Hex Appeal – Witches’ Brew

In 1949, Pamela Green joined Spielplatz Naturist Club in Bricket Wood, near St. Albans. Another famed member was Ross Nichols (1902-1975), founder of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. Ross was a committed naturist and joined the utopian Spielplatz community in Hertfordshire in the 1930s. A neighbouring naturist club, The Fiveacres Country Club, was also home to a coven of witches.

Gerald Gardner (1884 – 1964), who in the first half of the 20th century popularised the pagan religion of Wicca, had brought some land in Fiveacres in 1946. For Garner, a keen nudist, the naturist club was the ideal venue to get skyclad. He purchased and transplanted the Elizabethan witch’s cottage from the renowned Abbey Folk Park at New Barnet, which had been forced to close due to wartime bombing. The cottage became the centre of The Bricket Wood Coven’s rites and rituals. The Coven had many notable members like High Priestess Doreen Valiente, Jack Bracelin, and Eleanor Bone. However, the cottage stopped being used by the Coven in 1972, but the Coven still operates in North London.

Gerald Gardner would often visit Ross Nichols at Spielplatz. Long evenings when they would talk late into the night were the norm. Ross Nichols ended up helping Gerald Gardner with his first work of non-fiction, Witchcraft Today (1954). Witchcraft Today is one of the foundational texts for the religion of Wicca, along with Gardner’s second book on the subject, The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959) of which Pam had a first edition on her shelf, along with other books on the subject.

Continuing the witches’ theme, Pam named her cat Pyewacket. Pyewacket was one of the familiars detected by the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, in Manningtree, Essex, in 1644. He is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 300 so-called witches, all women, between the years 1644 and 1646. In 1959, Pam and George Harrison Marks purchased a boat at the Earl’s Court Boat Show. They named her Pyewacket as well. She was kept in a boatyard in Maidenhead.

Happening 44

In 1967, 44 Gerrard Street, located opposite Pam and George’s place, became known as Happening 44 – an über-hip psychedelic club run by Jack Braceland, an eccentric beatnik and pioneering light-show artist. His company, Five Acre Lights, was named after a nudist colony he and his wife managed near Watford, where Pink Floyd performed on Guy Fawkes Night in 1966. Although the Five Acres Country Club still operates today, Happening 44 had a brief existence. During its short run, Happening 44 hosted bands like the Social Deviants, Soft Machine, and some of the earliest performances by Fairport Convention. The club closed in late autumn 1967, around the same time as UFO, leaving Middle Earth as London’s sole psychedelic hangout.

I wondered what happened to the witch’s cottage? Does anyone know? If you do drop me a line.

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