of Canewdon to
impress Maple. Supporting this position, she highlighted
that there was no evidence to suggest that Pickingill was
a cunning man prior to Maples publications.[24] Similarly, Richard Ward argued that the contemporary obituaries and interviews conducted with Pickingill had shown

2 BILL LIDDELLS CLAIMS

no evidence of any magical activities, when such might

have been expected.[25] Ward suggested that many of
the stories regarding Pickingills magical activities were
adapted from those of a genuine Essex cunning man,
James Murrell.[25] Hutton responded critically to Wards
claims, highlighting his own investigations into the local folklore and his interview with Taylor to express the
view that there seems little doubt that Pickingill was
a cunning man, although there are still questions over
what sort of one he was.[26] At the same time, Hutton also accepted the possibility that some of the legends associated with Murrell had come to be associated
with Pickingill, although stated that this seemed to be
incapable of solid proof.[26] In his counter-response to
Hutton, Ward accepting that Pickingill could have been
associated with some apparent supernatural control or
knowledge of horses as Taylor had claimed, but that this
did not automatically make him a cunning man, for which
there remained no contemporary historical evidence.[27]

1.3

Death

abandoned house gradually became dilapidated before

falling down.[15]
According to his death certicate, George Pettingale
died on 10 April 1909 at the age of 103, and his cause of
death was senile decay and cardiac failure.[4] He was
buried at Canewdons St Nicholas Church on 14 April;
although his stated age of 103 was recorded, the vicar
added a note asserting that this was erroneous, for in reality Pickingill was born at Hockley 1816 [and] was only
in his 93rd year.[4]
Pickingills death attracted national press attention. It was
claimed in both the Essex Newsman and The Times that
he was believed to be the oldest man in England"; these
publications recorded his age as 106.[4] The story was also
picked up by New Zealand newspaper The Star, in which
he was described as the oldest man in England.[4]
According to Maple, Pickingill left a legacy of myth
which is curiously alien to the general run of witch traditions. In all the stories told of Pickingill there is a subtle
undercurrent of horror which one nds hard to pinpoint.
Possibly it arises from the fact that many of those who
recount the tales actually knew the man and experienced
just such a quiet terror when he passed them in the village
street.[12]

2 Bill Liddells claims

Canewdons St Nicholas Church, Pickingills burial site

According to Maples account, in the last few weeks of

Pickingills life, when he had become very ill, the local people moved him to the inrmary against his will,
where he declared that at his funeral there would be one
more demonstration of his magical powers. Many locals
interpreted this as coming true when as the hearse carrying his con drew up to the churchyard, the horses
stepped out of their harness shafts.[13] His body was subsequently buried in the churchs graveyard, whilst his

In 1974, a writer began sending articles to Pagan newsletter The Wiccan, then edited by the Gardnerian Wiccan John Score, articulating an alternative account of
Pickingills life and relation to the British occult movement. First identifying himself only as a well wisher,
he later began using the pseudonym Lugh, named for the
Irish mythological gure.[28] In 1977, Lugh ceased sending the articles to The Wiccan and instead began publishing them in a rival British magazine, The Cauldron, edited
by Michael Howard; he claimed to have switched outlets
because The Wiccan had been too dominated by Gardnerian perspectives.[29] Lugh later revealed his name to be
E.W. Bill Liddell, describing himself as an Englishman
born in Essex. He added that circa 1960 he had moved to
Auckland, New Zealand, before later relocating to Australia, from where he wrote his articles.[30] In a 1984 letter
he noted that he was not born with the surname of Liddell but had instead adopted it later in life.[31] Claiming
that Pickingill had been the rst-cousin of his paternal
great-great grandfather, Liddell asserted that he had been
initiated into his familys hereditary form of witchcraft
in 1950,[32] and that he had subsequently been initiated
into both the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions of
Wicca.[33] His partner, Sylvia Tatham, had been heavily
involved in the development of the Alexandrian tradition
in the early 1960s, having been one of those present when
its founder, Alex Sanders, was initiated into the Gardnerian tradition.[34] In 1982, Wiccan Publications collected

2.1

Liddells account

together and published these articles as two pamphlets: 2.1 Liddells account
Old George Pickingill and the Roots of Modern Witchcraft
and Medieval Witchcraft and the Freemasons.[35] The articles were republished in one single volume in 1994 as According to Liddells initial 1974 claims, since the
The Pickingill Papers, edited by Liddell and Howard.[36] eleventh century the Pickingill family had been priests
of a pre-Christian, pagan religion devoted to the worship
The Lugh corpus was expressly written to be confrontaof the Horned God.[43] In this, his claims tted within
tional. Several surviving Craft families, a number of
the historical framework of the discredited witch-cult hysolitaries, and my own Brethren were at rst amused
pothesis as propagated in the works of Margaret Murand then alarmed at the Witchcraft beliefs being proray.[44] Later he added that the medieval witch cult
pounded by Gerald Gardner and Alex Sanders. The
was inuenced by the tenets of the Iron Age druids,
tenets of Wicca bore little resemblance to the rites and
in particular their knowledge of ley lines which were
practices of Traditional Witchcraft in England. My
marked out by the stone circles erected in the Neolithic
Brethren decided to take the bull by the horns and nd
and Bronze Ages.[45] Conicting with these ideas, in 1998
a public platform to explain that there were a number of
Liddell personally informed Hutton that the witch-cult
disparate witch traditions.
did not derive from ancient pre-Christian religion but that
Bill Liddell, 1999.[37]
it instead had been founded in fteenth-century France,
emerging from a union between Christian heretics, cunLiddells claims regarding Pickingill are self- ning lodges, and a cult of Lucifer founded by Islamic
[44]
contradictory.[36] Liddell explained this by stating Moors with the intent of undermining Christianity.
that the information contained in his articles had been
passed on to him by three separate sources, all of which
had decided to use him as a mouthpiece for their own
claims. The rst were the members of a hereditary
tradition of Pagan witchcraft, while the second were
the practitioners of a similar yet separate tradition of
Pagan witchcraft which, Liddell alleged, had been greatly
inuenced by Pickingill in the nineteenth century. The
third source cited by Liddell was his own experiences
gained from being born into a witchcraft family and subsequently being initiated into both of the aforementioned
traditions and a separate cunning lodge.[38] He claimed
that most of the information that he was publishing came
from Elders, or older members, involved in the rst
two of these traditions, and that as such he could not
vouch for its accuracy,[36] going so far as to state that he
doubted the veracity of much of it.[39]
Noting that these Elders themselves had very dierent
opinions on Gardnerian Wicca,[40] he also stated that the
Elders ceased providing him with new information in
the early 1980s.[36] He stated that these various Elders
had chosen him to disseminate the information because
he had been involved in both hereditary witchcraft and
Gardnerian Wicca and because he was based in New
Zealand, thereby making it hard for anyone to trace their
identities.[41] Despite Liddell claiming that the material
he was putting forward came from various sources, the
historian Ronald Hutton noted that it was all presented
in a single, dogmatic, authorial voice, with no indication of where the dierent pieces of information came
from.[42] Hutton also asserted that Liddells changing
claims would be entirely consistent with a single individual making up stories and changing them as they went
along.[42]

"[George Pickingill] was more famous in his heydey than

Crowley was in his. Old George was acknowledged as the
worlds greatest living authority on witchcraft, Satanism
and black magic. He was consulted by occultists of every
hue and tradition who came from all over Europe, England and even America.
Bill Liddell, 1974.[46]
Liddell claimed that the Pickingill family had many links
to the travelling Romani population, and that Pickingill
spent many of his early years in a Romani caravan. Liddell claimed that Pickingill faced persecution as a result, and that he set out to terrify the locals of Canewdon in retaliation.[47] According to Liddell, Pickingill was
trained in Romani magic, and thus in later life became
the most famous gypsy kako in England.[48] Liddell also
claimed that Pickingill despised Christianity and wanted
to see it overthrown; to this end he collaborated with
Satanists and included Satanic elements within his ritual
practices, something which horried other members of
the East Anglian witch-cult.[46] Thus, according to Liddell, Pickingill was Englands most feared and vilied
'Satanist'".[49] Elsewhere, he stressed that Pickingill was
not a Satanist, but rather that he had been considered such
by other witches because he practised sex magic.[50]
Liddell asserted that Pickingill spent time in France,
where he was initiated into a local form of the witchcult.[48] According to this account, upon his return
to Canewdon, Pickingill was invited to lead a local
coven which had been operating since the mid-fteenth
centurythe Seven Witches of Canewdonand that
he continued to lead the group until disbanding it several
years prior to his death.[51] Liddell added that Pickingill
proceeded to introduce many new innovations into the
English witch-cult by applying concepts borrowed from
the Danish and French witch-cults, namely the idea that
the coven should be led by a woman.[52] Liddell asserted

