Elected members of Mid and East Antrim council’s Borough Growth Committee were recently updated on research being undertaken by Ulster University on the 'Witches of Islandmagee,' with Council Officers seeking approval to engage with the project.
A little known part of local history in Mid and East Antrim, the Islandmagee witch trial took place in 1710-1711, and is believed to have been the last witch trial to take place in Ireland.
On 31 March 1711, eight women were put on trial and found guilty of witchcraft, an offence under the Irish 1586 Witchcraft Act. The women were put in stocks and then jailed for one year.
A report from Council Officers outlined that that Dr Victoria McCollum and Dr Andrew Sneddon, who are leading the project, are keen to discuss opportunities for Council venues to host events and the in-person exhibition as part of its heritage engagement programme.
The report stated: ‘The research team are seeking to engage with both Council's museum team and tourism team. They are seeking to remember this unique event in the history of Northern Ireland in a respectful and factual way, whilst using it as a hidden heritage tourism asset to promote the local area.’
'The Islandmagee Witches 1711' research project is aiming to take the story of the trial of the Islandmagee witches in 1711 to a new local, national and international audience, using new technologies and creative works.
Funded by Connected NI and Ulster University, the team have designed an interactive website, or digital tool-kit, where people can learn about the trials and access original, digitised documents from the time.
The website also acts as a gateway to the other main outputs of the project: a
specially designed, choice driven, serious game, where the user takes the role of a witch-finder and explores through gameplay what it meant to accuse someone of witchcraft in 1711.
Additional outputs of the project include a graphic novel which tells the story of the
Islandmagee witches, and is co-written by Dr McCollum, Dr Sneddon and leading
illustrator, David Campbell; a Virtual Reality application drawing on the expertise of Dr Helen Jackson where the user explores the story and experiences what it is to be bewitched or be accused of witchcraft in 1711; and a specially commissioned
musical score by Adam Melvin, which uses soundscapes to explore various aspects of the trial.
The team hope to link the online and creative elements of the project with an in-
person exhibition and interpretative panels, designed to specifically target a new, younger, diverse audience who are more likely to engage with heritage, culture and history if approached using new technologies and modes of storytelling.
Elected members gave their approval for Officers to engage with the research team from Ulster University to scope out the feasibility of establishing a heritage exhibition, to be hosted in Council premises, as part of 'Islandmagee Witches 1711'.
You can read more about the witches of Islandmagee at the link below: