Margaret Sunderland was accused and convicted of being a witch in Tarbolton, Ayrshire. Her trial started on the morning of Wednesday 31 March 1658 and concluded Tuesday 6 April 1658.
You can find more about convictions at: http://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk
In 1563 in Scotland the Witchcraft Act was brought into law and remained in law till 1736. The vast majority of those accused, some 84%, were women. During this time witchcraft was a capital crime and those convicted of witchcraft were strangled to death and then burned at the stake so as to leave no body to bury.
When accused of witchcraft, people were locked up awaiting trial and tortured to confess. Torture in Scotland was usually by way of sleep deprivation – keeping people awake until they confessed.
We know now of course that sleep deprivation makes people confused and causes them to hallucinate so it is perhaps not surprising that it was a good method of getting “confessions” from people accused of witchcraft. Other methods of torture included “pricking”- the pricking of skin with needles and bodkins to see how the person reacted to the drawing of blood and whether they bled - and the stripping and examination of the body to see if any “witches mark” could be found on them. Often these torture methods were carried out in public. Torture by crushing and pulling out nails was also used.
The campaign for justice can be found here: https://www.witchesofscotland.com
A guide track for ‘Margaret Sunderland’ is available below for listening: -
You can download a PDF of the sheet music here
- or braille format here.
The track is additionally available within the following collections and sets: -
Associated Collections: -
6/8
Ayrshire Characters
Extended Bagpipe
Jig
The Tarbolton Collection
Witches
