In the spring of 1658, the judicial machinery of Ayrshire turned its focus toward a young girl in Irvine known in the court records simply as Wallas. Identified as a damsel of only ten years of age, she was brought before the Justices of the Peace on April 6 to answer for her alleged involvement in a witches’ meeting. The legal proceedings were recorded as part of the broader Ayr court lists, marking a moment where the administrative rigor of the period intersected with the life of a child.
Despite her youth, the case record indicates that a formal confession was extracted from Wallas during the investigation. While the specific details of the proceedings remain limited to the official documentation, the inclusion of her testimony suggests a structured inquiry into her alleged activities. The documentation, categorized under case reference C/EGD/303 and trial reference T/LA/1565, remains a stark illustration of the reach of seventeenth-century Scottish judicial authorities, who held the young girl to account for her purported participation in occult gatherings.