In the summer of 1661, the judicial records of Edinburgh document the legal entanglement of Sarah Ramage, a resident of Niddry in the parish of Liberton. Her case, officially registered under the reference C/EGD/1597 on 28 June 1661, marks a significant moment in the procedural history of seventeenth-century Scottish witch trials. Sarah’s involvement with the criminal justice system was not an isolated incident; she was subject to multiple formal examinations, as evidenced by the trial records T/JO/1654 and T/JO/396, which outline the state’s rigorous investigative process during this era.
The gravity of the allegations against Sarah is underscored by her appearance in the testimonies of others. Within the broader context of local judicial proceedings, she was specifically denounced by Margaret Hart, another individual caught within the extensive network of witchcraft accusations characteristic of the period. By linking Sarah to the testimonies and legal challenges faced by her contemporaries, the records provide a portrait of an individual whose life was deeply enmeshed in the complex social and legal anxieties that defined early modern Liberton.