Last witch to be burnt in Scotland Although there is much more documentary evidence detailing life in the town available for the 18th century, much of the material is dull and uninspiring. However, there were two major events that took place in Dornoch during the century – 1727 saw the last judicial execution of a person charged with witchcraft in Scotland, and in 1746 the town and surrounding countryside was occupied by Jacobite forces. Janet Horne was the last person in Britain to be tried and executed for witchcraft. In 1727 she and her daughter were arrested and jailed in Dornoch. Her crimes, according to her neighbours, were devilish; she was accused of turning her daughter into a pony, and of getting Satan himself to shoe the horse/girl. At the time of her execution Janet Horne was showing signs of what we would recognise today as senile dementia. Her daughter appears to have had a deformity in her hands and feet, a condition which it is believed she subsequently passed on to her son. The trial was rushed. Captain David Ross, sheriff-depute of Sutherland, found both women guilty and ordered that they should be burned to death the following day. The younger woman escaped but Janet was clearly confused by events. She was stripped, covered in tar and paraded through Dornoch in a barrel. When she arrived at her execution place, Janet is said to have smiled and warmed herself at the very fire which was about to consume her. The stone that marks the site of Janet Horne’s burning can still be seen in Littletown, although the date on the stone – 1722 – is wrong, it should read 1727. Nine years after her death the Witchcraft Acts were repealed in Scotland and England and it became unlawful to execute anyone for alleged witchcraft.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 09:51:53 +0000
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