09/06/2026
I want to introduce you to two women.
Margaret Couper and Katherine Montgomerie.
Both were from Saltcoats.
In 1650, they were apprehended, tried as witches, and likely put to death.
They were two of the many women in North Ayrshire who were forced through the same ordeal. Between 1649 and 1683, records show that eighty-five women and six men from North Ayrshire were accused of witchcraft, arrested and tried.
The accusations against Margaret and Katherine came from the fear and religious language of the time. They were accused of renouncing their baptism, taking new names, and having intimate dealings with the devil.
The proof recorded against them was “common bruit”.
Public rumour.
Margaret and Katherine lived in a busy and growing coastal community. Saltcoats was a place of industry and trade, with a population of only a few thousand people, where daily life was closely observed and reputation could carry enormous weight. In a town of that size, rumours could spread quickly and become difficult to escape.
Their lives were reduced in the records to accusation, confession and punishment.
Their names remain.
Margaret Couper.
Katherine Montgomerie.
Saltcoats, 1650.
