Peebles memorial planned for people executed for witchcraft

Elisa Smith is among those behind plans for the memorial

The first memorial in the Borders to honour people executed under the Witchcraft Act is planned for Peebles.

A public consultation supported a headstone-style memorial on parkland in the town and a cairn on a nearby hillside where executions took place.

The plans have also won support from the town's community council.

The memorial will remember all those who died but in particular 27 people executed on a single day at Calf Knowe - now known as Venlaw Hill - in 1629.

It is thought thousands of Scots, most of them women, were accused of breaking the Witchcraft Act between 1563 and 1736 - with an estimated 2,500 of them being executed.

Elisa Smith is one of a group of residents who want the 27 killed in Peeblesshire in 1629 remembered, as well as the wider atrocities that took place under the act.

A headstone-style memorial is planned for the Tweed Green in Peebles

"These were just ordinary people and the cases came about through nothing more than gossip - if you were seen out at night or if a cow stopped milking, people would be accused of being a witch," she said.

"In such a small town like Peebles, to have so many people killed in one day would have affected the whole area for years.

"Scotland had the highest number of people accused and executed under the act, particularly the Lowlands, and very few communities in places like the Borders, Lothians and Fife, for example, would have been unaffected."

It is thought about 85% of the people strangled and burned as witches were women.

On International Women's Day in March, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon issued a formal apology to everyone accused of witchcraft during the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries.

And a nationwide group, the Witches of Scotland, is pushing for a pardon to be issued for all the victims who were convicted under the Witchcraft Act.

A cairn is being proposed for a hillside near Peebles where executions took place

Ms Smith added: "The first minister has issued the apology and we hope that the pardon will be forthcoming.

"It would also be fitting if there was also a national state memorial somewhere in Scotland to commemorate everyone who was killed under the Witchcraft Act.

"We are remembering everyone who was executed here in Peeblesshire - particularly the 27 who died in that single day - and I am delighted that the people of Peeblesshire are overwhelmingly behind us."

A gravestone has already been donated to the memorial campaign by a local undertaker.

Permission is currently being sought for the cairn to be erected near the top of Venlaw Hill.