In the spring of 1658, the judicial machinery of the Ayr circuit was set in motion against Catherine Mogersland, a married woman residing in the settlement of Hayneng, located in the parish of Riccarton. The legal proceedings against her were formalized through the issuance of a *porteous roll*—the official document detailing the charges to be brought before the court. This roll, dated March 31, 1658, served as a summons for Catherine and an entire cohort of other accused individuals to appear before the presiding authorities.
Catherine was subsequently brought to trial on April 6, 1658, under the case reference C/EGD/246. As recorded in the Ayr court lists, her appearance occurred as part of a collective process that saw numerous residents facing justice on the same day. By integrating her case into the wider group trial, the court handled the accusations against Catherine within the rigid bureaucratic framework characteristic of mid-seventeenth-century Scottish witchcraft prosecutions, marking a moment of profound disruption in the domestic life of her community at Hayneng.