A ‘WITCH’ condemned to death 300 years ago this month was saved from the gallows as a result of a campaign started by a Hertfordshire aristocrat.

In March 1712 Jane Wenham, who became known as ‘the witch of Walkern’, was condemned to death for witchcraft at the age of 16.

She was found guilty of the charge at Hertford Assizes after being accused of flying and speaking to Satan in the shape of a cat.

Wenham had also been blamed for a string of livestock deaths by a neighbour, and had been accused of thievery, idleness, swearing, whoring and witchcraft.

In January 1712, a farmer labelled her a “witch and a bitch”.

She remonstrated to the magistrate, who decided a local vicar would deal with the row.

The vicar ordered the farmer to pay her a shilling in compensation.

Wenham was dissatisfied with the resolution and said that she would “get justice elsewhere”.

Later, a servant of the farmer had fits and Wenham was accused of witchcraft.

She was bizarrely searched for ‘the Devil’s teats’ for suckling beasts, when none were found, she was asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer.

She faltered during her recitation saying “lead us not into no temptation” as opposed to the correct “lead us not into temptation”.

Despite the slip up being a common regional dialect, she was arrested and sent to Hertford gaol to await trial.

On March 4, 1712, she was found guilty and became the last woman to be condemned to death for witchcraft in England. Her saviour came in the form of William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, whose family seat was at Cole Green Park.

Thanks to Earl Cowper’s intervention, Wenham was given a Royal pardon by Queen Anne, and was allowed to live out her days in a cottage on his land in Hertingfordbury.

She is buried in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in the village.

Whig politician Earl Cowper, who went on to become the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, was himself no stranger to spurious allegations, being accused of polygamy before taking up Jane Wenham’s case.

His home, Cole Green Park, was demolished by the 5th Earl Cowper in around 1801 and the family decamped and set up the Panshanger estate, which by the end of the 19th century covered some 662 acres in Digswell, Tewin, Welwyn, Datchworth and Hatfield.

The sprawling estate also included the mansions of Tewin Water, Marden Hill in Tewin, Digswell House, Hertingfordbury Park and Brocket Hall.