Witchfinder General: in search of the witchy Suffolk locations of the classic Vincent Price folk horror

Now widely considered as one of folk horror’s classic films, Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968) was not only the first of the unholy trinity that are seen to define the genre – alongside Piers Haggard’s The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) – but also arguably the most disturbing of the three. Adapting Ronald Bassett’s 1966 historical novel, Reeves examined a world of superstition, heresy and misogyny, effectively dramatising the brutality of a society gone awry. 

Reeves’ film follows the evil doings of witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) and his second-in-command Sterne (Robert Russell) as they persecute their way across East Anglia during the English civil war. Parliamentarian soldier Richard (Ian Ogilvy) is due to be wed his love Sara (Hilary Heath) after gaining permission from Priest Lowes (Rupert Davies). With locals falsely accusing Lowes and Sara of witchcraft, Hopkins and his mob descend on the village, enacting terrible deeds supposedly in the name of God. When Richard returns to find the aftermath of Hopkins’ actions, he vows revenge upon the witchfinder. 

Although the film has undoubtedly become important to the yet-to-be-identified folk horror genre, Reeves in fact set out to make a kind of English equivalent of a western, particularly in the mould of filmmakers such as Sam Peckinpah. He pays particular attention to the landscape, successfully creating the impression of vast East Anglian plains, where isolated communities are left to their own devices and superstitions, which fester into violence. The result is one of the great cinematic inversions of the pastoral ideal; a film whose landscapes are simultaneously idyllic and ominous. 

Here are five locations from the film as they stand today. 

Reeves’ film opens with the dramatic, extended execution of a witch (Hira Talfrey). A posse lead her from the village to a makeshift gallows in the nearby field. The sequence opens with a shot of a small lane near The Green in the village of Kersey. 

Moving out of the village, the mob drag the witch to their gallows. The area where the single gallows pole stood is marked by its proximity to St Mary’s Church. 

The shot below is taken in a field to the southwest of the village, just north of its playing fields. 

Interestingly, the location in the film has a kind of precipice dug into the land, providing a visually effective angle for shots of the gallows pole. This steep incline, creating the imposing hangman’s drop, is still partly discernible today though has been somewhat filled in since. 

Finally, before the zoom shot into the film’s title sequence, Reeves shows a wider shot of the location with a church highlighting the spot. The shot is also marked by the anachronistic phone wires and pole, which become more apparent in the zoomed in title card. The trees have grown in the years since filming and they now hide the church. 

Sara and John live in the building next to the church where John preaches. We see these buildings numerous times throughout, firstly when Richard arrives on horseback as he rides through the gates. This is the church of St John the Evangelist in Rushford. 

Reeves shoots the church from the opposite side several times, usually to show characters approaching the house. This shot gives a wider angle on the church from behind. 

Feigning suspicion of witchcraft committed by John and some other women, Hopkins wants to test them by forcing them into water to see if they float. This famous sequence is shot at the beautiful Tudor mansion of Kentwell Hall in Sudbury. The first shot of the location is an extensive crane shot heading towards the front of the house. 

Hopkins isn’t leading the group to the house but to the moat that runs in front of it. This shot shows the bridge as Hopkins leads the mob to the water. 

In one of the film’s most famous shots, Reeves shoots Price from a low angle, showing Kentwell Hall’s distinctive towers. 

Another wider shot of the location shows the bridge over the moat more extensively. 

As the mob lower the witches into the water, Reeves shoots from the side of the bridge. 

With the three found guilty of witchcraft, the final shot of the location shows the tree to the side of the bridge where Hopkins and the mob have hanged their victims. The tree has since vanished and has been replaced with a sundial. 

Some of the film’s most disturbing scenes are shot in the historic town of Lavenham. Most of the shots of the incredibly preserved town occur around Market Lane and the buildings that make up the square. This shot, which shows the preparation for the burning of a witch, gives a wide view of the square. 

This shot shows the town’s 16th-century guildhall, now maintained and preserved by the National Trust. The building directly behind Hopkins is now a quaint tearoom and bookshop. 

As the woman (Maggie Kimberly) is dragged slowly up a wooden edifice, ready to be lowered onto a flaming pyre, Reeves shoots looking east. The building behind is distinctive enough to mark the location. 

The film concludes on the Suffolk coastline. Hopkins takes Richard and Sara to a castle so he can torture them. Reeves shoots them being led to Orford Castle in the town of Orford. 

Reeves also uses the interiors of the real castle for the film’s final scenes. The gloomy, ominous spaces are somewhat brighter today, preserved remarkably well thanks to English Heritage. 

The authentic layout and structure of the castle is retained, with the steps leading down to the castle’s dungeon being a good example of Reeves using a location as it stands in real life. 

The main area used for torture is the castle’s dungeon. Though the implements were props of the film, the room is unchanged except for the stone edifice in the middle, which may have been another fictional addition. 

Appropriately, the castle also has real associations with torture thanks to local folklore surrounding the Orford Merman who was taken there and made to talk by fishermen in the 1100s. The story adds another layer of folklore and history to Reeves’ accomplished film. 

Thanks to Keith Scovell. 

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