6
that Pickingill then established nine covens in England,
spread out in Essex, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Sussex, and
Hampshire;[53] he further added that two of those covens,
based in Hertfordshire and Norfolk, survived into at least
the 1970s.[54] According to Liddell, Pickingill was propagating witchcraft in a reformed, female-oriented form
because the oncoming Age of Aquarius would be more
receptive to this form of spirituality.[55]
In Liddells account, Pickingill travelled widely and
joined a variety of cunning lodges, gaining access to their
grimoires and libraries.[56] According to Liddell, from
the 1850s onward Pickingill began co-operating with a
group of Freemasons who considered themselves to be
Rosicrucians and who wanted to prove that Freemasonry
and Rosicrucianism were siblings of the witch-cult.[57]
Two of these Freemasons, Hargrave Jennings and W.J.
Hughan, became pupils of Pickingill, who aided them in
producing a Rosicrucian Manifesto that was used in the
formation of the Societas Rosicruciana in 1865.[58] According to Liddell, Pickingills involvement with Freemasons also led to the foundation of the Hermetic Order
of the Golden Dawn in 1888.[59] Liddell also asserted
that Pickingill was inuenced by a coven that had been
founded in the early nineteenth-century by a group of
Cambridge University academics led by Francis Barrett and whose rituals were based largely on Classical
sources.[60]
The rites [George Pickingill] drafted emphasised ritual
nudity, nature worship, the unity of the Goddess, female dominance, the ve-fold kisswithout the words
'Blessed Be'the Drawing Down of the Moon, the Goddess Charge, the Legend of the Goddess, induction by
the opposite sex, a tri-gradal initiation structure, the use
of magical cords etc. It is dicult not to recognise the
basic features of what is now Gardnerian Wicca.
Bill Liddell, 1984.[61]
Liddell also claimed that the prominent occultist Aleister
Crowley had been initiated into one of these nine covens
as a young man. According to this account, Crowley
had been introduced to the coven in 1899 or 1900 by his
magical mentor, Allan Bennett.[62] Liddell asserted that
Crowley was subsequently ejected from the coven for his
misbehaviour.[63] As evidence for these claims, he stated
that his own grandfather had been present on three occasions at which Bennett and Crowley met with Pickingill,
and that he had seen a photograph in which the three gures are together.[62] When asked to present this photograph for public scrutiny in 1977, Liddell claimed that it
was not available"; when independently asked again in
1983, he asserted that it had been stolen by interested
parties.[64]

2 BILL LIDDELLS CLAIMS

state that he was not certain whether this was true. He
also asserted that Gardner later joined another of the
Pickingill covens, based in Hertfordshire, through which
he received the Second Rite of the Hereditary Craft.
Liddell stressed that this group was separate from Gardners own Bricket Wood coven. He furthermore claimed
that Gardner received the Third Rite from an East
Anglian coven, with this three-degree system of initiation inuencing that in Gardnerian Wicca.[65] As a result, he stated that the structure and rituals of Gardnerian
Wicca were based on those devised by Pickingill, and that
no impartial observer could fail to see that they formed
the nucleus of the rites of Wicca.[48] Liddell believed
that while many hereditary witches despised him, Gardner represented the spiritual heir of Pickingill, because
he had similarly reformed and propagated witchcraft for
contemporary purposes.[53]

