In the winter of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials reached the shores of the Isle of Bute, ensnaring Patrick McKaw, a married man residing in the settlement of Tonaghuil. On January 28, 1662, the archival record formalizes the beginning of his legal entanglement under case number C/EGD/1546. As a husband and resident of a small rural community, Patrick’s status within his household and the local parish would have been subject to intense scrutiny during this period of heightened judicial activity, as the courts sought to address accusations of diabolical influence within the community.
Following the initial registration of his case, the matter proceeded to a formal trial, documented under reference T/JO/1899. While the brevity of the surviving records obscures the specific testimonies or the final verdict rendered against him, the existence of these official documents signifies a significant confrontation between Patrick and the seventeenth-century judiciary. His journey through the court system remains a stark testament to the administrative rigor applied to witchcraft allegations in early modern Scotland, marking a moment where the private life of a Tonaghuil resident was irrevocably transformed into a matter of state and ecclesiastical record.