In the winter of 1696, the ecclesiastical and legal machinery of Renfrewshire turned its attention toward Janet Wodrow, a resident of the parish of Inchinnan. On the 3rd of December, official proceedings were initiated against her, marking her inclusion in the documented history of the Scottish witch trials. Janet’s case, indexed under the reference C/EGD/1931, serves as a formal entry in the judicial archives of a period defined by intensifying scrutiny of those perceived to be operating outside the boundaries of established theological and social norms.
Following the initial registration of the case, Janet was brought before the court as recorded in trial notes T/JO/1168. While these archival records confirm the legal movement of her prosecution, the specific testimonies, accusations, or the eventual outcome of the proceedings remain silent in the surviving documentation. Janet thus remains a figure preserved in the formal administrative ledger of 17th-century Renfrew, a woman whose life intersected with the rigorous judicial processes of her era, though the precise nature of the charges against her has been lost to time.