A MEMORIAL could be built to remembering 33 victims of Mistley’s witchfinder general.

Colchester resident John Worland proposed the idea of a permanent plaque in Colchester’s Castle Park in front of the borough’s full council.

It will remember the first 33 victims captured by Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, witch hunters in the 1600s.

All 33 of the women were incarcerated in Colchester Castle for several months and four died while awaiting trial.

He said: “There is no memorial to them apart from flowers which are laid at the gates of Castle Park.

“I do feel strongly a permanent memorial would be right to have.”

He suggested a plaque with the names of the first 33 victims and Colchester Council leader Paul Smith said it was a fantastic idea. He added: “I’m delighted that we are looking at this proposal, it’s a very fitting tribute.”

More than 300 women are believed to have been executed for witchcraft between 1644 and 1646, many at the hands of Mistley’s infamous self-proclaimed witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins.

He is thought to have lived at what is now the Mistley Thorn and held preliminary examinations of those accused of witchcraft at the White Hart, in Manningtree.

His victims included Anne West, from Lawford, who was executed in 1645.

It was the testimony of her own 14-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who was persuaded to testify against her mother in return for her freedom while imprisoned at Colchester Castle, that sealed her fate.

Anne was tried and found guilty on July 17, 1645, at Chelmsford and hanged at Manningtree two weeks later.