2.2 Pagan response

Liddells claims have received a mixed response from the
British Wiccan community. Score championed them in
private letters to his correspondents, declaring that they
proved that the Gardnerian tradition had historical origins predating Gardner.[66] His successor as editor of
The Wiccan, Leonora James, was intrigued by Liddells
claims and investigated the original records pertaining to
Pickingills life, however by the 1980s she had concluded
that Liddells claims were spurious.[36] In her 1978 book
Witchcraft for Tomorrow, the Wiccan Doreen Valiente
who had been Gardners High Priestess in the Bricket
Wood coven during the 1950sstated that she had an
East Anglian source from Essex who claimed that many
of Liddells assertions were correct. In particular, the informant championed Liddells claims that Crowley had
been an initiate of one of Pickingills covens.[67] By the
time of her 1989 book The Rebirth of Witchcraft, Valiente
was more sceptical of Liddells claims, noting that any
supporting evidence was still sadly lacking.[68]

Further, Liddell stated that one of Pickingills covens was

the New Forest coven, a Wiccan group which Gerald Lois Bourne (pictured in 2010) is one of the prominent Wiccans
to have criticised Liddells claims.
Gardnerthe founder of Gardnerian Wiccaclaimed
had initiated him in 1939. However, Liddell did later
Another of Gardners High Priestesses, Lois Bourne, as-

2.3

Academic response

serted that she was as sure as I can be that Gardner had

nothing to do with any witches from Canewdon and that
if they existed in the rst place, then they must have belonged to a tradition distinct from Gardnerian Wicca.[69]
Privately, the Gardnerian initiate and founder of Alexandrian Wicca, Alex Sanders, rejected the claims that Liddell made.[70] In his 2013 biography of Valiente, Jonathan
Tapsell stated that the Liddell material was generally regarded as a hoax, being a spurious history at best, or
a malicious prank at worst.[71] Hutton asserted that the
only sustained champion of Liddells claims has been
Michael Howard, noting that he had defended such ideas
in a limited and measured manner.[36] Pagan studies
scholar Ethan Doyle White noted that in his history of
the Traditional Witchcraft movement, Children of Cain,
Howard remains cautious and refrains from accepting
[Liddells claims] outright.[72] Howard has maintained
that he keeps an open mind about Liddells claims,
noting that while no evidence has been brought forward
to substantiate them, similarly he does not believe that
any real evidence has been brought forth to disprove
them.[73]
Support for Liddells story came from Cecil Williamson,
founder of the Museum of Witchcraft, who claimed
to have known about Pickingill through his acquaintances with both Crowley and Gardner.[74] However,
Williamson was an unreliable source, and was known
to repeatedly fabricate claims regarding past events.[75]
Another gure, known only as Colonel Lawrence, also
supported Liddells story, asserting that his own greatgrandmother had studied under Pickingill and thus had
been introduced to Crowley; as with Williamsons, however, Lawrences claims are unreliable, particularly as
he has made the unsupported claim that his greatgrandmother studied witchcraft under the American
folklorist Charles Leland.[76] Also supporting Liddells
claims was the Wiccan Ralph Harvey, who, following
the publication of Liddells material, publicly declared
that in the 1950s or 1960s he had been initiated into
one of Pickingills Nine Covens, located in Storrington,
Sussex.[77] Following the publication of Liddells claims,
a number of covens appeared in both the United States
and Australia claiming to be practitioners of a tradition
originating with Pickingill.[36] Liddell himself has been
critical of such groups, expressing his regret that the material he published led to their formation.[78]

2.3

Academic response

Liddells assertion that occultist Aleister Crowley (pictured in

1912) was an initiate of one of Pickingills covens has been heavily scrutinised and discredited.

claims, although Baker disagreed, commenting that Valiente was one of the most honest of commentators on
the subject of contemporary witchcraft, and that as a
result was unlikely to be involved in such duplicity.[79]
Baker described Liddells account as an extravagant
hoax, with its claims constituting a preposterous ahistorical muddle.[80]
Historian Ronald Hutton also scrutinised Liddells claims,
although added that he had corresponded with Liddell at
length and in detail,[36] over the course of which he had
come to like him, noting that he has responded to often forceful criticisms with patience, modesty, and good
humour.[81] However, Hutton highlighted that no independent witnesses have emerged to support the existence
of Liddells alleged informants, while no supporting documentation has appeared to back any of his many claims.
Hutton deemed this particularly unusual, because were
Liddells claims to have been accurate, much documentary evidence could be expected to exist.[82] Focusing on
Liddells claim that Crowley had been initiated into one
of Pickingills covens during the 1890s, Hutton noted that
there is no mention of Pickingill or a witches coven in
either Crowleys published work or personal diaries, and
that similarly there was no mention of either in the diaries
of Bennett, who was Crowleys magical tutor during the
1890s.[83]

