Molly Downer

Molly Downer is remembered as the last person on the Isle of Wight to be popularly branded a witch. She lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in a thatched cottage at Hillway, near Bembridge — a building still known locally as 'Witches Hatch'. Accounts of her background differ: some say she was the illegitimate daughter of a Niton clergyman, the Reverend Barwis, who left her a small inheritance; others connect her family to smuggling wealth.

As an unmarried woman living alone, Molly attracted the suspicion common to women in her position, and a local woman named Harriet took to taunting and harassing her. According to the legend, Molly cursed Harriet, declaring that any good fortune coming her way would kill her before she could enjoy it — and when Harriet later came into money, she reportedly died before she could claim it. Villagers subjected Molly to traditional tests for witchcraft, including baking a 'witch cake' from her hair and blood to feed to a dog, and the notorious 'swimming' ordeal, in which the accused was thrown into water on the belief that a true witch would float.

Molly's story has remained part of Isle of Wight folk memory, inspiring a 2023 community musical, 'The Molly Downer Musical', performed by the Tide Nor Time Players during the Ventnor Fringe.