Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of ScotlandWood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
History
Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of Scotland
Wood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
Folklore -- Scotland; Witchcraft -- Scotland
"Jean Stot (Ingleston) confessed before the Session that she blessed God
if Jean Grier's prayings had any pith that they lighted on a kow and not
on a person, and did say that Jean Kirkpatrick did gather root grown
briers on a Saboth day, and nominat Agnes Patton for a witness."
The Session found "wrath and malice among the inhabitants of Ingleston,"
and the minister was sent as peacemaker. "Jean Stot obeyed the minister
and forgave Jean Grier, and also required forgiveness of her, which she
refused till further advisement."(46)
_Parish of Irongray._--Traditional account of the sacrifice of a reputed
witch by enclosing her in a tar-barrel, setting it alight, and rolling it
into the Water of Cluden:--
"In the reign of James VI. of Scotland, or under the early Government of
his son Charles, tradition tells of a woman that was burnt as a witch in
the Parish of Irongray, about seven miles west from Dumfries. In a little
mud-walled cottage, in the lower end of the Bishop's Forest, and nigh the
banks of the Water of Cluden, resided a poor widow woman, who earned her
bread by spinning with a _pole_, and by weaving stockings from a clue of
yarn depending from her bead-strings. She lived alone, and was frequently
seen on a summer's eve, sitting upon a jagged rock, which overhung the
Routing burn, or gathering sticks, late in a November evening, among the
rowan-tree roots, nigh the dells which signalise the sides of that
romantic stream. She had also, sometimes, lying in her window a
black-letter Bible, whose boards are covered with the skin of a _fumart_,
and which had two very grotesque clasps of brass to close it with when she
chose. Her lips were sometimes seen to be moving when she went to church,
and she was observed to predict shower or sunshine at certain periods,
which predictions often came to be realised....
"The Bishop of Galloway was repeatedly urged to punish this witch; and
lest it should be reported to the king that he refused to punish witches,
he at last caused her to be brought before him, nigh to the spot. She was
rudely forced from her dwelling, and several neighbours of middle or of
old age were cited to declare all the wicked things she had done.
"She was sentenced to be drowned in the Routing burn, but the crowd
insisted that she should be shut up in a tar-barrel and hurled into the
Cluden. Almost against the Bishop's consent, this latter death was
consummated. The wretched woman was enclosed in a barrel, fire was set to
it, and it was rolled, in a blaze, into the waters of Cluden.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account