There once lived a witch.

 There once lived a witch who made enough money from her "cunning predictions" as a wise woman that she bought this house in cash or coins as it would have been in those days. This was The Novia Witch and she was real and lived in this house just by Yeadon, West Yorkshire..

Hannah Green. First known as the Ling Bob Witch from Wilsden, West Bradford. Not at all far from this house Hannah lived in with her husband who was a local miller.
 Hannah once lived by the site of the old pub The Ling Bob in Wilsden, in a cottage with a very tall chimney, which she had painted white so that people had no trouble finding her if they wanted advice. When she moved to Yeadon is not documented.


Research indicates that Hannah practised "the dark arts".  I think it was more likely that she was a very gifted "wise woman" and excellent at reading people and tea leaves, Taro and Crystal balls....  also supplying herbal remedies and potions too.
A Wise woman who possessed knowledge passed down through generations of tradition of "folk medicine".. A Wise woman thought of as a type of witch, one of the cunning folk. The word witch actually means Wise Woman. A perceptive woman with intuition.

Hannah was a  very good" wise woman," with knowledge passed to her from her mother and possibly from generations before... who would have been consulted about all kinds of illnesses, medical conditions including child birth, abortion...death....predictions....possible hand readings . I like to think so anyway. It fits with how I imagine her.

Her methods of diagnosis based on the belief that all human life is linked to the rest of creation. This is made very clear by an illustrated "doctrine of signatures". Wise Women used herbal remedies and plants and would have known them very well.
The "doctrine of signatures" is the concept that our modern homeopathy is based and was the most important aspect of folk medicine. This doctrine drew upon the belief that natural objects that look like parts of the body could cure diseases that could arise there. Folk healers in Christian and Muslim countries claimed that God or Allah deliberately made plants resemble parts of the body. For example Bright eye, a plant whos flower looks like bright blue eyes was used in 1700s to cure eye diseases. Today the idea that "like cures like" lies at the heart of homeopathy.
The "doctrine of signatures" became known as this after a book by a German Mystic Jacob Boehme. " the signature of all things" (1621)

So being a witch or wisewoman was not easy. It required a lot of knowledge and intuition.As it turned out, very well paid.
This is how Hannah is said to have made so much money. Her daughter Hannah Spence took over from her at her death and built a house on Albert Square as it is known now. In her day it was Penny fool's hill. Named as this is where both Hannahs parted customer's from their money selling potions and spells at Yeadon fair. They also  had possibly a fortune tellers tent( I have seen an old photo taken of Yeadon fair from 1800s. It is too late to be Hannah herself, but it could be her daughter) .....Hannah Spence also ran a dame school here for a while as her wise woman business began to fail without the talent of her mother.

Hannah died in 1810 and had saved more than £1,000 by this time. That was a very lot of money in those days. So she was a very gifted wise woman then, as well as a fortune teller. This is my guess where she made most of her money, as her chosen method was reading the tea leaves! Though she did predictions as well. In her career of over forty years she was popular with the gentry and carriages were often seen waiting at her home.A customer record I would love to find, if there ever was one. "the gentry " travelled great distances to consult with Hannah. Great houses near here include...... Harwood House( built by Edwin Lascelles 1759-1771, married twice died childless),....Mydleton Hall.(known as Stubham lodge....lady of the manor divorced for affair with groom)...Carr hall castle.(built by the Shaw family to improve the view from Shaw park)...Tong hall (Built by the Tempest family who became very active in our civil war and got on the wrong side)....Bolling hall.( the owner was killed at sea in war with the french and his wife still haunts the place)....Newby Hall.....Temple Newsam.(owned by the Ingram family at that time).....and of course Allerton Castle.( home of the Mauleverer family and then the Arundalls)
This is all conjecture and hope on my part! but you never know some may have been her customers. She made alot of money somehow.

