In the late summer of 1634, the ecclesiastical and civil authorities in the royal burgh of Culross, Fife, turned their attention to a woman named Kath Rowane. On the 30th of August, her name was entered into the formal registers of the Scottish witch trials under the case reference C/EGD/2575. Situated on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, Culross was a town deeply influenced by the strict moral governance of the period, where the community’s social fabric was increasingly scrutinized by both local kirk sessions and national authorities concerned with the perceived threat of maleficium.
The documentary trail concerning Kath remains sparse, reflecting the limitations of surviving archival evidence regarding her specific encounter with the justice system. While historical scholarship has noted her inclusion in the records of this era, the details of the allegations brought against her or the eventual outcome of the proceedings against Kath are not preserved within the surviving case notes. Consequently, her experience serves as a sobering testament to the reach of the Scottish judicial apparatus during the 17th century, capturing the precise moment she became a subject of formal legal inquiry.