“Journeying westward
and about a half mile from Dunning, we see over the policy wall on a
rising ground among the trees, a monument of a kind not to be met
with at every town.”
Perthshire
Advertiser for 20th
September 1855
The monument in question is a
fascinating sight indeed, and the source of much debate through the
years. Constructed of stone and reaching twenty feet high, the
structure is topped with a cross, whilst across the front for all to
see is inscribed the intriguing declaration:
“Maggie Wall burnt
here 1657 as a witch.”
Popular legend has
several explanations for the identity of Maggie. Some say she was a
parlourmaid, accused of witchcraft due to an ill-advised tryst with
the son of a local laird. There is also speculation that Maggie had
an affair with the lord himself, Lord Rollo, and that the monument
was erected either by himself or his wife in pity and remorse after her
execution. Others believe her to have been a local healer, persecuted
for her work, or one of several women who protested against the treatment of a local minister and punished for her outspokenness. The Saracen's Head pub in Glasgow proudly displays what
is purported to be the witch's skull, though how it came to rest there is a matter for speculation in itself.
The skull of Maggie Wall
Enduring as local ideas may be, looking closer at the stories surrounding Maggie Wall reveals that matters are not as they seem. Often cited as the last
witch to be burnt in Scotland, (a dubious honour that actually
belongs to Janet Horne in 1722) there is actually no surviving record
of a Maggie Wall, or Walls as she is sometimes known, in any of the
documents relating to witchcraft accusations or trials in the period.
What then is this monument supposedly erected in her name, and did Maggie in fact ever exist at all?
The monument was clearly
in evidence from at least 1855 as described in the Perthshire
Advertiser, and is visible on the ordnance survey map for 1866. The
wooded area that used to surround the monument had the name Maggie's
Walls in 1829, but there is no mention or evidence of the monument before the middle of the 19th century.
Perthsire historian Kenny Laing has put forward the theory that Lord Rollo ordered the monument to be erected after the witch was burnt on his land. He points out that as the local landowner he would have signed the papers sentencing her to death; one legend states that he had the monument erected when his wife was absent in order to repent of the shame he felt for sending Maggie to her fiery fate.
The Dundee Courier for
8th March 1878 references a local minister, Dr. Wilson,
who was certain that the whole story of Maggie Wall and her tragic
end was a complete fabrication, though for what end is not stated. The reporter however is quick to point out that he at least would argue in favour of Maggie's name simply having been left out of the records, rather than countenance that an entire village had deluded themselves into believing the story to the point of erecting a monument to a person who never existed.
Geoff Holder believes the monument is actually an 18th century folly, and also that the name is an invention. He points to the existence of a nearby field known as Maggie's or
Muggie's Walls, suggesting this is the origin of the name painted on the monument. He also maintains that the monument could not have
been built earlier than the 18th century.
Holder reveals that a local schoolmaster, David Balmain, was a
tenant of Maggie's Walls – Holder speculates that he may have built
the monument in memory of two family members that were accused of
witchcraft but escaped being charged in 1662, or that the idea of "Maggie" may have been
used as a figurehead to stand for the many accused of witchcraft
during the 17th century in Scotland.
Dr. Louise Yeoman also believes that the story was nothing but myth. She points out that
not only does the memorial not fit with any others from the 17th
century, but that there were also no other memorials to witches,
executed or otherwise. She and archaeologist David Connolly believe
that the structure actually originated as a clearance cairn – i.e.
a pile of stones that have been removed from a field to enable greater ease when
ploughing or using other tools in pasture or arable land – and was then topped
with a cross from a later date. They likewise date the monument to no earlier than the late 18th
century.
A Clearance Cairn
The question must also be asked why a
monument was erected to Maggie and not one of the other women and men
executed for witchcraft during the 17th century. In 1662,
six Dunning witches were arrested and tried by the local gentry, that including Lord Rollo and his brother. Three of these were
executed, strangled and the burned in nearby Kincladie wood. Yeoman
suggests that by the 19th Century, the Rollo family,
feeling somewhat shamed by the part their family played in the witch
trials, may have been attempting to re-write history by putting up the
monument.
The 1650s were a time on general unrest
in Dunning. Riots broke out in the defence of the Reverend Muschet,
and the officials arriving to hold a synod with the intention of
disciplining the minister were driven off by a mob of angry women.
Some have speculated that Maggie Wall may have been involved in this
dramatic event and made to pay the price for her part in the
disturbance.
Archie McKerracher in Perthshire in
History and Legend wonders if the events that led to her execution
were so shameful that local officials and clergy determined to forget
it, hence the lack of mention in records. This is unlikely however
due to the plentiful records elsewhere. He also posts that perhaps Maggie fell victim to
“unofficial” justice by her neighbours, a more plausible explanation for the absence of Maggie's name in the documents.
Writing in 1988 he remarks that the
words are given a fresh coat of paint every year and that a wreath appears on the
monument, with the words “In Memory of Maggie Wall, Burnt by the
Church in the Name of Christianity.”
Perhaps Maggie existed and indeed met the fate legend has ascribed to her, the Perthshire monument the only evidence left with official records long since lost. It may also be that the legend grew up instead from the
name of the local field and woodland, stories created and shared
until they became established fact. It would not have taken much for
someone to paint the words on one day, confirming what had already
passed into local legend and serving to keep the story alive into the
following generations.
Whatever the case, one thing is for certain - Maggie Wall is a prominent and enduring part of Perthshire history, inviting speculation, no doubt, for many years to come.