Few of us can hope to leave a mark on history. Those that do have usually accomplished some feat, on the battlefield, for example, or in government, or in the sporting arena. Others, like Mistress Anne Turner, gained notoriety through nefarious acts.
Anne Turner, née Norton, was born around 1576 in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire. The village is situated nine miles south-east of Cambridge and five miles north-west of Saffron Walden. The land in the southern reaches of Cambridgeshire on the border of Essex was relatively flat, with rich and fertile soil. This made it ideal for growing barley (used to make beer) and saffron. Hinxton supported a small but thriving saffron industry. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the spice was grown in small plots and gardens. In 1539, John Paycke of that parish left his wife Alyce ‘3 roods of Saffron Ground’ (a substantial and valuable plot). Saffron was also tithed in the parish at 2 s. a rood in 1692, and in 1772 a saffron dealer is reported to have lived there. It was evidently cultivated in the area early into the nineteenth century.19
