In 1698, the legal records of Berwickshire formally identified Margaret Polwart of Coldingham as a subject of investigation regarding the practice of witchcraft. The documentation preserved under case reference C/EGD/1940 places her within the broader historical context of the late seventeenth-century Scottish witch trials, a period characterized by persistent judicial scrutiny of those suspected of engaging with supernatural forces. While the archival entry is brief, it marks Margaret as a figure of local significance during a time when such accusations carried grave consequences within the community and the ecclesiastical courts.
The historical record for Margaret remains constrained by the limited evidence currently available, noting that further investigation into secondary sources—such as those referenced by historian Christina Larner—had not been completed at the time of the project's documentation. As an inhabitant of Coldingham, her experience reflects the intersection of parochial life and the formalized processes of the Scottish legal system in the late 1600s. Though the specific nature of the allegations brought against Margaret is not elaborated upon in the extant summary, her case remains a vital component of the regional history of judicial proceedings against witchcraft in Berwickshire.