Modern Witchcraft
In the New Forest, a gully or glen (formed by a stream running down to the sea) is called a ‘bunny’. One such Glen is Chewton Bunny in Highcliffe, which follows the Walkford Brook to the sea. Chewton Bunny was a regular landing place for smugglers as early as the 13th century.
But in the1900’s Chewton Bunny would enter the history books again for a very different reason, when it became a nucleus of the modern witchcraft movement. It was here that a local woman named Dorothy Clutterbuck would write about the fairies and nature spirits that lived at Walkford Brook. One of her closest friends, Katherine Oldmeadow, lived just a stone’s throw from Chewton Bunny in The Glen House on the corner of Mill Lane. Like Dorothy Clutterbuck, Katherine also had a connection with the nature spirits at Chewton Bunny and a love for other ‘pagan’ themes surrounding the natural environment of this area of the New Forest. Ian Stevenson wrote how she ‘absolutely believed in fairies’ and ‘undoubtably’ regarded Chewton Glen as a magical place.
Both women had connections with the Gypsy women, the keepers of ancient knowledge and folklore, and also local practitioners of witchcraft. Several accounts imply that Dorothy may have held a position of authority in the coven and ‘called up the covens’ to perform a ritual named the Operation Cone of Power against the Nazis in 1940.
– Vikki Bramshaw, author of the book ‘New Forest Folklore, Traditions & Charms
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