Ellen Hayward was born at Arlingham in 1838, had three children out of wedlock between 1862 and 1875, and moved to Littledean in 1878. She settled in Cinderford and began working as a herbalist in about 1901, treating people and animals with plants gathered in the Forest. Neighbours came to her for help with ailments and injuries.
In 1905 a man accused her of witchcraft. The sources found name the accuser differently, as John Markey in some accounts and as James Davies in the biography on Cheryl Burman's site, which says he believed she had put a spell on his livestock, paid her to remove it, and then demanded that she take it off when the animals did not recover. The charge was one of using pretended witchcraft to deceive one of His Majesty's subjects.
The case was heard at Littledean magistrates court in 1906. It was dismissed, described in one account as laughed out of court, and Ellen is said to have been supported by about thirty letters from Cinderford residents who valued her as a healer. She died in 1912 aged 74 and was buried in St John's churchyard.
Accounts differ on small details, so treat names and figures with some caution. The case is a well documented example of belief in witchcraft surviving in the Forest of Dean into the 20th century.
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