In the autumn of 1631, the legal machinery of Renfrewshire turned its attention toward Katherene Scot, a married woman residing in the settlement of Carshogill, within the parish of Inverkip. On the 3rd of November, the documentation recorded under case file C/LA/3261 formalised the proceedings against her. At this time, the judicial framework governing Scotland’s handling of alleged witchcraft was intensifying, and Katherene found herself drawn into a formal process that would necessitate a trial, eventually indexed as T/LA/1887.
The surviving records remain sparse, yet they offer a window into the gravity of Katherene’s situation during this period. As a married inhabitant of Carshogill, she was subject to the scrutiny of the local and ecclesiastical authorities who navigated the complex socio-religious climate of early seventeenth-century Scotland. Following the initial record of her case in early November, the subsequent trial proceedings mark the trajectory of her legal entanglement, providing a stark testament to the administrative rigour applied to those accused under the statutes of the era.