In the winter of 1680, the burgh of Bo’ness in Linlithgow became the site of a legal proceeding against Margaret Hammilton, a married woman of lower socioeconomic standing whose husband earned his living as a sailor. The archival records, designated under case C/LA/3071 and trial T/LA/1461, document the judicial process initiated against her on January 20, 1680. Within the context of the intense period of witch-hunting that defined late seventeenth-century Scotland, Margaret was brought before the authorities to answer for allegations that placed her life at extreme risk.
The legal process concluded with a final, grim outcome: Margaret was described in the surviving documentation as "lately burnt." This administrative phrase confirms that she was subjected to the standard capital punishment of the era, involving execution by fire following her conviction. Her case stands as a stark testament to the judicial practices of the time, illustrating the vulnerable position of those in coastal communities like Bo’ness when caught within the machinery of the Scottish witch trials.