Northumberland Quarter Sessions court was held in the county from 1388 until 1972. It was a Royal Court of Justice that was held four times a year. There were sessions at Morpeth, Hexham and Alnwick. It was not unusual for large counties to hold sessions at different towns so that justice could be done for the whole of the county. Berwick was not included as it had its own court.

Assizes courts tried more serious crime such as murder, rape and highway robbery and were held twice a year. In the 1730s petty sessions courts were introduced to try minor (or petty) crimes. 

Indictment was the most common way of an alleged criminal being brought to court. Anyone could “bring” an indictment as long as they had “probable cause” and as long as they weren’t being malicious; they had to have proof and they couldn’t make an accusation because of a grudge. 

The name of the accused (could be one or more person) and their alleged crimes were written on a piece of parchment and given to the Grand Jury (between thirteen and twenty-three male householders aged 21-60). The Grand Jury considered the indictment and decided on the verdict under the direction of the judge. 

The earliest indictments (1580-1630) that we hold at Northumberland Archives are not the original pieces of parchment. The indictments were copied out into a volume. The handwriting would suggest that they were copied at around the time that the indictments were first presented to the court. 

This indictment is dated 23 April 1606 and relates to Alice, wife of Thomas Simpson of Whalton. She is accused of using witchcraft, enchantments, charms and sorcery (this is written in Latin but also translated into English) on Ann/Anna daughter of Richard Sheppard, also living in Whalton. This didn’t happen on just one occasion. Instead, the document states it continued from 1 August 1605 right up until the date of the indictment. There is no indication whether she was found guilty or not.

This indictment is in Latin. Official documents, such as court records, used Latin until 1733. There was a short gap during the Commonwealth (1650-1660) when English was used. 

The style of the writing used in this document is typical of the time; it is called “Secretary Hand”. 

Because of the difficulty of reading Secretary Hand and of translating from Latin, an extra PowerPoint and teacher’s notes PDF has been created about this document.