On the 3rd of June 1649, the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned toward Margaret Orrock, a woman residing in the parish of Dalgety, Fife. Recorded under the reference C/EGD/2606, her case emerged during a period of heightened inquisitorial activity across the kingdom, characterized by the systematic documentation of individuals suspected of diabolical pacts or harmful sorcery. The records concerning her case remain brief, serving as a formal administrative trace of her passage through the legal apparatus of mid-seventeenth-century Fife.
While the primary documentation for Margaret remains spare, her inclusion in the criminal records situates her within the broader, rigorous social and religious anxieties of the era. The formal entry acknowledges her residence in Dalgety, a coastal community that, like much of the region, was subject to the intense scrutiny of local kirk sessions and secular magistrates tasked with investigating supernatural allegations. As Margaret stood before these bodies in the summer of 1649, she became part of a documented history that reflects the intersection of law, community tension, and the ecclesiastical oversight that defined the prosecution of witchcraft in early modern Scotland.