Our speaker at the December meeting is Dr Lizanne Henderson, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow (Dumfries Campus).

From the mid-sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, Scotland experienced witch persecutions equal to some of the worst affected nations in Europe. The southwestern counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire, though spared the high number of prosecutions found in some parts of the country, were certainly not immune. This talk will discuss witch trial evidence from Galloway and explore the nature of witch beliefs from this region.

Dr Lizanne Henderson is also Editor of Review of Scottish Culture. Her book, Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment: Scotland, 1670-1740 won the Katharine Briggs Book Award 2016.