The Murder at Mill Lane: Anne Walker

In the year 1632, two men were convicted of the murder of Ann Walker at the Durham Assizes. One of the men was her uncle, a wealthy Yeoman named John Walker who also stood accused of making her pregnant, and the other was a friend of his, Mark Sharp, a miner originally from Lancashire. Now for those who don’t know, Assize Courts were the backbone of the criminal judicial system in the 17^th century and had operated since the medieval period. The term assize comes from the old French assises, meaning “session” or “legal action” and the assize courts dealt with all manner of criminal cases such as murder, highway robbery, witchcraft, forgery, theft, trespass and vagrancy.

During the 17th century the assizes across England were usually held twice a year, once at Lent, also referred to as the Spring Assizes, and once during the Summer months, though Durham was a little different to the norm. Some of the Durham Assize Records dating back to the 16th century have survived and are held in the National Archives at Kew. It seems though that until 1536 in Durham the Justices were commissioned by the Bishop of Durham, as the Palatinate of Durham lay outside of the Royal Assize, but in that year the crown took control of commissioning the Justices. Records show us that the Durham Assizes were only held annually in Durham City until the year 1819.

So why, in a time of murder, superstition and witchcraft, does the execution of Walker and Sharp stand out? Basically, its because both men were convicted on the testimony given by a local miller, who had been given all of the incriminating evidence, from the location of Anne’s body, to the location of the murder weapon and blood soaked clothing belonging to the murderer allegedly by the ghost of the murder victim. So two men were executed on the testimony of an apparition.

In early 1673, forty years after the execution, Mr John Webster, self titled practitioner of Physics, began he work on examining witchcraft and apparitions. His book was published in 1677 under the title “The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft”, with the subject of the book being “The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft: wherein it is affirmed that there are many sorts of Deceivers and Impostors and divers persons under a passive delusion of melancholy and fancy. But that there is a corporeal league made betwixt the Devil and the Witch, or that he sucks on the witches body, has carnal copulation, or that witches are turned into cats, dogs, raise tempests, or the like, is utterly denied and disproved. Wherein, also is handled; the existence of Angels and Spirits, the truth of Apparitions, the nature of Astral and Sydereal Spirits, the force of Charms, and Philters, with other abstruse matters.”

Webster was born in 1610 at Thornton-in-Craven in North Yorkshire. Through his life, he was a cleric, a physician, a writer and researcher, a physicist and chemist who incidentally studied under Johannes Huniades, an alchemist at Gresham College. With this rather interesting and mixed background, in a time where superstition, hate and witchcraft were prevailant Webster was known to argue against the existence of witchcraft – a 17th century debunker if you like.

So back in the 1670s, here was a man arguing that most cases of witchcraft and apparitions were essentially caused by ignorance of the real workings of the world, where superstitious beliefs held by the masses and by influential figures caused men of science and learning to suffer persecution. To me, sounds like not a lot has changed in the last four centuries in that regard. An interesting example he made was “Our learned and most industrious Anatomist, Dr Harvey, who has found forth and evidenced to the World that rare and profitable Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood, did undergo the like Fate: who for eighteen or twenty years together did groan under the heavy censure of all the Galenists and expert Anatomists almost in Europe, and was railed upon, and bitterly written against…” Webster however, while writing about this, also had his own prejudices and assertions because of his own beliefs. As far as I understand his writings, and feel free to argue this, Webster firmly believed that a human was made of three elements, the first being the physical body, the second being the ‘astral spirit’ that wanders the earth after the death of the physical body and the third being an incorporeal soul that returns to God after the death of the physical body. So to Webster’s mind, most apparitions were projections created by God, or were caused by the astral spirits of the dead, essentially an echo left behind while their soul had returned to God.

