Meg of Meldon, real name Margaret Fenwick (née Selby) was an alleged 17th-century Northumberland witch, although she was never formally accused of practising witchcraft. She was born in about 1570, daughter of the Newcastle banker William Selby, a “somewhat ruthless moneylender”.[1]
Margaret married Sir William Fenwick of Wallington, and as her dowry her father settled debts and mortgages on several properties and businesses on the couple, the income from which allowed them to live comfortably at Wallington Hall. Sir Willam had died by 1614, leaving Margaret to bring up seven young children. She held the Fenwick estates in trust for her eldest son, also called William, but evidently wanted wealth and lands in her own right, and her eye fell on Meldon Hall and its 500 acres (202 ha) of prime farmland on which she held the mortgage.[1]
Meldon Hall was the ancestral home of the Heron family, and Margaret seized her opportunity to acquire it when the head of the family died suddenly, while the heir was away. She demanded that the mortgage be repaid immediately, giving the heir no time to arrange alternative finance, allowing her to foreclose the loan and take over the estate. And soon after she seized the nearby Hartington Hall, because the owner was in breach of an obscure clause in his loan agreement.[2]
Following Margaret’s death, her property was left to her eldest son William. But no cash was included in his inheritance, nor any evidence of a bank account. Some years later the ceiling of a house she had once owned came crashing down under the weight of a leather bag containing a hoard of silver coins dating to the time of Margaret’s life, prompting speculation that she had hidden her fortune in various locations around the area.[3]
Modern interpretation
Rumours began to circulate about Margaret’s use of witchcraft after her acquisition of the Meldon and Hartington estates. Suspicions were reinforced by her estates being more profitable than those of her neighbours.[4]
Margaret was probably a “shrewd and hard-hearted businesswoman … but not a witch”.[2]
Haunting
Margaret was buried at Newminster Abbey, where her ghost was said to have been seen sitting on a stone trough. Some locals also claimed to have seen her crossing Meldon Bridge in the shape of a black dog, changing into a beautiful woman on the other side.[5]
The belief began to spread that Margaret’s ghost was watching over the places where she had stored her treasure.[6]