Liddells claims have had a far more critical reception

from scholars specialising in magic and witchcraft in
British history. In 1975, Eric Maple dismissed Lughs
claims as preposterous. He believed that such tales had
been fabricated by someone who had used his own book,
The Dark World of Witches, as a basis.[79] Maple informed the historian James W. Baker that he believed
people connected to Valiente were behind the Lugh Huttons assessment was shared by historian Owen

REFERENCES

Davies; in his study of English cunning-folk, he dein which he undertook these inquiries at Canewdon.[20]
scribed Liddells stories as seductive but entirely unsubstantiated. Instead, he maintained that Pickingill was
a simple rural cunning-man whose small world of vil- 3.2 Footnotes
lage aairs never crossed with that of middle-class occultists. He received a Christian burial and the idea [1] Howard 2011, p. 114.
that he was a pagan priest would probably make him [2] Phillips 2004.
turn in his grave.[84] While agreeing with Maples assessment that Pickingill was one of the last practising [3] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 15; Wallworth 2012.
cunning-folk in the country, Maple noted thatunlike
[4] Wallworth 2012.
Murrell, James Tuckett, John Wrightson, and William
BrewerPickingill was not a major regional gure in [5] Maple 1960, p. 247.
the profession.[85]
American Pagan studies scholar Aidan A. Kelly similarly rejected Liddells claims. Kelly highlighted that
whereas Liddell had claimed that Gardnerian Wicca had
adopted the concept of a female coven leader from French
and Scandinavian witch covens, the historical evidence
clearly showed that Gardner developed the concept of a
coven being led by a high priestess during the late 1950s,
thus disproving Liddells assertions.[86] He noted that Liddells claim that Crowley wrote Gardners Book of Shadows cannot possibly be true because Crowley died before the Book was written.[87] Kelly believed that either
Liddell or his Elders had purposely created a phony history in order to hide the fact that Gardner had invented
Wicca in its entirety in the early 1950s.[88] Similarly, in
a 2014 article about Pickingill in The Cauldron, Richard
Ward argued that Liddells claims did not stand up under scrutiny, and that they had simply been made in an
attempt to promote claims regarding the existence of a
pre-Gardnerian tradition of witchcraft.[31] Liddell has
specically denied any charges that he was deliberately
falsifying claims to make Gardnerian Wicca appear to
have an older pedigree than it really has.[89]

[6] Ward 2014a, pp. 2122.

[7] Hutton 1999, p. 295.
[8] Maple 1960, p. 241.
[9] Maple 1960, p. 242.

[10] Hutton 1999, p. 296.

[11] Maple 1960, p. 247; Maple 1965, p. 185.
[12] Maple 1965, p. 184.
[13] Maple 1960, p. 248.
[14] Maple 1960, p. 248; Maple 1965, pp. 184185.
[15] Maple 1960, p. 248; Maple 1965, p. 185.
[16] Maple 1960, pp. 247248.
[17] Maple 1960, pp. 242243.
[18] Maple 1960, p. 248; Maple 1965, p. 184.
[19] Hutton 1999, p. 297.
[20] Howard 2014b, p. 46.
[21] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 4; Howard 2011, p. 113.

3
3.1

References
Notes

[22] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 4; Howard 2011, p. 114.

[23] Lefebvre 1970, pp. 5156; Hutton 1999, pp. 296297.
[24] Howard 2011, p. 134; Ward 2014a, p. 21.

[1] The original copy of this photograph was owned by Lillian Garner, who claimed that it was of George Pickingill
and who allowed for it to be rst published by Eric Maple;
in 1977 she gave her original copy of the photograph to
Michael Howard.[1] In a July 1984 issue of Insight magazine, a letter was published by John Pope stating that The
photograph purporting to be Old George Pickingill is in
fact a photo of Alf Cavill, a station porter at Elstree, taken
in the early 1960s. Alf is now dead, but he was no witch,
and laughed over the photograph when he saw it.[2] Wiccan historian Julia Phillips cautioned however that a very
respected Craft authority has told me that he believes the
photo, which is in his possession, to be of Pickingill, and
I have no reason to disbelieve him.[2]
[2] After being queried on the year in question, Ronald Hutton conrmed to Michael Howard that the 1967 date was
correct, and that he had been thirteen years old at the time

[25] Ward 2014a, p. 22.

