In the winter of 1615, Sara Burne, a resident of the parish of Dalmeny in Linlithgow, found herself at the centre of a formal legal inquiry. On 13 December, her case was officially recorded under reference C/JO/2845. At this time, Dalmeny was a unified parish, predating the ecclesiastical division that would later separate it from the neighbouring parish of Queensferry in 1635. The nature of the proceedings marked a significant point in the administrative handling of judicial matters within the region, placing her squarely within the scope of the Scottish witch trials.
Following the initial registration of her case, the process moved toward a formal legal reckoning. Sara was subjected to the judicial protocols of the period, as evidenced by the trial record T/JO/512. While the documentation provides the logistical framework of the proceedings—detailing the date, her place of residence, and the specific archival classification of her case—it remains a laconic testament to the mechanisms of the local court. The record serves as a stark historical marker of the legal process undertaken in Dalmeny during the early seventeenth century, preserving the details of Sara’s encounter with the Scottish justice system.