Service held to remember the Paisley people accused of being witches

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A service to remember the Paisley people executed after they were accused of being witches was held on the spot where they died.Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1967, the group of activists determined to honour those accused of being witches and remind people of the area’s gruesome past, organised the event at the town’s Gallow Green Well in Queen Street.The spot is where seven people – four women, a father and his two young sons – were executed 325 years ago in a case known as the Bargarran Witches.Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire.

Sign up to our newsletters here.They were strangled before their bodies were burned on a blazing bonfire and the ashes buried at Maxwellton Cross where a horseshoe memorial still marks the spot.They had been found guilty of putting a spell on 11-year-old Christian Shaw, daughter of the wealthy Laird of Bargarran.Now the local group, together with the Witches of Scotland campaigners, are hoping to create a permanent memorial at the site.Stephen McLaughlin, project assistant for Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1697, said: “We are looking to get funding to add to the garden and make it more of a public space as well as a memorial to what happened there.“This was the first event we’ve organised for it.“Gallow Green used to stretch from the West End up to Castlehead in Paisley and it’s where they executed people back in the day.“Scotland has the highest rate of witches being accused and there are a number of memorials, particularly on the east coast.“Paisley was the last mass execution.

In conjunction with the Witches of Scotland group we are trying to get a memorial garden in Paisley.“We’d like a plaque installed which would have a QR code to tell people more about the history and what