It was a fire said to have been ‘devised by the Devil’ and it led to the death of a woman who admitted to raising a gale in order to fan the flames that destroyed Wymondham.

While fires were rife in the 17th century - the close proximity of homes and thatched roofs meant that faulty chimneys or stray sparks could quickly cause devastation - the Great Fire of Wymondham in 1615 was no accident.

Instead, it was the deliberate act of passing travellers Willliam Flodder, John Flodder and the woman claiming to be his wife, Ellen Pendleton, with the help of local accomplice Margaret Byx.

Adrian Hoare, a Wymondham historian, published a summary of the Great Fire in 2013, completing the work of friend John Wilson, who had spent years researching the blaze.

“'There was a lot of anti-Catholic feeling after the gunpowder plot and the King had not relaxed the laws against Catholics,” he said. 

“There were wandering groups of them who were burning down towns where there were many Puritans, such as in Wymondham.”

In 1549, sorcerer William Wycherley blew a storm of fear over the country when he lifted the lid on what he said was an underground network of witches and wizards across England.

Writers of the time reported that “…there be within England above 500 conjurers as he thinketh and specially in Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Worcestershire and Gloucestershire”.

Witchcraft was blamed for numerous disasters, and magical practitioners were accused of raising storms in order to sink ships, ruin crops and bring forth a hail of misery on those who were enemies.

This was not a time to be a little-loved, argumentative neighbour: accusations could be based on little but lead to execution in front of a baying crowd.

Eastern Daily Press:

It was also not the time to be easily led by travelling strangers intent on recruiting you to be part of a dastardly plot which would destroy the very town you lived in.

Margaret Byx, or Bix (or, indeed, Elvin or Elvyn) was convicted in 1615 of plotting with three others to burn down Wymondham “by means of conjuration”.

She had confessed to raising such gales that the flames of the fire that engulfed the market town could not be held back or quenched by water.

And she paid for her crime with her life, when she was hanged as a witch.

It was quite literally by the grace of God that no one perished in the fire which destroyed the town – the arsonists struck on a Sunday when everyone was at church.

It was June 11, 1615 and as the townsfolk of Wymondham savoured a moment of quiet at the parish church, they were blissfully ignorant of the peril drifting towards them.

Just yards away, two small plumes of smoke were climbing into the air, gradually gathering strength, flames beginning to lick at timber-framed homes, silently engulfing them.

Within two hours, the Great Fire of Wymondham had reached its peak, leaving homeowners forced to tear down blazing thatch or whole buildings in a desperate bid to halt its spread.

It was a fire that was described in a ballad printed a year later as 'devised of the Divell, a Fier of all the worst'.

Catching hold in two areas, Vicar and Middleton Streets and the north-eastern side of Market Street, the Market Place, Bridewell and Fairland Streets, families were powerless to halt the path of the inferno, while the town's heart, the Market Cross, was left a smouldering ruin.

The culprits stayed to watch Wymondham burn: which meant they were quickly caught, detained and found guilty of arson.

In her defence, Margaret told her accusers that she had been persuaded to take part by the promise that she would be taken to another country where “…she should have…a good living, better than she had where she was.”

In front of a crowd of 10,000, according to the register of St Andrew's Church, three of the arsonists were hanged in Norwich that December - while one remained absent.

Ellen Pendleton escaped the noose on account of the fact she was pregnant – she was given a last-minute reprieve until she was delivered of the baby.

After Margaret had met her fate, focus turned to rebuilding Wymondham.

Structures which brought the town pride, such as the school house, were quickly restored, with the Market Cross back to its former glory within three years.

Around a quarter of the town's 2,200 residents lost their homes on that fateful June day.

Today, tucked in corners, hidden inside cellars and behind plastering, reminders of the town's biggest fire live on.

Scorched timbers, wattle and daub have been unearthed at the Heart of Wymondham, on Market Street, pointing to an older core that dates beyond its 18th century facade.

The Green Dragon tavern, which dates back to the 14th century, on Church Street, also bears scorch marks, although historians have questioned their origin.

While it is difficult to be sure which buildings survived the fire, historians believe that Peter Thomas Parke's Butchers on Market Street managed to escape unscathed, while The Queen's Head, on Bridewell Street, was destroyed.

It was a lesson learnt the hard way - going forwards, townspeople were paid to extinguish large fires and the town's first engine was bought by public subscription in 1780. 

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