This evening, I am presenting an image of a very unusual roadside memorial cum shrine to Maggie Wall "burnt here 1657 as a witch".

This stone monument is located about 1 mile west of the village of Dunning.

It is assumed that Maggie Wall was one of the unfortunate casualties of 17th century witch-hunts. However, despite diligent record keeping at the time , there is no record of any trial, conviction or sentence relating to a Maggie Wall . Moreover, Christian themed memorials to witches are extremely unusual. Clearly, therefore, the monument is something of a conundrum. Another dimension is the fact that the stonework is of 19th century origin ( which may have replaced an earlier one). So, there is something here for the historical detective!

Labels: perthshire

posted by Catswhiskers @ 12:16 PM