The tale of Anne Walker’s apparition appearing to the miller was still fresh and being told across the country at this time, and in chapter 16 of his book, Webster examined the case of the execution of Sharp and Walker. He stated the following:

“About the year of our Lord 1632 (as near as I can remember having lost my notes, and the copy of the Letter to Serjeant Hutton, but am sure – that I do most perfectly remember the substance of the story) near unto Chester in the Street, there lived one Walker a Yeoman-man of good Estate, and a Widower, who had a young woman to his Kinswoman that kept his house, who was by the Neighbours suspected to be with child, and was towards the dark of the evening one night sent away with one Mark Sharp who was a Collier, or one that digged coals under ground, and one that had been born in Blakeburn Hundred in Lancashire, and so she was not heard of a long time, and no noise, or little was made about it. In the winter time after one James Graham or Grime (for so in that Country they call them) being a Miller, and living about two miles from the place where Walker lived, was one night alone very late in the Mill grinding Corn, and as about twelve or one a clock at night he came down the stairs from having been putting Corn in the Hopper, the Mill doors being shut, there stood a Woman upon the midst of the floor with her hair about her head, hanging down, and all bloody, with five large Wounds in her head: He being much affrighted and amazed, begun to bless him, and at last asked her who she was, and what she wanted; to which she said, I am the Spirit of such a Woman, who lived with Walker, and being got with child by him, he promised me to send me to a private place, where I should be well lookt to until I was brought in bed, and well again, and then I should come again, and keep his house. And accordingly (said the apparition) I was one night late sent away with one Mark Sharp, who upon a Moor (naming a place that the Miller knew) slew me with a pick (such as men dig coals withal) and gave me these five wounds, and after threw my body into a coal-pit hard by and hid the pick under a bank, and his shoes and stockings being bloody he endeavoured to wash, but seeing the blood would not wash forth he hid them there. And the apparition further told the Miller that he must be the Man to reveal it, or else that she must still appear, and haunt him. The Miller returned home very sad and heavy, but spoke not one word of what he had seen, but eschewed as much as he could to stay in the Mill within night without company, thinking thereby to escape the seeing again of that frightful apparition. But notwithstanding one night when it begun to be dark, the apparition met him again, and seemed very fierce and cruel, and threatened him that if he did not reveal the murder she would continually pursue and haunt him. Yet for all this he still concealed it, until St Thomas Eve before Christmas, when being soon after Sunset walking in his Garden she appeared again, and then so threatened and affrighted him that he faithfully promised to reveal it next morning. In the morning he went to a Magistrate and made the whole matter known with all the circumstances, and diligent search being made, the body was found in a coal-pit, with five wounds in the head, and the pick and shoes and stockings yet bloody, in every circumstance as the apparition had related unto the Miller. Whereupon Walker and Mark Sharp were both apprehended, but would confess nothing. At the Assizes following (l think it was at Durham) they were arraigned, found guilty, condemned and executed, but I could never hear that they confessed the fact. There were some that reported that the apparition did appear to the Judge or the Foreman of the Jury (who was alive in Chester in the Street about ten years ago, as I have been credibly informed) but of that I know no certainty. There are many persons yet alive that can remember this strange murder, and the discovery of it, for it was, and sometimes yet is as much discoursed of in the North Countrey as anything that almost hath ever been heard of, and the relation printed, though now not to begotten. I relate this with the greater confidence (though I may fail in some of the circumstances) becaule I saw and read the Letter that was sent to Serjeant Hutton, who then lived at Goldsbrugh in Yorkshire, from the Judge before whom Walker and Mark Sharp were tried, and by whom they were condemned, and had a Copy of it until about the year 1658. when I had it and many other books and papers taken from me.”

To the story, Webster then added his observations:

“And this l confess to be one of the most convincing stories (being of undoubted verity) that ever I read, heard or knew of, and carrieth with it the most evident force to make the most incredulous spirit, to be satisfied that there are really sometimes such things as apparitions. And though it be not easy to assign the true and proper cause of such a strange effect, yet must we not measure all things to be, or not to be, to be true or false, according to the extent of our understandings, for if there be many of the magnalia nature that yet lie hidden from the wisest of men, then much more may the magnalia Dei be unknown unto us, whose judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. And as in the rest we cannot ascribe this strange apparition, to any diabolical operation, nor to the Soul of the Woman murdered, so we must conclude that either it was meerly wrought by the Divine Power, or by the Astral spirit of the murdered Woman, which last doth seem most rational, as we shall shew hereafter.”

