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This lesson examines the case study of Matthew Hopkins and his contribution to the seriousness of the crime of witchcraft in the mid-1600s.

UPDATED & RE-VAMPED CONTENT IN LINE WITH THE 2026 SPEC

The 30 slide fully resourced lesson contains activities, tasks, practice exam questions, printable resources and all background knowledge:

• Slide 1: Title slide
• Slide 2: Warm Up Brain Teaser - A maths based brain teaser with answers in the notes
• Slide 3-4: Recap - A longer term recap of crime and punishment in Medieval England. 10 questions with answers.
• Slide 5: Starter 1 - Which sentence describes witchcraft most accurately? Answer in the notes.
• Slide 6: Starter 2 - Why do students think there was an increase in the belief in witchcraft in the 1600s? Prompt questions provided.
• Slide 7: Starter 3 - Use the illustration to outline the attitudes, treatment and punishment for witchcraft.
• Slide 8: Background information about the belief in witchcraft from the Medieval period to the 1700s.
• Slide 9: Lesson outline and aims
• Slide 10: An outline of the main reasons for the increase in the witch hunts
• Slide 11-12: A choice of two printable worksheets for students to outline and explain the factors which increased the belief in witchcraft and increased the number of witch hunts.
• Slide 13: A printable worksheet based on the role of Matthew Hopkins. Students use the fact sheet to help them answer the questions.
• Slide 14-20: Optional extra printable fact sheets which can be printed off and given to the students to help them fill out their table.
• Slide 21: Information about why the belief in witchcraft declined and why the crime was decriminalised after 1700.
• Slide 22: Challenge questions
• Slide 23: Learning Review 1
• Slide 24: Learning Review 2
• Slide 25: EXAM FOCUS - Two examples of a ‘difference’ question with supporting sentence starters.
• Slide 26: EXAM FOCUS - An example of a 12 mark ‘Explain why’ question
• Slide 27: EXAM FOCUS - An example of a 16 mark ‘How far’ question
• Slide 28-29: Lesson fact sheets
• Slide 30: More from RA Resources

All images used in this resource are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.

This resource is for personal use only unless a school license is purchased and for copyright reasons any slides, worksheets, RA Resources maps or diagrams should not be copied/amended for commercial use.