Join us online and transport yourself back to a time when English rural society was steeped in magic. From blessing fields for a good harvest to spells for pest control, the supernatural played an important role in people’s everyday lives.

Join Dr Tabitha Stanmore in an exploration of magic in England between the 14th and 17th centuries and discover how folk practises were built into the fabric of everyday life. Learn about the demons who spoiled the butter, charms for stealing milk and some tips for curing cursed cows.

By the end of the evening, you’ll know how communities in Somerset and beyond viewed magic as a necessary part of farming life.

Dr Stanmore’s book on the subject is being released in paperback at the end of May.

About Dr Tabitha Stanmore

Author of Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic (The Bodley Head and Bloomsbury US, 2024), and Editor’s Pick by the New York Times. Featured in The New York Times, History Today, and Hypertext among others.

Tabitha is a postdoctoral researcher on the Leverhulme-funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project at the University of Exeter, and is a specialist in medieval and early modern English magic and witchcraft. She has featured on Radio 3’s Free Thinking and BBC 4’s Plague Fiction, and written for TIME, The Conversation and The Telegraph, and many more.

*This is an online talk and the same as the talk held on-site at Somerset Rural Life Museum on Thursday 12 June 2025.*