Witchcraft was something of an occupational hazard for women in early modern England. Much of their work was in healthcare, food preparation, and dairy production, all of which left them open to charges of magical interference when death, disease, or natural spoilage caused the people they were working for to suffer or lose money.
In the case of Joan Peterson, money was very much at the heart of her story and subsequent trial at the Old Bailey, at which she was found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to death in 1652.
It’s a dark and disturbing tale, and the visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Simon Jones explains that the main challenge in attempting to write a song and film a short video about it was to try and capture the sense of chaos, confusion, hysteria, and fear at the heart of it.
“It is quite an intense and dark track, with lots of rhythm and texture to help create the idea of a courtroom of people chanting accusations of witchcraft. The vocals are more spoken and chant-like than sung to make them more foreboding,” says Jones. “If the track and visuals disconcert or disturbs a little, they will have achieved their goal…”
Continuing the story of Joan Peterson, Jones says: “She became known as The Witch of Wapping, having been implicated in the suspicious death of a wealthy woman during an argument over who should receive her inheritance. She was accused of having bewitched the wealthy woman with a deadly potion and, among further charges of witchcraft, of having caused ill health to a baker called Christopher Wilson, who owed her money.
“Like so many trials of witches of the 1600s, this one was rooted in the route money was travelling rather than any real belief on the part of the accusers that the victim was practicing witchcraft.”
Better known for his musical work as one-third of the acclaimed experimental folk song and storytelling trio Harp & a Monkey, Joan Peterson: The Witch of Wapping, is the third song from Jones’s forthcoming second solo album of reworked traditional folk standards and self-penned songs – and one in which all of the material is related to themes of death and mortality.
For the record, Joan Peterson was executed by hanging at Tyburn, Middlesex, England, on 12 April 1652.
https://www.simonjohnjones.co.uk/