Wednesday 29 October 2025
Moyse’s Hall Museum will be forging links with a museum in Salem Massachusetts as part of a project to explore the shared history of the infamous witch trials.
The trial of Amy Denny and Rose Cullender, from Lowestoft, was held in Bury St Edmunds in 1662 and set a legal precedent that directly influenced the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
Information on these connections will go on display at both the Salem Witch Museum and at Moyse’s Hall Museum this winter. A series of lecture swaps is also planned with the Salem Witch Museum giving lectures to the Moyse’s Hall Museum’s audience and vice versa - creating a mutual exchange of knowledge and culture.
Dan Clarke, Heritage Officer at Moyse’s Hall Museum, says “Bury St Edmunds, within a witch trial context, is one of the most infamous places in Europe. To share our history in friendship and academic endeavour with the most notable place on earth for this study is very humbling. It’s a fascinating next step in our pursuit to best tell the human story of the victims in a wider context…’’
The transatlantic partnership between the two museums is part of a wider project within the town which seeks to highlight Bury’s darker history including the Bury St Edmunds witch trials.
Bury St Edmunds holds the unfortunate distinction of having hosted the largest witch trial in English history!
Read more about the background and history of how Our Bury St Edmunds BID, which manages the official tourism brand Bury St Edmunds and Beyond, helped bring this project to life.
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