So basically, Webster tells us that Walker and Sharp were executed essentially on the word of the miller who claimed to know the murder details as he was told them by the apparition of the victim. So now enter into the debate one Dr. Henry More. More was a philosopher and theologian who had a different view on God and the non-physical world, and who regarded Webster’s work with amusement and obvious contempt. More had developed the theory of the Spirit of Nature, which was that grey area between God and the physical world, which More claimed explained the strange and unusual such as magic and apparitions. More’s letter in response to Webster’s account of the Anne Walker apparition was published in 1681 in Glanvil’s “Saduciſmus Triumphatus: or, Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions in two parts. The first treating of their possibility, the second of their real existence”:

“But of Discoveries of Murder I never met with any story more plain and unexceptionable than that in Mr. John Webster his Display of Supposed Witchcraft. The Book indeed itself, I confess, is but a weak and impertinent piece; but that story weighty and convincing…”

Henry More claims to have looked into the case of Anne Walker in 1659 while writing his works on the Immortality of the Soul, when he then contacted a friend of his based in the north to look into the story. His letter includes Mr Shepherdson’s reply:

“I have done what I can to inform my self of the passage of Sharp and Walker. There are very few men that I could meet, that were then men, or at the Tryal, saving these two in the inclosed Paper, both men at that time, and both at the Tryal. And for Mr. Lumley, he lived next door to Walker; and what he hath given under his hand, can depose if there were occasion. The other Gentleman writ his Attestation with his own hand; but I being not there, got not his Name to it. I could have sent you twenty hands that could have said thus much and more by hearsay, but I thought these mot proper that could speak from their own Eyes and Ears. Now for Mr. Lumley’s Testimony, it is this.
Mr. William Lumley of Lumley, being an ancient Gentleman, and at the Tryal of Walker and Sharp upon the Murder of Anne Walker, faith, that he doth very well remember that the said Anne was Servant to Walker, and that she was supposed to be with Child, but would not disclose by whom. But being removed to her Aunts in the same Town, called Dame Carie, told her Aunt that he that had got her with Child, would take care both for her and it, and bid her not trouble her self. After some time she had been at her Aunts, it was observed that Sharp came to Lumley one night, being a sworn Brother of the said Walker’s; and they two that night called her forth from her Aunts House, which night she was murdered. About fourteen days after the murder, there appeared to one Graime a Fuller, at his Mill, six miles from Lumley, the likeness of a Woman, with her Hair about her head, and the appearance of five Wounds in her Head, as the said Graime gave it in Evidence. That that appearance bid him go to a Justice of Peace, and relate to him how that Walker and Sharp had murdered her, insuch a place as she was murdered: But he fearing to disclose a thing of that nature against a person of credit as Walker was, would not have done it; but she continually appearing night by night to him, and pulling the Clothes off his Bed, told him, he should never rest until he had disclosed it. Upon which the said Graime did go to a Justice of Peace, and related the whole matter. Whereupon the Justice of Peace granted Warrants against Walker and Sharp, and committed them to prison. But they found Bail to appear at the next Assizes. At which time they came to their Tryal, and upon evidence of the Circumstances with that of Graime of the Appearance , they were both found guilty, and executed.”

More continues with the narrative:

“The other Testimony is of Mr. James Smart of the City of Durham; who saith, That the Trial of Sharp and Walker was in the month of August 1631, before Judge Davenport. One Mr. Fairhair gave it in Evidence upon Oath, that he see the likeness of a Child stand upon Walker’s Shoulders during the time of the Trial: At which time the Judge was very much troubled, and gave Sentence that night the Trial was; which was a thing never used in Durham before nor after.”

More then goes into the differences between Webster’s narrative and Sheperdson’s research, and its plain that More’s letter is more of an attempt to discredit Webster than it was to document the phenomena:

“Out of which Two Testimonies several things may be corrected or supplied in Mr. Websters Story, though it be evident enough that in the main they agree: For that is but a small disagreement as to the Year, when Mr. Webster says about the year of our Lord 1632 and Mr. Smart, 1631. But unless at Durham they have Assizes but once in the year, I understand not so well how Sharp and Walker should be apprehended some little while after St. Thomas day, as Mr. Webster has it, and be tried the next Assizes at Durham, and yet that be in August according to Mr. Smart.”

With this statement, More is suggesting that the timeline in Webster’s account is wrong, but by doing do he shows his own lack of knowledge of the judicial system in Durham, which sure enough did only meet annually until the early 19th century.

