Tag: witchcraft

One step closer to national memorial for those accused of witchcraft

A national memorial dedicated to those accused of witchcraft is one step closer to becoming a reality following a visit to a proposed Eco-Therapy Wellness and Leisure Park development being undertaken by National Pride UK at St Ninians, near Kelty in Fife.

National Pride directors, Irene Bisset and Andy Whitlock, hosted representatives from Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland (RAWS) and local councillors to the site of its proposed Eco-Therapy Park, St Ninians Wellness, at the site of the former opencast coal mine.

Sara Kelly and Elizabeth McMann, Trustees of RAWS, as well as Councillors Mino Manekshaw, also a Trustee, and Alex Campbell, attended the site visit.

RAWS is a registered charity which aims to raise awareness of the over 4,000 individuals accused of witchcraft by the church and state in Scotland between the 16th and 18th centuries and to campaign for a national memorial to be erected in Scotland to memorialise and pay respect to those accused and killed.

The visit follows National Pride’s recent declaration of full support for a national memorial to be built at St Ninians.

The group looked at potential locations at the site and discussed the ongoing campaign for a national memorial, which follows the Scottish Government’s posthumous apology to the thousands of people persecuted as witches in Scotland earlier this month.

Community Interest Company, National Pride UK, plans to make St Ninians an ecologically friendly and environmentally sensitive health, wellness and leisure destination.

Andy Whitlock from National Pride UK, said: “We were proud to host Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland and local Councillors at St Ninians.

“Before we look to take the next steps on hosting a national memorial for those accused witches, we will seek to engage extensively on the potential design for this.

“As an Eco-Therapy Park accessible to the public, St Ninians Wellness will be a place of nature-based healing and we fully agree with those who have identified it as a fitting location for such a memorial.”

Elizabeth McMann, Trustee of Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland (RAWS), said: “We set out to get a pardon from the state, an apology from the church, and a memorial to commemorate the accused witches in Scotland, as well as those throughout the world.

“Having visited St Ninians, we believe that this is an ideal place to put the much-desired memorial and it is especially relevant as a location given the major role that Fife played in pursuing those accused of witchcraft.”

Sara Kelly, co-founder of RAWS, said: “St Ninians is a beautiful site and you can see its immense potential to host such a memorial. It fits in very much with our ethos of communities, the environment and that the people who we want to be remembered are in a respectful and beautiful place.

“St Ninians would be the ideal location, it is highly accessible, and is somewhere that anyone who is interested could visit on a regular basis.  Educating the general public and school children as part of this is also very important to us.”

National Pride (St Ninians) Ltd will soon bring forward proposals to Fife Council for the development of the overall site.

Shedding light on the condemned witches who were actually healers

RCN Foundation funds historical research project

The RCN Foundation has funded a history of nursing research project to document the stories of nurses and midwives accused of witchcraft in Scotland, as part of its programme of work to celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

The Foundation has awarded a Monica Baly Education Grant to a team of researchers from Edinburgh Napier University to investigate almost 150 witches recorded on the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft as being folk healers and midwives. 

The team from the Nursing and Midwifery Subject Groups in the School of Health and Social Care, comprising of Dr Nicola Ring, Nessa McHugh and Rachel Davidson-Welch, will investigate the stories of these individual nurses and midwives, documenting who they were, and reflecting on their practices from today’s healthcare perspective. 

Scotland’s Witchcraft Act was introduced in 1563 and remained law until 1736. During that time nearly 4,000 people, mainly women, were accused of witchcraft.

The accused were imprisoned and brutally tortured until they confessed their guilt – often naming other ‘witches’ in their confessions.  Most of those accused are thought to have been executed as witches, being strangled and then burned at the stake, leaving no body for burial. 

People were accused of being witches for many reasons- some were mentally ill, some had land and money others wanted. However, many of those accused and executed as being ‘witches’ were guilty of nothing more than helping to care for others during sickness and childbirth – they were early practitioners of midwifery and nursing. 

Dr Nicola Ring said: “I am delighted we have been awarded funding from the RCN Foundation to investigate this over-looked part of nursing history.  Telling the stories of these Scottish women and men cruelly and unfairly accused and punished for helping the sick and women in childbirth highlights the injustices these people faced. 

“It supports Claire Mitchell QC and Zoe Venditozzi in their ‘Witches of Scotland’ campaign, which seeks posthumous justice – a pardon for those convicted of witchcraft, an apology for all those accused, and a national memorial dedicated to their memory.” 

Deepa Korea, Director of the RCN Foundation, said: “We are very pleased to fund this project as part of our programme of work to mark the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

“This is an important project which will not only document the experiences of these early nurses and midwives and the injustices they faced but provide a fresh look at the early role and perceptions of nursing and midwifery, prior to the accepted Victorian archetype.”

Claire Mitchell QC said: “Zoe Venditozzi and I (Witches of Scotland) are delighted that this work is being done to investigate and record the history of Scottish women and, in particular, those who were caught up in witchcraft allegations.

“We know from our research that some of the women and men were healers – involved in folk medicine and early midwifery – who were prosecuted for witchcraft and paid with their life.   This work shedding a light on this tragic history is important.”