Join us at Maryhill Burgh Halls to hear a conversation about the witchcraft trials in the West of Scotland

Come to Maryhill Burgh Halls for the fifth talk in our new monthly series Connected Community. This time though, in the form of a conversation!

Join us for a conversation with Lorraine Murray and Stephanie Shakay Tierney about the history of Scotland’s witchcraft trials in the early modern period, the West Coast connection, and how people engage with traces of that historical memory today.

Come along to learn something new and enjoy soup and a sandwich.

Lorraine Murray is an archivist and historian interested in the social and architectural histories of Glasgow and the West of Scotland, currently balancing two roles at the Watt Institution in Greenock, and the Glasgow Academy. Lorraine is a public speaker and has co-authored and contributed chapters to various publications including The History of Healthcare in Inverclyde, Finding Forgotten Finnart, Sugar, Ships and Slavery, and The Women’s Realm. She is the author of the Archivist History Blog which includes stories on witchcraft, graveyards and hidden histories. She is also a committee member and volunteer researcher for the Friends of Ramshorn Graveyard and is interested in all things strange and unusual.

Stephanie Shakay Tierney is a PhD candidate in social anthropology at Edinburgh University. Her research focuses on the memorialisation of the early modern witchcraft trials in Scotland, looking at how histories of witchcraft accusations are rediscovered and reassembled through the lens of the present. She writes about kinship, politics of memory, memorials, landscapes, rituals and religion, feminist and queer theory, and witchcraft. Her chapter, "Narratives of Witchcraft: Geillis Duncan, Outlander, and the Politics of Memory," is featured in the anthology Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts, published by Luath Press in Edinburgh. Like Lorraine, Stephanie is also interested in all things strange and unusual and bonded over their shared appreciation of vampires, wandering cemeteries, and goth music.

We don’t want cost to be a barrier to participation, therefore we are offering a range of pricing.

Please choose the one that is most relevant to you. All donations go directly to Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust (Scottish registered charity number SC036089) and allow us to provide a greater range of community events, accessible to all.

Suggested donation:

£0 - unwaged/benefits

£4 - concession (student/retired/low-waged/part-time worker, etc)

£8 - full price/solidarity

or anything more or in between!

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