In January 1632, the judicial machinery of early seventeenth-century Scotland turned its attention toward Issobell Kelso, a married woman residing in Bankefitt, situated within the parish of Inverkip in Renfrewshire. Recorded under case file C/LA/3255, Issobell’s encounter with the legal authorities occurred during a period when the Scottish kirk and state were increasingly preoccupied with the perceived threat of maleficium. On the 25th of January, she was formally processed, marking the commencement of the legal proceedings that would lead to her trial under the reference number T/LA/1881.
The records concerning Issobell provide a stark glimpse into the administrative rigour of the period, documenting her status as a married woman and her specific geographical ties to the Bankefitt community. While the surviving documentation focuses primarily on the procedural aspects of her case—recording the dates and registration numbers associated with her prosecution—it situates her firmly within the broader landscape of the Inverkip witch trials. For Issobell, these administrative entries represent the formal intersection between her private life in Renfrew and the exacting legal framework of the Scottish courts during the early modern era.