In the spring of 1697, Margaret Ewing, a woman residing in the small settlement of Stonybull within Renfrew, found herself embroiled in a poignant episode reflective of a turbulent chapter in Scottish history—the witch trials. Margaret, a married woman whose life would have been typically occupied with the routines and roles of domesticity, was summoned to appear in court accused of participating in a witches’ meeting. This charge, lodged during the celebrated—and notoriously fraught—Renfrewshire cases of 1697, thrust her into a perilous spotlight that could easily tip the balance of her life toward a doomed fate.
On the 19th of May, 1697, Margaret stood trial in Renfrew. Though initially indicted over a month earlier on the 13th of April, the gravity of her predicament was rendered more benign when the court opted not to pursue the charges fully. Instead, Margaret was released on caution, a process implying that she was perhaps deemed an unlikely threat, or that the evidence mounted against her was found lacking or unconvincing. While her release marks a fortunate divergence from the often-tragic trajectories faced by many accused of witchcraft, her brush with these accusations tells a story of the brittle tapestry of community ties, fear, and suspicion that underpinned such witch hunts. Her return to a semblance of normalcy in Stonybull would be overshadowed by the lingering stigma of an accusation that transformed commonplace lives into subjects of scrutiny and debate.