Along a Roman road flanked with beech trees hides a tale of wizardry and xenophobia.
In the 1700s, an outbreak of smallpox occurred in the small town of Wilton by Salisbury. The locals were confused as to the origin of the outbreak until they remembered the Hansel sisters of Denmark. The four sisters were accused of witchcraft and without fair trial they were brutally murdered in the woods and buried separately so they couldn’t plot against the villagers again.
According to local lore, four beech trees miraculously appeared over their graves . Currently only three out of four still stand. Nowadays people visit the beech trees and leave trinkets as offerings to the sisters. One tree is particularly well decorated while some of the others are only surrounded by logs.
Know Before You Go
To find the tree enter Grovely Woods via The Hollows (cul de sac), follow the footpath up until you reach a fork of two footpaths, when you reach this point take the path on the right to reach the Roman road. Walk along this road and look to the left, about a quarter of the way along the road you will see the witches trees.
