In the late summer of 1590, the judicial records of the region identify a woman known as Neving McGhee, a resident of the parish of Kirkinner in Wigtown. Living on the south side of the Forth, Neving found herself drawn into the legal machinery that governed early modern Scotland during a period of intense focus on perceived supernatural transgressions. Her case, documented under reference C/LA/2835 and dated the 11th of August, stands as a stark marker of the ecclesiastical and civil pressures exerted upon individuals within her community during the late sixteenth century.
The legal proceedings culminated in a trial, recorded under T/LA/433, which concluded with a formal sentence of excommunication. By this decree, Neving was severed from the communion of the church, a status that carried profound social and spiritual consequences within the rigid structure of Kirkinner society. While the surviving documentation remains brief, it serves as a historical testament to the gravity of the accusations Neving faced and the finality of the judgment rendered against her in 1590.