Christian Neving was a widowed woman residing in the burgh of Irvine in Ayrshire during the mid-seventeenth century. Her life intersected with the formal legal machinery of the Scottish state during the spring of 1658, a period marked by localized surges in judicial activity concerning allegations of witchcraft. On 31 March 1658, Christian was summoned as part of a collective group to appear before the courts to answer for charges brought against her, a process formalised by the issuance of a porteous roll—the standard document used to notify individuals of their impending criminal trial.
By 4 April 1658, Christian appeared on the official Ayr Court list alongside her peers, as legal proceedings were convened to address the accusations levied against the group. The records documenting these events confirm the progression of her case through the judiciary, yet they also provide a somber conclusion to her narrative: subsequent archival documentation classifies Christian as deceased. While the specific nature of the evidence presented against her remains obscured by time, her presence in these records serves as a testament to the structured, if severe, legal processes that defined the experience of those caught within the witch trials of the era.