Witchcraft in Orkney
The reforms instituted by the restoration of the Bishops had a significant impact but failed to introduce any neutrality into the proceedings against those accused of witchcraft during the most intensive period of witch-hunting on the island from 1615 until 1645.
The new court regime produced varying results regarding punishments passed down: the first trial held on 7 June 1615 was against two women from Westray, both were deemed guilty but one was sentenced to be banished after a severe public flogging while the other was tied to a stake, strangled and burned.
Mirroring the time span of witch persecution on the mainland of Scotland, the trials in Orkney drew to an end in 1708; most took place prior to 1650.
The islanders of Orkney had a long tradition of belief in broadly construed forms of witchcraft, sorcery, and supernatural creatures, possibly stretching back to the arrival of the first Norse settlers.
[13][a] In contrast to the mainland where the Privy Council oversaw trials, there are no records of it having any involvement on Orkney where, from 1615, the Procurator Fiscal instigated hearings in the Sheriff Court or they were heard by the church elders.
[16] When the Privy Council questioned him about it in 1609, he replied that without the severe penalties the islanders "wald all have becommit witches and warlockis for the people ar naturally inclynit thairto".
[18] Early to mid-19th century sailors held a similar conviction concerning the archipelago: Walter Traill Dennison, a folklorist and native of Sanday, born in 1825, had been taken on an excursion to Leith as a child.
An elderly sailor sat the boy on his lap while recounting him a tale; when he discovered Traill Dennison was a visitor from Orkney, he recoiled from him in fear crying "O, my lad, you hail from that lubber land where so many cursed witches dwell.
[24] Allison Balfour, who lived in an area of Stenness known as Ireland,[25][c] had been asked for advice on how best to cast a spell on Patie by his brothers and friends who were plotting to kill him.
[29] Prisoners may also have been held captive in the cathedral; a roofed cell-like area, often referred to as Marwick's-hole, is set between the side wall and the south transept chapel.
[25] Convicted witches were executed on Gallow Ha, an area in Kirkwall located at the top of a street now[update] called Clay Loan.
[34] Like his father before him Patie had no compunction about seizing land from lowly islanders;[35] the law was manipulated to suit his own desires[36] leaving much of the population destitute.
[36] The Rentals of the Ancient Earldom and Bishoprick of Orkney for 1595 indicate that two women, Jonet of Cara from South Ronaldsay – whose possessions had been seized by Patie[39] – and another who is simply listed as "Alisoun Margaret's daughter" from Thurvoe were burned for witchcraft in or around 1595.
[48] The two accused women, Jonet Drever and Katherene Bigland, both from Westray,[49] were declared guilty at their joint trial held in Kirkwall but with differing sentences.
[57] When the claim was causing the death of animals, an alleged witch being seen near the barns or pastures where livestock were accommodated provided adequate grounds for prosecution.
[59] He had a grey beard, was dressed in white with a head of the same colour yet a few years later at the trial against Marion Richart from Sanday in 1633, the Devil she was meeting with had the "likeness of a black man".
