In 1488, Agatha, a young girl of only fifteen, gave birth to an illegitimate child, in a cave in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Baptised Ursula Sontheil, she would become known as Mother Shipton, after she married an ordinary carpenter called Toby Shipton at the age of 24. She looked like the archetypical witch. And as England’s primary prophetess, she has equally been considered England’s primary witch. Her prophecies were printed in 1641. When the Great Plague ravaged London in 1665, there was talk of Mother Shipton’s image: “Triumphant death rides London through.” What are we to make of these statements, which seem to apply to our own age? “Carriages without horses shall goe, And accidents fill the world with woe. Around the world thoughts shall fly In the twinkling of an eye.... Under water men shall walk, Shall ride, shall sleep and talk; In the air men shall be seen, In white, in black and in green.... Iron in the water shall float, As easy as a wooden boat.”

Bygone Era

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