Hannah  was able to transform herself into different creatures. Shape shifting that is to us lesser mortals . Fairies, witches, wizards (shamans or what ever you wish) all have this ability....That is if they are "the real thing" of course- some just change size too not a complete transformation. Shapeshifting...metamorphosis....theriathropy  transforming physical shape usually through "divine intervention" or just plain magic.
Hannah could turn into a hare. Other animals too, but the hare was her favourite. In this form she travelled by night. One night so it is said in local folklore she was shot and killed by a local poacher. Her screams nearly gave the guy a heart attack! Her death was reported in The Leeds Murcury.. They announced her death on 17 May 1806. Hannah threatened to call the law on the editor.........She in fact died 12 May 1810..... So my guess is this is what the report was about at that time.

A shaman....by the way is some one who can interact with the spirit world, entering into a trance state to practice healing and divination......they can shape change too. I throw this in as it is nearly Halloween and I was once married to one who thought he had these powers. These ideas disapeared however once he stopped drinking and smoking substances.....another story another day,......
Back to Hannah Green! Hannah had the gift of prediction. I am guessing that she was helped along by the Tarot cards. This is a guess, founded on the other stories about her I have stumbled upon. Either Tarot and/or a crystal ball.
Tarot was basically a pack of playing cards used to play games. playing cards were first seen in Europe in 1375 and by 1440 cards that were most likely the origin of modern day Tarot apeared. they were used in a game of "triumph". By 1781 most followers of the occult discovered Tarot cards as divination tools. Some believe they originated in Egypt and the theory that the cards are the hieroglyphical keys to life itself. As far as I know Crystal balls or something simular was in use at the time of the celtic druids. Queen Elizabeth 1 consulted one through her adviser John Dee. Who devoted much of his life to Alchemy, and divination. It is well documented that Queen Elizabeth's mother Anne Boleyn was a reputed witch, and cornered HenryV111 with her powers.
So yes I am fairly sure that this is Hannah Green's method too. The story of some predictions goes as follows. .
...In 1785 a gentleman from Sheffield visited Hannah for a consultation in the hope that she could tell him about a relative who was in prison. She told him that the trouble would continue for "three times three years" and then would come "a great deliverance". This convinced the gentleman , as this was what he knew already. So he asked her what would happen in the greater world . Hannah told him of a war that "would blaze out in all its horrors" and spread to neighbouring country's.

Two countrys far a part would obtain their freedom as a result of a war...

after 1790 many great persons would loose their lives but "not by fair means"

In 1794 a great warrior would fall in battle, and in the following year a "people who had been dragged from their own country" would rise up and free themselves from their oppressors....

I have looked all through history dates and events for this time. the original source for this suggests that this may refer to The french revolution and Napoleonic wars. 1793 was the year Marie Antoinette was executed. (October 16), French revolution...1789-1815. Napoleon's rise to power 1789-1799......declaration of the rights of man and the citizen 1789......Haitian revolution 1791-1804 ended slavery and the French control of the colony.

 Halloween is near and it is Friday 13th October.
I took these photos yesterday up at the old grave yard over looking Hannah's old house and in these days the site of the airport.

 Monza got us all up at 4am this morning. I think he was under the impression that I should get up and go out to take photos....Though it has given me the chance to finish this blog about Hannah.

 Most days I go with Lee and Monza dog up to this old grave yard on the daily doggy walk. most days that is when I am not at work now....and most days I see this old house that belonged to Hannah and intend to write the story down. I used to have an early morning cleaning job out this way and walked home past the house every day before the dog walk.

I had found out about Hannah a few years ago and told the story to who ever was walking back with me including my boss one day. No one was much interested. But I am!! it has given me the excuse to check on all my favourite things....Tarot, Crystal balls.....Bolling hall...Temple Newsam...to name but a few. Indulge myself for a few early hours. A blog written purely for my own enjoyment.
So If you have got this far in the reading of it, you must have picked it out because you want to read it too. As far as I know this does not come up on the main search engines. I do this purposely as I do not think it that interesting to others. I write to please me. I share it facebook when I feel like it...

It is now 7.30am. Monza is determined that we take him for his walk now. the Fonz car is going for MOT this morning, so Monza has to be walked....just in case the poor battered old blown up car does not pass.