[26] Hutton 2014, p. 6.
[27] Ward 2014b, p. 46.
[28] Valiente 1989, p. 197; Hutton 1999, p. 289; Howard
2009, p. 44; Howard 2011, pp. 114115.
[29] Valiente 1989, p. 197; Hutton 1999, p. 289; Howard
2011, p. 115.
[30] Hutton 1999, p. 289; Howard 2009, p. 44.
[31] Ward 2014a, p. 21.
[32] Bisseker & Liddell 2006; Howard 2009, pp. 44, 47.
[33] Howard 2009, pp. 44, 47.

3.3

Bibliography

[34] Hutton 1999, p. 323.

[72] Doyle White 2011, p. 275.

[35] Valiente 1989, p. 197.

[73] Howard 2014, p. 22.

[36] Hutton 1999, p. 290.

[74] Hutton 1999, p. 218.

[37] Bisseker & Liddell 2006.

[38] Hutton 1999, p. 290; Bisseker & Liddell 2006.

[75] Hutton 1999, p. 219.

[76] Hutton 1999, pp. 218219.

[39] Howard 2009, p. 47.

[40] Howard 2009, p. 45.
[41] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 1718.

[77] Howard 2011, pp. 130131.

[78] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 14.

[42] Hutton 1999, p. 292.

[79] Baker 1996, p. 186.

[43] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 25.

[80] Baker 1996, p. 185.

[44] Hutton 1999, p. 291.

[81] Hutton 1999, p. 298.

[45] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 65, 71.

[82] Hutton 1999, pp. 294295.

[46] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 27.

[47] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 90.

[83] Hutton 1999, pp. 220221.

[84] Davies 2003, p. 194.

[48] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 91.

[85] Davies 2003, p. 193.
[49] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 23.
[50] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 119120.
[51] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 9091.

[86] Kelly 1991, pp. 174175; Kelly 2007, pp. 275276.

[87] Kelly 1991, p. 174.

[52] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 2526.

[88] Kelly 2007, p. 274.

[53] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 28.

[89] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 18.

[54] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 98.

[55] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 118.
[56] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 166.
[57] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 40.
[58] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 4143.
[59] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 41.
[60] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 100101.
[61] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 106.
[62] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 22.
[63] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 2223.
[64] Liddell & Howard 1994, p. 33.
[65] Liddell & Howard 1994, pp. 24, 9899, 104.
[66] Howard 2009, p. 55.
[67] Valiente 1978, pp. 1720.
[68] Valiente 1989, p. 199.
[69] Bourne 1998, p. 106.
[70] Howard 2009, pp. 5556.
[71] Tapsell 2013, p. 64.

3.3 Bibliography
Baker, James W. (1996). White
Witches: Historic Fact and Romantic Fantasy. In James R.
Lewis. Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft.
Albany, New
York: State University of New
York Press. pp. 171192. ISBN
978-0-7914-2890-0.
Bisseker, Scott; Liddell, Bill
(2006). Old George Pickingill
and the History of Modern
Pickingill.com.
Witchcraft.
Archived from the original on 21
December 2014.
Bourne, Lois (1998). Dancing with
Witches. London: Robert Hale.
ISBN 978-0-7090-6223-3.
Davies, Owen (2003). CunningFolk: Popular Magic in English History. London: Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 978-1-84725-036-0.

10

3
Doyle White, Ethan (2011). Review of Michael Howards Children
of Cain".
The Pomegranate:
the
International
Journal
of Pagan Studies (Sheeld:
Equinox) 13 (2):
274276.
doi:10.1558/pome.v13i2.274.
Howard, Michael (2009). Modern Wicca: A History from Gerald Gardner to the Present. Woodbury: Llewellyn. ISBN 978-07387-2288-7.
Howard, Michael (2011). Children
of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches. Richmond Vista:
Three Hands Press.
Howard, Michael (2014). Editorial Note. The Cauldron 152. p.
22. ISSN 0964-5594.
Howard, Michael (2014b). Editorial Note. The Cauldron 154. p.
46. ISSN 0964-5594.
Hutton, Ronald (1999). The Triumph of the Moon: A History of
Modern Pagan Witchcraft. New
York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 978-0-19-285449-0.
Hutton, Ronald (2014). Response
to Pickingill Article. The Cauldron 153. p. 6. ISSN 0964-5594.
Kelly, Aidan A. (1991). Crafting
the Art of Magic Book I: A History
of Modern Witchcraft, 19391964.
St. Paul: Llewellyn. ISBN 978-087542-370-8.
Kelly, Aidan A. (2007). Inventing
Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religion. Loughborough, Leicestershire: Thoth Publications. ISBN 978-1-870450-584.
Lefebvre, Charles (1970). Witness
to Witchcraft. New York: Ace.
Liddell, W.E.; Howard, Michael
(1994). The Pickingill Papers: The
Origin of the Gardnerian Craft.
Chieveley, Berkshire: Capall Bann.
ISBN 978-1-898307-10-5.

REFERENCES

Maple, Eric (December 1960).

The Witches of Canewdon. Folklore 71 (4) (London: The Folklore
Society). pp. 241250. JSTOR
1258113.
Maple, Eric (1965) [1962]. The
Dark World of Witches. London:
Pan Books.
Phillips, Julia (2004). History of
Wicca in England: 1939 to the
Present Day. Geraldgardner.com.
Archived from the original (PDF)
on 31 March 2015.
Tapsell, Jonathan (2013). Ameth:
The Life and Times of Doreen Valiente. London: Avalonia. ISBN
978-1-905297-70-2.
Valiente,
Doreen
(1978).
Witchcraft for Tomorrow. London:
Robert Hale.
Valiente, Doreen (1989).
The
Rebirth of Witchcraft. London:
Robert Hale. ISBN 978-0-70903715-6.
Wallworth,
William (2012).
George Pickingill (18161909)".
Deadfamilies.com. Archived from
the original on 13 September 2014.
Ward, Richard (2014a). Last of
the Essex Cunning Men. The
Cauldron 152. pp. 1722. ISSN
0964-5594.
Ward, Richard (2014b). A Response to Professor Ronald Hutton. The Cauldron 154. p. 46.
ISSN 0964-5594.

11

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1

Text

George Pickingill Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pickingill?oldid=687233201 Contributors: Graeme Bartlett, D6, Bender235, Rjwilmsi, Pigman, Ohconfucius, Mr Stephen, Midnightblueowl, J Milburn, ShelfSkewed, Cydebot, Mike Christie, Nick Number,
Dawnseeker2000, Robina Fox, Pedro, Waacstats, Belovedfreak, Aciram, Twendai, Jeremytrewindixon, ClueBot, P. S. Burton, Dthomsen8, Dubmill, Tudorrosephotography, Leszek Jaczuk, Legobot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Ulric1313, Citation bot, LilHelpa, DefaultsortBot,
Tom.Reding, Trappist the monk, RjwilmsiBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Tzaratron, DavidLeighEllis, Ugog Nizdast, Stamptrader and Anonymous:
10

4.2

Images

File:Aleister_Crowley,_wickedest_man_in_the_world.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Aleister_
Crowley.jpg License: ? Contributors:
Originally published in The Equinox volume 1, issue 10 (1913) (see deletion discussion). This version taken from Book 4, Part 2 by
uploader Commons user Dnaspark99. Originally uploaded at Commons as Commons:File:Aleister Crowley, wickedest man in the world.jpg,
but now deleted. Original artist:
Unknown
File:Canewdon_essex_1.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Canewdon_essex_1.jpg License: CC BYSA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Terryjoyce
File:George_Pickingill,_Cunning_Man.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/George_Pickingill%2C_
Cunning_Man.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: This image has come to be widely published in both various books and online. It can be
found on page 38 of E.W. Liddell and Michael Howards The Pickingill Papers (Capall Bann, 1994). Original artist: Unknown
File:Lois_Bourne.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Lois_Bourne.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: I (Midnightblueowl (talk)) created this work entirely by myself. Original artist: Midnightblueowl (talk)
File:Stnicolaschurchcanewdon.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Stnicolaschurchcanewdon.jpg License: PD
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

4.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0