The historical record concerning James Wodrow, a resident of Erskine in the county of Renfrew, is preserved within the judicial archives under the reference C/EGD/2473. While the documentation pertaining to the specifics of his legal proceedings is minimal, his inclusion in the regional records identifies him as a figure caught within the broader machinery of the Scottish witch trials. As a male defendant residing in a parish that fell under the jurisdiction of the Scottish Kirk and secular courts during this period, James was subject to the intense socio-religious pressures that defined late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Renfrewshire.
The archival note attached to the case indicates that James’s entry was subject to consultation regarding its provenance in secondary historical literature. The scarcity of detailed depositional evidence for James reflects a common pattern in the Scottish judicial system, where many individuals were processed through local presbytery or civil courts without extensive written narratives surviving the centuries. Consequently, while James remains a singular point of data within the historical landscape of 1563–1736, his experience serves as a testament to the localized reach of the witch-hunting apparatus as it operated within the community of Erskine.