In the summer of 1615, the judicial machinery of the Bishopric of Orkney turned its attention toward Katherine Bigland, a resident of the island of Westray. On June 6, 1615, Katherine appeared before the court to face serious allegations of involvement in witchcraft, specifically concerning her presence at a witches’ meeting. The proceedings were shadowed by familial scrutiny, as the historical record notes that Katherine’s own mother had also been accused of participating in a ritual, establishing a pattern of suspicion that extended across generations within her family unit.
Following the trial on that same day, the court returned a verdict of guilty. The sentence passed upon Katherine was absolute, reflecting the severe ecclesiastical and legal climate of the early seventeenth-century Orkney Islands. In accordance with the custom for those convicted of such crimes in the region, Katherine was executed by the method of strangulation and burning. Her death marked the end of the legal proceedings recorded in case file C/EGD/2208, an entry that serves as a stark testament to the judicial practices of the era.