In January 1670, James McPhee of Kingarth, Bute, was drawn into the reach of the Scottish judicial system on charges of witchcraft. At this time, the prosecution of such offences was closely tied to the administration of the church and local civil authorities, reflecting the broader social and theological anxieties that permeated seventeenth-century Scotland. The details of the case, which are documented in John Gilmore’s 1948 research regarding witchcraft and the Scottish kirk, provide a brief but distinct glimpse into the legal processes that brought a resident of Bute before the courts during this period of heightened scrutiny.
Though the archival record for James is brief, his case remains a pertinent example of the geographical spread of witchcraft accusations beyond the central Lowlands. The legal proceedings against James, catalogued under reference C/EGD/1895, illustrate the formal structure of these investigations, where local testimony and ecclesiastical oversight intersected. By examining the context of his residence in Kingarth, historians are able to better understand how regional communities navigated the complexities of late-seventeenth-century criminal justice and the prevailing beliefs that defined the era's approach to the supernatural.