The witch trials of the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries form one of the darkest chapters in Scotland’s history. More than 2,500 people – the vast majority of them women – were executed and more than 4,000 accused of witchcraft during this time, and yet their stories have largely gone untold. 

Recently, though, that has started to change. Earlier this year, on International Women’s Day, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon issued an apology to all those who had been persecuted. And last year, the National Trust for Scotland published a report detailing the links between its properties and the witch trials.

Dr Ciaran Jones, the lead researcher and author of the report, joins Jackie Bird to discuss his findings and what they say about Scotland’s wider cultural and societal issues at the time.