FLOWERS have been laid outside Colchester Castle in tribute to prisoners who died there after being accused of witchcraft.

The bouquet was left by the Essex Witch Trials Memorial Society, which is campaigning for a permanent monument in the castle gardens to the forgotten victims of notorious Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins.

A number of women died of jail fever while waiting in the unsanitary castle dungeons to be tried at Chelmsford in August 1645, or of fear at the prospect of execution.

As they did not meet their end in the hangman’s noose, they never received the official pardons that were given to those taken to the courts by Hopkins.

Pagan Suzanne Smith, 36, a founder member of the society, said: “These people were never pardoned and we want their memories to be unsullied.

“Matthew Hopkins’ witch-hunts destroyed whole villages and his innocent victims who died in Colchester deserve remembering.”

Besides those who never made it to trial, the death toll at the castle included women who had actually been found innocent but were refused release and fell fatally ill.

“They had to pay for their food and clothing during their time in the castle,” Ms Smith said. “If their families wouldn’t pay, or didn’t have the money, they would not be allowed to go free.”

During his reign as self-styled Witchfinder General, Hopkins arrested dozens of suspected witches in Manningtree and across the Stour Valley.

People were often accused by relatives seeking revenge in family feuds, or because they were known as “well-women” who could cure ailments with herbs.

Hopkins would persuade suspects to save their skins by giving evidence against others, leading to the August 1645 trials at Chelmsford at which 19 women were hung.

Although Colchester’s name will always be associated with the dark episode, local historian Andrew Phillips said the town had played a role in bringing Hopkins’ reign of terror to an end.

“He stopped operating in Essex, probably as a result of opposition raised in Colchester,” Mr Phillips said. “One Colchester woman was prosecuted during the trials and it didn’t go down well.

“Also, people here were preoccupied with the prospect of Civil War.”