Chased by a witch who ran backwards

She lived in a Plumpton hovel and was accepted by all who knew her as a witch with power of both good and evil.

Local legend had it that she was 100 years old and very rich, having houses and lands of her own.

Marcus Woodward in his The Mistress of Stantons Farm (Country Books) writes: 'During my boyhood, passed at the old Rectory of Plumpton, I myself went in great awe of Old Martha.

'Outside the back entrance to the Rectory is the steep Barracks Hill and once the old witch chased me down this hill, running backwards, shouting incantations and brandishing a long knife; she could run backwards as fast as I could run forwards at a terror-inspired speed.

'This incident still stands out with terrible vividness among my childish memories.'

Old Martha would tramp the countryside for miles dressed in outlandish attire, singing and dancing as she went and ringing little bells.

Despite her great age, she could climb the steep northern face of the Downs as if she were a hare, covering 20 or 30 miles in a day, gathering herbs as she went.

She would arrive at Stantons Farm, East Chiltington, at the same hour of the same day every week.

The mistress of Stantons was Susannah Stacey who was very much a wise woman herself, famous for her herbal remedies for everything from snake bite to measles.

Old Martha would present herself with a tin bottle so that it might be filled with home-made wine; and a tin box for a little loaf or cake which Grandma Stacey never failed to have made her on baking day in exchange for herbs.

Old Martha was certainly a woman to be feared.

Writes Mr Woodward: 'She would walk, or rather trip and run, sometimes running backwards, over the hills on the darkest night, fearing no man.

''Belated hunting men or other wayfarers would overtake her, but those knowing her would never speak a word for fear that she might set a curse.'

Scary stuff.