“Out of Mr. Lumley’s Testimony the Christian Name of the young Woman is supplied, as also the Name of the Town near Chester in the Street, namely Lumley. The Circumstances also of Walker’s sending away his Kinswoman with Mark Sharp, are supplied out of Mr. Lumley’s Narrative; and the time rectified, by telling it was about fourteen days till the Spectre appeared after the Murder, whenas Mr. Webster makes it a long, time.”

Webster suggested the apparition appeared during the winter after Anne Walker went missing. Its likely that this was assumed, as allegedly the miller finally reacted to the instruction of the St Thomas Eve on December 20th.

“Two Errors also more are corrected in Mr. Webster’s Narration, by Mr. Lumley’s Testimony: The distance of the Miller from Lumley where Walker dwelt, which was Six miles, not Two miles, as Mr. Webster has it. And also, that it was not a Mill to grind Corn in, but a Fullers Mill.”

Now this is interesting, as it puts the site of Graham’s mill in two different areas. Webster’s location of two miles from Lumley fits with the currently accepted location for the story, which is the site of an old mill 2 miles south of Lumley Castle on the river Wear – which I’ll go into later. William Lumley’s testimony however, putting the site 6 miles from Lumley opens the field considerably. He also makes the distinction between Webster’s story detailing a corn mill, and his own of a fulling mill. For those that aren’t aware, a fulling mill was used for cleaning and thickening cloth and had nothing to do with grain at all. A 6 mile radius from Lumley Castle, home of William Lumley, takes the story as far west as Burnhope, east as far as New Silksworth and north into Low Fell. It could take us south all the way to Durham City and the fulling mill on the river there which is the only 17th century fulling mill that I’m aware of in that 6 mile radius.

“The Apparition night by night pulling the Clothes off Graime’s Bed, omitted in Mr. Webster’s story, may be supplied out of Mr. Lumley’s and Mr. Smart’s Testimony puts it out of controversy that the Trial was at Durham, and before Judge Davenport, which is omitted by Mr. Webster. And whereas Mr. Webster says, there were some that reported that the Apparition did appear to the Judge, or the Fore-man of the Jury, but of that he knows no certainty: This confession of his, as it is a sign he would not write anything in this story of which he was not certain for the main, so here is a very seasonable supply for this out of Mr. Smart, who affirms that he heard one Mr. Fairhair give Evidence upon Oath, that he saw the likeness of a Child stand upon Walker’s Shoulders during the time of the Trial. It is likely this Mr. Fairhair might be the Foreman of the Jury; and in that the Judge was so very much troubled, that himself also might see the same Apparition as Mr. Webster says report went, though the mistake in Mr. Webster is that it was the Apparition of the Woman. But this of the Child was very fit and opposite, placed on his Shoulders, as one that was justly loaded or charged with that Crime of getting his Kinswoman with Child, as well as of complotting with Sharp to murder her.”

So basically, More’s issue with Webster’s account in this instance is that Webster pretty much dismisses the idea of apparitional activity at the trial occurring as he couldn’t confirm it, and so doesn’t give much credence to it. More on the other hand appears to take the testimonies of Smart and Fairhair at face value, more to the point of saying that Webster got it wrong, as Webster alluded to it being the apparition of the murdered woman that appeared, rather than the fact that an apparitional child appeared on Walker’s shoulder.

“The Letter also which he mentions writ from the Judge before whom the Trial was heard, to Serjeantt Hutton, it is plain out of Mr. Smart’s Testimony, that it was from Judge Davenport; which in all likelihood was a very full and punctual Narrative of the whole, and enabled Mr. Webster, in some considerable things, to be more particular than Mr. Lumley. But the agreement is so exact for the main, that there is no doubt to be made of the truth of the Apparition. But that this, forsooth, must not be the Soul of Anne Walker, but her Astral Spirit, this is but a fantastick conceit of Webster and his Paracelsians, which I have sufficiently shewn the folly of in the Scholia on my Immortality of the Soul.”

Now this is an odd close to More’s narrative, as he essentially admits that Webster’s source, being a detailed account from the Judge, likely allowed Webster to provide a more detailed account than his own source, but then decides to have the last word by saying that Webster’s assertion that the apparition was an astral spirit rather than the murdered woman’ soul was a fantastic conceit and folly.