My great grandmother was the local wise woman in the village in the 1920s - 1960s. She dealt with laying out the dead, seeing in the babies and giving various advice. I have her writings and the various postcards she and her family members sent. Hilarious.
I remember meeting a woman about 20 years ago whose son had been born in the village. So I asked her if she knew Grannie. "OH yes she said, when Christopher was born he was a sickly baby so I took her to see Bess. Bess told me to give him as much stout as he would take a day and wrap him up tight". Christopher rallied and that occasion was his 40th birthday.