In the mid-17th century, Anna Hay resided in the parish of Newlands, within the county of Peebles, an area beset by tumultuous social and religious change. Against the backdrop of these fraught times, Anna found herself ensnared in the post-Reformation fervour that characterised Scotland. On the 6th of November, 1649, she became the focus of intense scrutiny within the legal proceedings filed under Case C/EGD/2025. The records, sparse in their detail, nevertheless mark a notable point in the series of witch trials that swept through the region.
The trial docket, identified as T/LA/2030, serves as a testament to the era’s pervasive climate of suspicion and the societal obsession with rooting out perceived witchcraft. Although specifics of the accusations or the outcomes are not documented within the surviving historical records, Anna Hay's trial was part of a broader narrative of fear and accusation. The turmoil of the period, with its zealous moral policing, placed individuals like Anna at the mercy of community fears and legal arbiters, reflective of the larger socio-religious upheavals across Scotland from 1563 to 1736. This fragment of Anna’s story, while incomplete, is emblematic of the lived reality for many during the witch trials—a poignant reminder of history’s shadows on individual lives.