In 1683, the judicial authorities in Dumfries recorded the case of Jennet Broun, a resident of Holme in the parish of Penpont. Her appearance in the historical record—docketed under reference C/EGD/720—marks her as one of the many individuals caught within the complex legal machinery of the late seventeenth-century Scottish witch trials. At this time, the prosecution of witchcraft was a matter of serious concern for both local kirk sessions and the central courts, and Jennet’s identification as a woman from the rural enclave of Holme places her firmly within the social landscape of the Nithsdale region.
The available documentation, specifically trial note T/LA/1906, confirms that Jennet was included on a Dumfries roll of the accused. Such rolls were essential administrative tools, listing those who were to face formal examination or trial for the crime of maleficium or demonic association. While the precise details of the accusations levelled against her remain unstated in these surviving records, her presence on the Dumfries roll indicates that she was subjected to the rigorous legal scrutiny characteristic of the period. Through these archival fragments, we retain the name and location of Jennet, providing a brief but significant trace of her involvement in one of the most volatile eras of early modern Scottish jurisprudence.